University Distance Learning Brings Flexibility to State-wide Training

Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology

Home > University Distance Learning Brings Flexibility to State-wide Training

eLearning

University Distance Learning Brings Flexibility to State-wide Training

6/11/2008

By Linda L Briggs

Conducting disaster preparedness meetings among 14 Pennsylvania universities no longer requires hours or even days of travel time for university administrators. Instead, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is using interactive collaboration software from Wimba to conduct some of its state-wide staff meetings and training sessions.

The Wimba Collaboration Suite that PASSHE is using offers an array of interactive software tools that allow users to meet online outside traditional meeting room settings and classrooms. Using Collaboration Suite tools, staff can interact online while viewing meeting content in a variety of formats, including slides and video, and can chat, send instant message exchanges, listen to audio comments added to content, use an online "white board," share applications online, conduct polls, listen to podcasts, and more.

Wimba was recently adopted by all 14 universities in PASSHE, the largest education provider in Pennsylvania. The software has been used in classrooms throughout some of the organization's member universities for some time, but its online collaborative abilities are now offering administrators a handy tool for reducing meeting travel time across the state.

A recent PASSHE conference on dealing with a pandemic flu epidemic is a case in point. Distance Learning Coordinator Bob Hails explained that staff from numerous schools first met face-to-face in Harrisburg, where PASSHE has its headquarters. But for follow-up sessions a few weeks later, he used Wimba. That allowed six breakout sessions with 25 people or so per session--representing groups including IT, security, and student affairs--to meet simultaneously via Wimba and discuss how they would handle a massive flu outbreak.

"Wimba was a great tool to use," Hails said. "We just can't be asking people on our campuses to drive to Harrisburg all the time. I've done those drives." Instead, using Wimba for the disaster preparedness meetings, "we had six events going simultaneously in six Wimba rooms" with no bandwidth or performance issues, he said.

Wimba is also used academically throughout PASSHE's member schools. The organization first implemented Wimba Classroom in 2004, where it was adopted by a handful of professors. The software can work seamlessly within existing online courses, making it easy for instructors to add Wimba to their instruction materials. And Wimba can convert Microsoft Word documents into course content or can be used to create and administer tests, quizzes, and exams. "Today, Wimba is used in hundreds of courses, by thousands of students," Hails said.