WiZiQ Blog

Online Education Beats the Classroom - SRI International Study for Department of Education, United States

“On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” This is the conclusion of a SRI International Study for Department of Education, United States.

The study itself reviewed 99 studies over a 12 year period from 1996 to 2008. The studies and reports analyzed were majorly from work done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military. Some of it was also, based on work done at K12 level. According to a NYTimes article: The analysis found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.

Although, some questions have been raised on the sweeping conclusion [for instance: people have asked whether you can compare the results from different testing environments or not - it was not like the study compared students of same background preparing for TOEFL in face-to-face/ virtual classroom environments], it does indicate that online learning and teaching would see a major adoption especially at college and professional levels.

WiZiQ, with its open and flexible tools for both teachers and students is perfectly positioned to be amongst the leading technology tools, helping the spread and adoption of online learning and teaching.

Now Conduct an Online Class/ Session/ Webcast/ Web Conference with 500 Attendees - For Free

Yes, you got that right.

WiZiQ, is now the only platform in the world that lets teachers, presenters, experts, workshop organizers, conference speakers and consultants to hold online classes or sessions with as many as 500 attendees - free of cost.

As of last week, you could conduct an online class with 50 attendees after signing up for free with WiZiQ. All it took was a valid email address. This limit of 50 attendees per class was already higher than other similar offerings in the market. And now, this limit becomes even more flexible. You can now have up to 500 attendees in your online class/ session/ conference. All you need to do is: register for free with WiZiQ>>schedule a class>>invite attendees and conduct the class. If it sounds simple, it is.

This enhancement is in keeping with continued addition and refinement of features available to both Free members and Premium members on WiZiQ. We plan to add and refine more features, over the coming month. So, keep watching this space :-)

Moodle Live Class GMT +13 Default Time Zone Problem

One of the most common problem, people who use WiZiQ Live Class for Moodle face is that the WiZiQ Virtual Classroom defaults to GMT +13 for all classes and all classes are scheduled in that time zone.

One of the simplest fix suggested by one of our teachers, Bryce lists these simple steps:

1) Open up the session.php file from the wiziq module [download] and go to line 33;
2) Look for $tmzone=$USER->timezone;
3) Change it to $timezone=$USER->timezone;
4) Save and upload the updated file

How to set your timezone in Moodle [so that it reflects while scheduling a class]:

Under "Location Settings", the administrator would need to select these specific values in the fields. For In Default timezone you must select the Server's local time option and In Force Default timezones, the administrator must select Users can choose their own timezone. Please note that these settings can only be done by the Moodle Administrator/ System Administrator.

Now individual users can go to Edit Profile link and select their specific time zone [time zone in which they are located or wish to showcase their classes in]. For instance, in the image below UTC-5 has been selected. After selecting this time zone, these settings should be saved.

Once you [teacher] changes as specified above, you would be able to schedule web conferencing classes for your time zone [as selected in your edit profile settings].

For any questions or comments, please write to us or post a comment on this blog post.

Multiple File Uploads and Embed Educational Tutorials Using WiZiQ Content

We upgraded WiZiQ Content yesterday. WiZiQ now enables teachers, experts, learners to share a wide variety of files : pdf documents, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, audio files, video files, Flash files as well as embed web assets [videos, pdf, doc, excel, audio, podcasts] on WiZiQ.

You can upload these files on WiZiQ content to share with students and learners:

1. doc - docx
2. pdf
3. xls-xlsx
4. ppt-pptx-pps-ppsx
5. swf-flv
6. mov-avi-mpeg-wmv
7. wav-wma-mp3

You can upload up to 20 MB files for doc-docx, pdf, xls-xlsx, ppt-pptx-pps-ppsx, swf-flv and 50 MB for mov-avi-mpeg-wmv and wav-wma-mp3.

You can embed content from almost any website in the world. Some of the websites where you can find relevant educational content are:

1. authorStream
2. Scribd
3. Slideshare
4. YouTube
5. TeacherTube
6. AcademicEarth

For any questions or comments, please drop us an email at support@wiziq.com or comment on this post.

WiZiQ : New Look

Over the next few weeks, you will see the look, feel and usability of WiZiQ would be changing. Our team has been collecting user feedback and the changes you will see in the next few weeks, would be mostly based on these. We have made a start by changing the Logo [and if you don't like it, let us know because we are open to try a new one]. The thinking behind the new logo is to create a professional, elegant, classy and a minimal look. You will also see many new pages added:

Teachers Directory Listing on WiZiQ
Combined Search Page for WiZiQ
Send Public Tests to Contacts

Upload Documents and Embed Web Content on WiZiQ
Manage your Contacts - Teachers, Learners and Contacts
Teaching Online using WiZiQ

How to Learn Online using WiZiQ

You will also see changes in WiZiQ, including the home page. More pages would be changed soon - from design perspctive as well as usability and flow. If you have any suggestions or feedback keep it coming !!!

Teachers : Schedule a Public Class on WiZiQ the Easy Way

Public Online Classes are a great way to be noticed, get feedback on your teaching style, make contacts, showcase your work and increase your visibility on Google and WiZiQ. There are two ways to schedule a public online class on WiZiQ:

1. Apply for a public online class
2. If you have access you can create your own public classes

A few teachers have access to create public classes [point 2 above]. Applying for a public class meant someone contacted you, checked the information and then scheduled the class. Starting today, we are making the process simpler. From today on WiZiQ, all "teachers" would be able to schedule a public online class from the same interface that you schedule a private online class.

You can select "Public" option under "Privacy", if you want to schedule a public online class. Fill in the information like you do for your public class [we recommend at least 300 words for your self and 300 words for your class as well as at least 5 relevant tags] and select a date/ time [at least 48 hours or later], and that's it. For the first few public classes you conduct, we will approve the class. This is to ensure that good quality class is being offered to the students and miscreants do not take advantage of the open window with content, not appropriate for children. However, after a first few classes, we are happy to give you the control and not require approval.

For questions and comments, please write to us at support@wiziq.com