WizIQ Blog

Course Pages Updated - Now Get More Students to Teach

Now there is more you can do within your course page. The course page just got a new look and feel for simple yet effective functionality that enables teachers and students to communicate with each other. The updated course interface not only facilitates communication between teacher and students, but actively helps in acquiring more students to teach for courses. The courseware is very well organized on the course page, which makes it easy for students to browse though the content and contact teachers directly from their course pages. Students are now served an updated course registration form too.

We are now giving prominence to courses as we see numerous requests pouring in from students for comprehensive, long duration courses. Therefore, we encourage WiZiQ teachers to add more courses that include online classes, tutorials, tests etc., to get more students to teach.

Below are some snapshots of a logged-in teacher's course page and tabs:


Courseware
The Courseware tab on the extreme left side of the image contains the contents of the course (classes, tutorials, and tests) set up by the teacher.

Course Leads

The category:

• 'In my Contact List' shows the number of students that are already in your contact list.
• 'Contact Requests' are actually your student leads whose requests you can accept through LearnerConnect.
• 'All Course Leads' tab on the top contains leads from the above two categories plus leads that came from demo requests and from other direct messages to the teachers.

Course Learners
It contains the list of students who enrolled in your course.

About the Course
Description of the course.

In addition to the above said advantages, teachers:

• Get notification whenever a student enrolls in a course
• Can browse for attendees of the courses set up by the teacher
• Can add learners in their contact lists using Learner Connect
• Can send messages to students who are enrolled in their courses

Here's a snapshot of a student's course page and its tabs:


Browse Courseware
Contents of the course (classes, tutorials, and tests) set up by the teacher.

Contact Provider
Contains a message box through which a student can contact the course provider (teacher/institute).

About the Course
Description of the course.

Here's a snapshot of a student's Sign-up form for course enrollment

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Tell Marian what you want to learn and how

Marian Heddesheimer, a Web developer, teacher, and an avid Web 2.0 enthusiast, likes to create and share learning resources on Web development, Web 2.0 services, and free and open source software. Marian is also helping build the Web 2.0 community.

Here are some of his recent works. These are all free!

eBook

Introduction to PHP

Videos

Blender - first Steps
Gimp - first Steps
Become a Webmaster using Wordpress.com

Classes

Google Calendar Demystified
The Firefox Web Browser: Useful Add-Ons

His next venture is a new eBook that he wants to offer for free. To make sure that it’s something that people really need and appreciate, he’s launched a simple survey. Questions include: "What is the topic that you need to learn more about to help you in every day work? What type of material do you prefer?" He wants to know what people really want, based on which he will prepare the tutorial eBook that will be downloadable for free.

We can soon have a universe full of books we want to read and learn, if every teacher starts doing it. Avid readers and learners cannot ask for more; it's a learners haven. Let's all help him write on what we want to learn by taking his survey.  You can also discuss this in the e-teaching community here:

 Survey for my next free eBook

WiZiQ encourages such endeavors. Let's all join in to provide Marian with answers to his questions and help him in his noble cause of spreading learning and helping more people discover great new tools to fill their needs and improve efficiency.

Facebook's "Like" is on WiZiQ!

WiZiQ embeds the popular 'Like' button, a plugin from Facebook to provide an easy way to learners and teachers to give their opinion on tutorials (content) on WiZiQ with a single click. The button is coming to classes and tests early next week. The objective is to improve the visibility of teachers' public learning resources on Facebook so that more learners and teachers can network with them on WiZiQ.

How is the 'Like' feature beneficial to teachers?

Teachers can reach out to a bigger audience across Facebook and get more visibility on their learning resources, which in turn can translate into more class attendance and sales. This feature also throws a challenge to teachers to make learning content more qualitative, as it will be rated by a wider audience outside WiZiQ because of its ease-of-use and viral nature. This feature brings a sense of competition in on WiZiQ and is a subtle appeal to teachers to schedule more classes, create more tests, and upload more tutorials and deliver them with optimum quality (coming to classes and tests early next week). 

The most admired and the most used feature - why?

Of late, Facebook's 'Like' feature has become the most admired and most used on Facebook and other sites, and has a good marketing effect (especially for teachers on WiZiQ), as it can make your Facebook friends curious about your ‘like’ comments and can also make them - like, unlike, comment and share the content in one go. It’s an easy way to get action from learners as it can be done in one easy click and with options to comment and share. If you have liked a tutorial, you get a comment box when you mouse over the like button. Here's a screenshot:

 

The Facebook 'Activity Feed' widget on WiZiQ

To complement the 'Like' button, a widget, 'Activity Feed', has been embedded in content pages in the right panel. This widget displays the most recent activity on WiZiQ by your Facebook friends - who recently liked, shared or commented on public learning resources on WiZiQ. For instance, if you click on the 'Like' button of the content, you will instantly find your activity in the widget:

 

We are sure that this add-on will help both teachers and students reach out to each other and help build your network on WiZiQ. So go ahead and get those tutorials on Facebook now! And if you like this post, go ahead and like it the way everyone else is doing it on the Web!

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.

Create Your Own Free Online Public Classes - Yourself

Currently, if you want to schedule a Public Class, you can send us the details using the Public Class Request Form. We normally respond to all requests within a day. This allows us to check what class is being presented [eliminating fake or offensive content], and also to help the teacher present this better [by providing them training and resolving any queries or issues they might have]. However, some of the teachers using WiZiQ wanted the functionality to schedule their free public classes themselves, as they are now scheduling more public classes than ever before. And now, this is possible.

We have given select teachers the functionality to schedule their own free public classes. They can select the topic, date/ time, fill in the description of the class and choose to make the it public [all this can be done under "Schedule a New Session" once you sign in to WiZiQ]. If you are a teacher who does not have this access, you might be thinking - "All this is fine, but how does WiZiQ decide, which teachers should have this functionality of creating their own public classes?" We consider the following factors:

• Your teacher profile shows us you are real and serious. We recommend at least 60% teacher profile filled with a photograph.
• Private classes/Public classes conducted : The more classes conducted, the better it is. We know you are comfortable with the technology, and again, you are serious about your online teaching reputation and career.

This should get you functionality to create your free WiZiQ Public Classes. If you would like to conduct your own Paid Public Classes - then wait for our next Blog Post Tomorrow :-)

That's it. If you feel you meet the criteria above, get the functionality to create your own public classes - Now!!!

Help on GRE, GMAT’s Analytical Writing Assessment

GRE, GMAT’s AWA Section often becomes an uphill task for aspirants.  The very thought of writing a critique gives goose bumps.  PUG as I call it, is the secret to your success. 

P - Practice
U - Understanding
G – Guidance

Practice and understanding have to be a self undertaking. But for guidance, here are some tips on cracking the Analytical Writing Assessment section:

•    Polish your writing skills. Before you actually foray into the domain of AWA, it is pertinent to know the basics of Effective Writing. This will make your writing more articulate. One session on Effective Writing Skills was delivered on 13 Oct 2008. Click the link below to see the recording of the session:

GRE and GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment : Effective Writing Skills

•    Develop critical thinking skills. Think critically and logically. Have an eye to analyze and examine objectively.

•    Understand analytical or persuasive essays. Since AWA is targeted at analytical writing, it becomes imperative to understand this genre of writing. A detailed discussion on the topic can be seen by clicking on the given link:

What is GRE and GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment?

•    Understand the difference between the two questions. The two questions given in the AWA are very much different, though both belong to analytical writing. A candidate must understand the nuances of tackling both the questions:

Looking Deeper into GRE and GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment

• Preparing for the Issue Task. Getting to know the steps that can be taken to prepare for the Issue Task so that before actually embarking upon the project, the candidate is familiar with the strategies for tackling the question. The score relies heavily on the choice of the issue topic. Which topic should a candidate choose and how he/ she should develop it is vital to the score. See the recording of this class here:

Attempting Issue Task in GRE and GMAT AWA

•    Manage Your Time: Another important aspect of AWA, is time management. The aim of AWA is to test the candidate’s ability to think logically and present it in words. At the same time it also assesses to what an extent a candidate can utilize the given time effectively.

 Split 30 minutes in – brain storming, writing and editing.

 When you practice, give yourself a time deadline and work according to the time line.

•   Understand fallacies: It is very important to understand logical and rhetorical fallacies in order to think and write critically. These will help you in writing strong evidence and identify weak reasoning in an argument. 

•   Research and prepare: You can build your repository of topics by surfing the net. Think on the topics.

•    Practice: In order to get a good score in AWA, you need constant practice. You just can’t think of jumping into it a few days before the D-Day.

If you have any questions on the topic, you are welcome to attend two more upcoming live classes on AWA, where I can answer your queries:

Analysis of Argument Question in GRE and GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment

Logical and Rhetorical Fallacies in GRE and GMAT AWA

Supreet Seher