WiZiQ Blog

New Virtual Classroom is Out

We would like to announce that today (25th of June) we upgraded our Virtual Classroom. The classroom now has a clean new interface, which is more user-friendly with easy upload and content sharing, new whiteboard conception, new chat box, and many more things. With the new changes at the backend the online classroom is also faster than it was in the old version as it is made using Adobe Flex technology.

So, to start at the beginning…

New design for the Virtual Classroom

We created a totally new outlook for the whole classroom, choosing colors which are good for the eyes, new icons and clear shapes.

Live chat

In the old version many times it was a problem to read the text after a long chat but now the chat-box is resizable. Other changes are the multi-line input box and also the option for text-size to be modified. In the premium service you can also send private messages in any session through the same text box, but by specifying an attendee or classmate.

Navigation bar

No more Whiteboard tab or Content tab as it was in the old Virtual Classroom; we put them together in one, the Whiteboard. Next to the new tab button you can find the Content Manager and the Content Upload icons. Using these you can easily get your documents and pictures into the Virtual Classroom from the Content Manager or directly from your desktop.

If you take a closer look, you can also recognize two arrows for undo and redo. If you made a mistake like deleting something, you can easily redo it.

Navigation for documents, PDFs and PPTs

If you uploaded a PPT, Word/Excel Document or PDF, which has more than one page you can navigate between the pages with this new navigation. We also had it in the old version, but now it’s more visible, and has bigger icons for easy clicking.

New shapes

As you can see we have some more new shapes for easy drawings for teachers/students talking about mathematics, geometry, physics, etc. These shapes make it easier to communicate for teaching/learning these sometimes hard subjects.

Whiteboard Tabs

Now, if you opened a tab, you can also close it, just click on the right side of the open tab where the red X appears.

Easy color and size changing in the tools

Recently, sometimes it was hard to change the color and the size of the shapes. Now with this new design it’s just a few clicks to familiarize the shapes you want to use.

Transfer audio/video/whiteboard to attendees

Now we made the audio/video transfer easier for the teacher as it’s just one click to transfer control to attendees, and you can choose to transfer just audio, or audio&video. Transferring whiteboard control to attendees will be available in the premium service so it won’t be visible to everyone.

Extension of the session

Teachers can extend the lesson with an easy click anytime during the session in different timings like 5, 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes.

Hope you like this new design and we invite you to share your opinion or suggestions about the Virtual Classroom to enable us to develop it in a way you like it! Just leave a comment here or in the WiZiQ forum.

Virtual Classrooms vs Traditional Classrooms

A typical traditional classroom

As students and teachers, we all have had the experience of being in a traditional classroom. You can see and interact with your classmates. Every movement or sound around you is visible or audible to distract you.  The usual scene of flying aeroplanes, caricatures, jokes etc behind teachers' back especially when they are writing on the board, punishments, getting grounded  and what not. You are getting bored but dare not leave the lecture in between. Or else maybe as a teacher you want to extend your lecture but the schedule holds you.

Virtual classrooms – A teacher’s perspective

Now the scene has changed. In the Virtual Classroom, a teacher can address a strength of about 200 without having to shout, without getting distracted and everything is under control. Imagine how much time is saved! As a teacher, you can upload PowerPoints, Excel sheets, Word documents and PDFs. Just a click away!  Not to forget using as many boards as you want to, getting connected to the Internet, loading videos--probably everything that a teacher requires is a click away. You are constantly facing the students. There is no din and noise to be borne. No disturbance and yet you can interact with the taught!  It is for you to decide whether a student can talk or not. Sounds like a wow science fiction! No it is no Teaching Story 2050, it is a reality in 2008. And that too without any investment! As a teacher you have the right to select your pay package and you can teach globally. What else would a teacher desiring to take up online teaching as a profession want!

Friendly learning tool for students

For a student there is no distraction except your own concentration span. Look, see, hear and if you wish, you can request for a recording of the lesson.  This means you don’t have to scribble the notes! Well, if you are feeling tired, you can go away, refresh yourself and re-join again. The best part is that you have the right to select and appoint your teacher from thousands of teachers around the world. That sounds great!  You can interact with people from all around the world, share experiences and learn a lot through each other. Well, the advantage of knowing about different cultures and places, and making pals is always there.

This is all that WiZiQ has done to the Virtual Classroom and is constantly on the march to do much more.  Just register for free and enjoy teaching and learning in a new environment.

Supreet Seher

A Chinese Blog about WiZiQ

Stanley You joined us a few months back from China. He put up a blog with information in Chinese about WiZiQ.

Stan says, "the blog will show our Chinese users what is new and what is cool on WiZiQ. You can find introductions to new features on WiZiQ, Public Sessions updates, teaching tips and other information related to WiZiQ on this blog."

He further elaborates, "although WiZiQ does not have a multi-language user-interface yet, but everyone can enjoy teaching and learning with WiZiQ regardless of their cultures and languages because the controls are very simple. This really makes it a very useful teaching and learning tool, which anyone can use"

Stan also wants to translate posts on the WiZiQ blog to Chinese and put up on this blog.

We welcome all visitors from Stan's blog and hey Stan thanks! Keep up the good work! Here's a direct link to the blog: http://blog.163.com/wiziq/

Jagdeep Singh Pannu

Teaching in a Public Session on WiZiQ

As a fresh graduate, I never thought that I could have the chance to teach another person since the world is so big that you always have something to learn rather than to teach.  But by chance I got the opportunity to teach Chinese on WiZiQ and to get listed along  with other excellent and professional teachers from around the world. I was really excited, of course, but also,  I felt a lot of pressure.

The first problem I encountered was what to teach. Chinese is really difficult to learn and there are already a lot of professionals and semi-professionals teaching it, so finally I decided to teach “Communicative Chinese” which emphasizes on conversational and useful expressions that you can use in China or Chinese speaking regions. The benefits are very obvious. Students do not need to learn basic grammar and wording. Instead, they learn something that you can use directly. As a teacher, I can use more lively examples.

Tip 1: think of a familiar subject and cut into it with a specific point. Vague and general subjects will only leave your students confused.

When I fixed the basic direction, designing the curriculum became my next task. Language is not what you can master with a few classes. To be communicative means the sessions have to cover many aspects of daily communication in life. I asked many of my friends for problems and difficulties they encountered when they traveled to other countries with a very different culture. This research took me another 2 days. But by then I had only 3 days left to make the presentation for the first class. Consequently, there was little time left for me to promote my session and this led to a poor number of attendees in my class.

Tip 2: If you want to give serial sessions, design the curriculum and make your presentation as early as possible so that you have more time for promoting.

Like many people, I used to think that if I have a good and informative session, in which students can really learn something, there is no need for me to promote it and the students will know it. Then 2 students came for the first class, 3 to 5 came for the second one and none for the third. The lesson I learnt is - no matter how confident you feel about your session, people will not know since the Internet is now so full of information that if you don’t show them the way, they will just go pass it without taking even a glimpse.

Tip 3:  Spare some time (as long as possible) to promote your session. Reach to Interest groups.

Teaching on the Internet is really different from teaching in a classroom since there are so many uncertainties. A few hours before my first session, I was so nervous and kept picturing different situations. What if there is no attendee? What if the attendees find it so boring that they do not cooperate? “What if…” went on and on, making me more and more nervous. Then my co-worker gave me a suggestion - why not tried it out with me? Then we tested the session together on WiZiQ; I rehearsed everything I wanted to teach and during that we did find some mistakes and the microphone was not working properly. Thank god I tested it out otherwise it would have been a disaster. I felt so relieved after the test session and confidence found its way back.

Tip 4: Test your session out at least once, it does greatly reduce your anxiety and give you confidence. A reminder note of what you want to say also helps.

Things go on well when they are well planned. My first class : Communicative Chinese Online turned out quite smoothly, with me quite excited and confident, and students really participating in it. The only problem lied in the under-estimation of the time span. It was scheduled for 60 minutes, but I finished the session in 40 minutes. So the rest 20 minutes I just asked students if they had any question or not. To my surprise, hardly any of them had questions (Maybe I did my job too well ), so the session was wrapped up at the 50th minute.

Tip 5: Again I want to say, testing your session is really important so that you will know exactly how much time you need and can make the arrangement accordingly.

After the first class, I received some compliments from my students and this has, again, greatly encouraged me to continue my sessions. As a volunteer teacher online, I really learned a lot from this experience. Most important of all, I find that actually anyone can teach, and you can always learn something from other people, no matter profession, age or social status.  I am really grateful I took the initiative to teach online, and hope my experience can benefit teachers and students on WiZiQ.

Stanley You

Teachers narrate your own story on WiZiQ!

Do you have any helpful tips based on your experiences with using WiZiQ? Send in your story to us at pr@wiziq.com with the subject "Teacher Stories" and we will consider it for publishing on this blog with a link to your profile on WiZiQ.

How to Prepare Yourself for a Public Session

What are Public Sessions?

Public Sessions are live online teaching sessions on WiZiQ delivered by subject experts on various topics, open to the public to attend. Public Sessions offer value to attendees as they get more information and they can interact with experts on a given topic. Teachers get more exposure as subject experts when they deliver a Public Session.

Applying for a Public Session

After signing-up on WiZiQ and creating your professional profile, you can apply for a Public Session. Once your credentials are validated and session approved, it will appear on the Public Sessions page. If you have already done a Public Session, it becomes easier to request for the next session as a validated teacher; you can just request for holding the next session and it can be put up faster. 

Preparing for your Public Session

• If it is your first Public Session, ask some of your friends or colleagues to join you for a mock pre-session, where you can practice and can get some feedback from them about the whole class. 
• Write down some of your ideas you don’t want to miss from the class on a paper, and put it next to you.
•  After making your PPT presentation (if you use one), don’t forget to upload it to WiZiQ Content at least one hour before your session starts, because it needs some time to get compiled on WiZiQ. You can also upload your PPT direct from your desktop when you are in the classroom during your session, but then it takes precious session time.
• Print out the presentation in reminders so you will know which slide is coming. You can write some hints on it as well.

Marketing your session

·       Giving a Public Session will raise your reputation and you will become more popular amongst students. The WiZiQ marketing team promotes the Public Sessions through many channels to get more attendees. But to get the word out, it helps if you market your session at your end also. Some tips:

• Make a post on your blog/website with the attendee link in it, and also write a short description about the session. Put a link to your WiZiQ profile and write a few lines how attendees can sign-up for WiZiQ.
•  Tell other bloggers you know to put a link to your session on their webpage.
•  Offline-market your upcoming session amongst people around you or your students if you are already teaching offline.

Before starting the session

• Make sure that your audio and video devices are working properly (if the webcam has a microphone make sure you are using the headset’s microphone). This can be done by choosing the mike in the audio settings.
• If you are teaching in a shared environment, tell others around you not to disturb you, and to avoid downloading heavy files or videos as it takes away the Internet bandwidth and it can cause bad audio or slow video.
• If it’s a longer session, put some water next to you for refreshment.

We hope that these tips will enable you and your attendees get a great teaching and learning experience using WiZiQ.

Tamas Toth

Web 2.0 Usability - WiZiQ's New Console

Your Dashboard

Don’t be surprised when you see the new interface on WiZiQ. As an online education portal, WiZiQ has been striving to provide a simpler and more user-friendly console for teachers and students. Are you wondering what is new on WiZiQ now? Let’s take a closer look.

When you have signed in, you can easily find all the main functions in the top navigation including “Home, Members, Test, Content, Sessions, Profile”. Simply click the down-arrow next to the main items to see what you want.

Your Sessions

The sessions you have scheduled or joined are shown directly on your home page. Also you can easily view the recording of the public sessions you have attended. If you want to know what is new in our Public Sessions, look below and yes, there you go! The list of public sessions! No click needed!

Your Network

Under your profile on the top left, your “Topics of Interest” are shown so that students can easily get access to the teachers of those topics and teachers can network with other teachers. Moreover, it is easy to spot active teachers on WiZiQ now. “Active Teachers” is a popular and encouraging feature among teachers because they can get more exposure. WiZiQ would be working more on this feature in upcoming releases. For students, finding your ideal teacher is just - type in the topic and search!

Your Inbox

Want to see who has sent you a message? Now we have categorized all messages so that with a simple click of your mouse you can view messages in different categories.

Your Tests

Are you ready for challenges? Except for attending sessions, you can also test your knowledge by taking our tests. In “Tests”, put in the topic and ready, steady, go!

If you are impressed by these useful features and handy settings, just type in your friend’s email address and invite them so that they can share the experience too! Your comments on our platform are what we treasure the most. Please feel free to tell us what you want and what you think needs to be improved. Hope you enjoy teaching and learning on WiZiQ.

Stanley You