WiZiQ - training tool

WiZiQ - training tool
Originally uploaded by Philipbradley.

One of the pleasures of playing around on the internet is that you’re never quite sure what you’re going to find on any particular day. Having looked at Authorstream someone (thank you!) recommended taking a look at WiZiQ, which is a virtual classroom. I’ve looked at a few of these things before and have never been particularly impressed, so my expectations of this system were quite low. That is, until I tried it.

Registration was simple, and then I added myself as a teacher on the system, by filling out a brief CV. I was then ready to start playing around with the system, so I started a training session and invited a couple of friends to join in. All they had to do was register; no fee, no downloads, no worries about the platform they were on. When a teacher starts a session they get a URL which can be passed out, posted to a weblog, website, via Twitter and so on. You can see the main screen from the shot above (this is from a session that I had later on in the day with Michael Stephens); the sessions are automatically recorded, which I wasn’t aware of at the time we started. The screen is split into several parts. I’d chosen to allow both audio and video of myself so there’s a thumbnail shot of me via the webcam top right, below which is the list of attendees and their chat box. What you can’t hear of course is me talking, but both Michael and I were astonished at the quality; he was 3,000 miles away, but it was as though we were sitting next to each other. What was a slight nuisance was that my voice echoed; I needed the speakers on to listen to Michael, but then ended up hearing myself being repeated back via his speakers! (I don’t know if anything can be done to resolve that.)

In the main part of the screen you have the presentation. This could be a PowerPoint, PDF or Flash file and these can be uploaded on the fly as needed, or uploaded prior to the session. The teacher can then control the movement through the presentation, discussing each point as necessary (with the addition of a shiny red pointer and emoticons). Students can be given control as well, and they can also indicate that they’d like to contribute either via the chatbox, or by putting their virtual hand up, which was quite sweet. There is a whiteboard tab as well, with some basic editing tools and a useful mathematics suite. More whiteboards can be loaded and the teacher or contributing students can flip back between them as necessary. It was also really easy to quickly upload to a new whiteboard, and both Michael and I uploaded images really quickly and were able to discuss them. Great for checking through a presentation, discussing photographs, doing a press briefing – this resource isn’t limited to teaching by any means!

I would have liked the ability to take students directly out onto the web in order to demonstrate live searching for example. This isn’t currently possible, and I suspect that it’s a resource that’s going to available in the commercial version (teachers will pay a monthly fee to use advanced functionality, though the basic version will always be free.) However, it’s not too hard to take a screen shot of a page and upload that to discuss, or to can a demonstration of a site to .ppt prior to starting the session.

Overall I was astonished at the speed and smoothness of the system. It was also simplicity itself to use; neither I or the people I showed it to needed any kind of training prior to using the system; it really was as simple as logging on and going straight into a training session. I can see so many uses for this – consultants with clients, distance education, distance speaking, press briefings, interviews, chatting with colleagues, planning events, archiving training sessions and so on. This is certainly a tool that I’m inclined to play around with rather more in the future. If you’re interested in taking a look at it yourself, leave me a comment with an email address and I’ll invite you to another session sometime in the week.

Comments

[lo-fi]

I'd be interested in trying this out, let me know when and I'll try and join you.

[Andrew]

Hi Phil - I'd be interested to take part in a session. Looks very good. Andrew

[pollyalida]

Cool site. Would love to take part in a demo too.