Adding audio with the Wimba tools in
Blackboard can give your course a voice.

Many language courses at Princeton have known about the audio tool kit at their disposal within Blackboard - the voice tools provided by Wimba Horizon software. Any course in Blackboard may make use of the software that includes:

• Voice announcements - simple announcements that are relevant to and contained within the particular Blackboard course.
• Voice e-mail - enables a recorded message to be sent via e-mail. The recipient is sent a link which will open in any browser, providing the audio message.
• Voice discussion boards - may be included in any course. Posts of up to ten minutes may be added by any participant based upon the instructor’s preferences.
• Voice authoring - allows vocal messages to be recorded and played in a web page.
• Voice direct - a real-time voice conferencing tool.

Recording of content for Wimba modules is easily done with any microphone-enabled computer (available on computers at the Language Resource Center) or even via the built-in microphones on laptops. The software’s interface provides simply the kinds of buttons (record, play, etc.) that we’ve all become familiar with.

Anything course related that could be better communicated via voice - be it the simple pronunciation of a word or term, the reading of a passage of text or a message - is a perfect candidate for one of the Wimba tools. Free online training is available from Horizon Wimba and to anyone interested. Simply register for it here. Horizon Wimba also sponsors a users group and maintains a robust support page as well. Please call 609-258-0737 for assistance.

Posted by Lorene Lavora