Wimba Voice Board

Wimba Voice Board allows you and your students to create threaded voice discussions. We will be walking you through on how to add Wimba Voice Board into your WebCT Vista course. These instructions are only for those who have access to the BUILD TAB. If you don't, please consult your faculty's Instructional Support Unit.

Adding the Wimba Voice Board

Example WebCT Vista course

Please login into WebCT Vista and choose the course you want to work with. Once you are in your course:

Click on the BUILD TAB on the upper-left hand corner of your course.
Under COURSE TOOLS found on the left sidebar, choose COURSE CONTENT and it will bring you to course's homepage.
In the middle of your screen, you will see 3 buttons. Click on ADD CONTENT LINK to open a drop-down menu that lists all the tools you can use listed alphabetically.
Choose VOICE BOARD and click on CREATE VOICE BOARD.
You will be brought to a new window asking you to create a TITLE for the Voice Board. Write any title you like, you can change it again later and then click CONTINUE.

Flash Videos (Courtesy of Arts ISIT)

→ Adding a Voice Board (Print PDF Instructions)

Settings

Settings window for Wimba Voice Board

Once you have given a title for your Voice Board, a new window will appear asking you to choose some options for the Voice Board's settings.

General Settings

Title: Give a title to your Voice Board. You can create multiple boards depending on your needs. Some only create one for each group in their class, while others create specific ones for each assignment.
Description: Provide a short description on how students can use the Voice Board. These could also be instructions or the syllabus for a specific assignment.

Audio Settings

Audio Quality: You can set the recording quality on the Voice Board with the 4 options provided to you: Basic, Standard, Good, and Superior. Students have varying access to technology and internet speeds. It is highly recommended to keep the audio quality at STANDARD to minimize barriers to access.
Max message length: You can set the maximum length of a message from as short as 15 seconds to as long as 20 minutes.

Detailed Settings

Display short message titles: Responses with long subject lines will be condensed.
Display messages in chronological order: Choose to display messages chronologically where older ones come before newer ones.
Allow students to forward a message: Students can send an external email that includes a link to the recorded response.
Allow students to start a new thread: Students will be able to start their own discussion topics on the Voice Board. This feature will only work if the boards are public (i.e. not private).
Make discussion threads private: When discussion threads are made private, students can only listen to their own and the instructor's responses. They also can't start their own threads.
Grade this Board: You can grade your students based on their responses on the Voice Board. This is connected to the GRADEBOOK.
Points Possible: If you are grading your students, you need to provide the activity a maximum grade.

Once you have determined which settings you want the Voice Board to have, you can click CONTINUE. The Voice Board will appear on your course's homepage or the Course Content page.

Voice Discussions and Management

Remember to choose the right input device when recording.

Voice Input

Before you create a new post, make sure that you have a microphone and that Wimba Voice Board is recognizing it.

In order to find out, search for the controls on the bottom half of the board and right-click on the small button in the far-right corner.

There will be a check mark beside the device you will be using.

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→ Voice Input/Output Settings (Print PDF Instructions)

Creatinge a New Voice Discussion

The instructor view of Wimba Voice Board

Now that you have added Wimba Voice Board and chosen all your settings, it's time to create your audio discussions. Click on the Voice Board icon on the course homepage to open the tool. The image on the right shows what you will see. To create a new voice discussion:

Click on the NEW button and a new window will appear.
Put in a SUBJECT into the text box to help your students determine what your message is about.
The lower half of the new window is for more detailed DESCRIPTIONS such as assignment instructions or grading schemes.
Start recording your message by pressing the red circle button. When you are finished, just press the stop button. You can review your recording by pressing the play button.
Click the POST button at the bottom of the window to post your message to your class.

Flash Videos (Courtesy of Arts ISIT)

→ Adding a New Voice Discussion (Print PDF Instructions)

Discussion Management Tools

On the instructor view of the Wimba Voice Board, there are tools that help you manage the discussion board and interact with your students.

Reply: You can provide a response to messages left on the board or give feedback to a student's response to an assignment. Students can also reply to messages if enabled under the Settings.
Edit: Edit the subject and the description of a message. You can also record over any message on the board.
Delete: Delete a message on the board. As an instructor, you have the ability to delete any recordings at your discretion.
Forward: Send the link of a specific message on the board to an external email address. Students can also forward messages if enabled under the Settings.
Import: Import a previously recorded file instead of creating a new one. Accepted files are mp3, wav, spx, and wvb.
Export: Export specific messages, top-level discussions or the entire voice board as mp3, wav, spx, and wvb.
Publish: Publish a specific message online. Voice Board will provide you a string of code that you can copy and paste onto your website. Unfortunately, your website has to be added to a list of approved sites. Please contact your faculty's Instructional Support Unit for more information.
Options: Choose on a variety of options on how to listen and view the messages on the board.

Flash Videos (Courtesy of Arts ISIT)

→ Discussion Management Tools: Reply, Edit, Delete, Import, Export, Publish, Options (Print PDF Instructions)

Grading and the Calendar

The Grade, Calendar, and Setting buttons are found on the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

If you look on the upper right-hand corner, you will see the Grade, Calendar, and Settings links.

Grading

Grading window on Wimba Voice Board

The GRADE THIS BOARD link will only be active if you enabled it under the Detailed Settings.

Inside the grading tool, you will see a list of all the students in your class. It can be rearranged by clicking on the various headers.

You will have to grade individual students based on the messages they posted on the board. You can filter the board to show only a specific student's responses by clicking either last name, first name, username, or the number of posts they have made.

Click on the save button at the bottom of the page when you are finished. All grades will be directly stored in WebCT Vista's Gradebook tool.

Flash Videos (Courtesy of Arts ISIT)

→ Grading the Voice Board (Print PDF Instructions)

Calendar

Calendar window on Wimba Voice Board

You can set deadlines on when and for how long students can use the Voice Board for a particular assignment or activity.

Click on the ADD TO CALENDAR link and you will be brought to a scheduling window. You need to set the calendar entry name, time and date for the activity, and its description.

When you're finished, just click SAVE and you will have an entry in your course's calendar.

Unfortunately, the calendar feature does not automatically take down Voice Direct once the deadline has passed. If you want to hide Voice Direct from your students:

Go to the TEACH TAB and choose COURSE CONTENT under Course Tools
Click on the drop-down arrow beside the Voice Direct link
Choose HIDE ITEM to hide Voice Direct from your students
To check, go to the STUDENT VIEW TAB

Flash Videos (Courtesy of Arts ISIT)

→ Adding Deadlines to the Calendar (Print PDF Instructions)