Learn or Teach Online with WiZiQ

Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Nelba Quintana in Internet Tools

Users

This platform is not only useful for teachers, but also for students who can find online courses in different languages as well as different topics such as: applied and social sciences, management and finance, IT and computers, personal development, mathematics, Spanish and much more. Some material is free, but if you want to take a course, the interested person should get enrolled and pay a tutor for the online classes.

Features

Communication on WiZiQ is done through audio and video. WiZiQ makes it easy to use a mic and/or web cam to communicate within the tool. The teacher can only enable their webcam or can make it more interactive by activating students webcams as well.

You may want to go back and view a class again to review, and WiZiQ makes sure you can do that by automatically recording all of the sessions.

wiziq classes

Documents can be uploaded and shared with students during the class. There is also an interactive whiteboard and full screen sharing that can be used to better illustrate the subject you are covering or learning about.

wiziq iwb

Testing is an important part of learning, and WiZiQ lets you make tests to give to students. Here is the link to an example for testing basic English. Classes may cost money, but the use of WiZiQ is free for teachers and students.

My Own Experience

Seeing that this platform has so many advantages, I decided to try it myself with a group of co-workers (four). I would play the teacher’s role and they, the students’. I invited my students via email a week in advance of the virtual class in order to give them time to get registered. Once the user has completed some enrolling steps, they are ready to either give or take a course.

Considerations

I prepared slides to make my class more interesting, but when the date came and I wanted to upload the slides in advance, I realized I made a mistake. I did not book the classroom 10 minutes before the starting time, so I did not have access to the slide uploading until the class started. Make sure you book the time with a little room in front to prepare any slides or documents you may need to upload.

I would also recommend using headphones instead of your speakers. The headphones make it much easier to hear.

Conclusion

I can say the results of my first experience as a teacher were very good. My colleagues didn’t find the tool very difficult, and they are not digital experts. We used our webcams and microphones, and the platform worked very well during our one hour class. WiZiQ is definitely a great resource for teachers and students with limited schedules.

(By) Nelba Quintana has used this tool as a moderator in the Social Networking Congress as well as participant in many online events.

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