UGA will end support of new sessions of Wimba Classroom, a Web conferencing tool, effective Aug. 1. Blackboard Collaborate will replace Wimba Classroom as the centrally supported tool for instructional Web conferencing at UGA.
New Wimba Classroom live sessions at UGA cannot be created as of Aug. 1. The company that supports Wimba Classroom will end support of the product at the end of 2014.
Instructors may download previously recorded Wimba Classroom sessions until Dec. 19. Downloading instructions are available at http://ctl.uga.edu/web-conferencing/faculty. Instructors are encouraged to begin downloading their desired archived Wimba Classroom sessions well in advance of December.
Currently, both Wimba Classroom and Collaborate are available within eLearning Commons and outside eLC as freestanding sessions. After Aug. 1, only Collaborate will be available both within and outside of eLC.
Wimba Voice tools, including Voice Boards, Voice Podcaster and Voice Presentation, will remain available in eLC.
Collaborate is supported jointly by the Center for Teaching and Learning and Enterprise Information Technology Services.
Login details and more information about using Blackboard Collaborate for instruction are at http://ctl.uga.edu/web-conferencing/faculty. Users also can contact Sherry Clouser at sac@uga.edu for more information.