From B2E News Alert / The Heller Reports
http://b2e.qeddata.com/story-2344-6.html
Wimba Collaboration Suite™ Empowers K-12 Teaching and Learning
Wimba Inc —Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Growing Number of K-12 Schools and Districts Increase Engagement, Improve Collaboration, and Supplement
Professional Development with Wimba Solution
New York, NY (VIA PRWEB) March 24, 2009 -- Wimba® Inc., the education technology company that enables
collaboration for teaching and learning, announced today a three-fold increase in the number of K-12 schools and
districts that have selected the Wimba Collaboration Suite™ to increase engagement, improve collaboration,
extend curriculum and supplement professional development. Strategic investment in collaborative technology is a
growing trend throughout North America as well as other growing markets, like the United Kingdom.
K-12 students today are 21st century learners - "born digital" - fluent in Facebook and experts at texting. The
challenge of engaging these students is effectively met by Wimba's Collaboration Suite which brings students and
teachers together with a combination of interactive technologies such as voice, video, podcasting, instant
messaging, application sharing, polling and whiteboarding.
An increasing number of schools and districts realize the value of collaborative learning and are now investing in
their online programs. The benefits of technology to address diverse learning styles, aid in the acquisition of 21st
century skills, and encourage students to interact with classmates and teachers are being recognized and
supported at the highest levels of government and by educators nationwide. Under the leadership of new federal
education legislature, more than $100 billion dollars has recently been allocated for state and district education
administrators to support education, including Web 2.0 initiatives.
This enthusiasm for collaborative technology is reflected in the growing number of K-12 schools and districts that
have selected the Wimba Collaboration Suite. In 2008 alone Wimba has tripled its K-12 customer base. Over 170
districts or schools now utilize Wimba for their online learning. Some of those customers include:
Virtual Schools
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blendedschools.net
Kentucky Virtual Schools
Louisiana Virtual School
New Hampshire Virtual Learning Academy
North Carolina Virtual Public School
Public School Districts
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Albuquerque Public Schools
Baltimore City Public School System
Brevard Public Schools
Clear Creek Independent School District
School Board of Clay County, Florida
School District of Beloit
At Wimba Connect 2009, Wimba's second annual user conference taking place the first week of April, an entire
conference track will focus on issues and topics around K-12 education.
"With Wimba, we are able to fulfill two critical requirements: enhancing the relationship between teachers and
students and developing an online community to engage students while preparing them for the workplace," said
Chanin Rivenbark, Chief Technology Officer at North Carolina Virtual Public Schools (NCVPS), one of the nation's
leading virtual schools. "The integrated platform and secure architecture lowers our total cost of ownership,
alleviates security concerns at local school levels and maximizes our agility because it does not require additional
resources or staff to run any of Wimba's collaborative solutions."
Seamless integration with leading course management systems like ANGEL® Learning, Blackboard® and Moodle
give K-12 educators easy access to the Wimba Collaboration Suite.
K-12 educators enjoy these benefits with the Wimba Collaboration Suite:
Engage students: voice discussion boards, recorded messages and announcements
Strengthen class community and collaboration: secure, academic-focused instant messaging
Supplement professional development: online workshops, meetings, and mentoring
Address diverse learning styles: virtual classrooms, classroom access through live and recorded lectures, and use of
interactive whiteboards
"The innovative use of our collaborative learning technologies amongst our growing number of K-12 customers is
exciting," said Tommaso Trionfi, CEO at Wimba. "The rapid adoption of our solution demonstrates that K-12
teachers and administrators are enthusiastic about using collaborative technology that resonates with their
students, who are today's digital natives."
For information on attending Wimba Connect 2009 visit www.wimba.com/connect09/ or visit
www.wimba.com/k12 to better understand how the Wimba Collaboration Suite can benefit your school.
About Wimba
Wimba is a company focused solely on education and dedicated to the principle that people learn more when they
are drawn closer together. Wimba's collaborative software applications for the online education market enable
institutions to bridge technology and pedagogy by supplementing course management systems with many of the
proven disciplines of in-person learning environments. Wimba's intuitive solutions enable teachers and students to
quickly and easily teach and learn live online, engage in live chat and instant message exchanges, benefit from oral
content being added to text-based course content, and more. Teachers can also use Wimba solutions to convert
Microsoft Word documents into accessible course content and to create and administer tests, quizzes, and exams.
Our focus on education and collaboration with educators fuels our product development. Wimba. People Teach
People. www.wimba.com