Virtual High School Meanderings: Virtual Classroom Technology

I got this in my inbox, I assume from something at the Virtual School Symposium, although I can never be sure.

Hi Dr. Barbour,

With all of your work in education innovation and the use of the web for learning I thought you would be interested in Wiziq 's Virtual Classroom technology.

WiZiQ offers the following features:

Works in Flash format and needs no downloads
2-way live audio/video delivery
Whiteboard with Math tools
Synchronous Content sharing such as PowerPoint (retains animations and transitions), PDF, Flash, MS Word, MS Excel files and videos
Records all sessions to be played back in Flash format (needs no downloads)
Share PowerPoint presentations asynchronously even with narrated audio in slides

Feedback from Nellie, English Teacher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7sJ-RsWMI4

http://www.wiziq.com/Replay_Session.aspx?key=t&id=44782

http://wiziq.typepad.com/wiziqcom/2007/12/collaborating-o.html

Wiziq YouTube Presentations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yty0cPzlcU

Because of many request for more Wiziq demos, we maxed out on the last one,

I set up four more demos to be on Mondays, 2:00PM Pacific Standard Time.

Schedule of upcoming Wiziq demos:

January 7
http://www.wiziq.com/public/session.aspx?detail=3610_A-free-virtual-classroom-tool-that-needs-no-downloads-_teacher_Mark_Cruthers

January 14
http://www.wiziq.com/public/session.aspx?detail=3614_A-free-virtual-classroom-tool-that-needs-no-downloads-_teacher_Mark_Cruthers

January 28
http://www.wiziq.com/public/session.aspx?detail=3612_A-free-virtual-classroom-tool-that-needs-no-downloads-_teacher_Mark_Cruthers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7sJ-RsWMI4

WiZiQ offers the following features:

Works in Flash format and needs no downloads
2-way live audio/video delivery
Whiteboard with Math tools
Synchronous Content sharing such as PowerPoint (retains animations and transitions), PDF, Flash, MS Word, MS Excel files and videos
Records all sessions to be played back in Flash format (needs no downloads)
Share PowerPoint presentations asynchronously even with narrated audio in slides

Sincerely,

Mark Cruthers

www.homeschool-teachers.com

The e-mail also came with an attachment, claiming (at least based on its title) to be a white paper - although I'm not sure f I'd classify it as that. I've uploaded it to my Google Pages account ad you can access it here:

http://mkbarbour.googlepages.com/WiZiQwhitepaperDec.pdf

Beyond the obvious information in the e-mail and in the attachment, anyone know much about this virtual classroom? Anyone use it before?

Also, in the interest of fairness I should also point out a white paper produced by another virtual classroom vendor...

White Paper: Impact of Synchronous Online Learning in Academic Institutions: Elluminate, Inc. - While formal research results about the benefits and impact of synchronous online learning are not widely available today, Elluminate, Inc., a leader provider of live eLearning and web collaboration solutions, has worked with hundreds of academic institutions to change the way they communicate, educate, and collaborate. The company's white paper, "The Impact of Synchronous Online learning in Academic Institutions: Customer Experiences from K12 and Higher Education," discusses current issues in academia, examines available independent research, and describes the experiences of a wide variety of institutions with this enabling technology.