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Wimba Helps Drive Blended Learning Success for K-12 Environment
William Penn School District Uses Technology to Meet Needs Outside of Traditional Classroom
| Source: Wimba
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - November 13, 2007) - Wimba, the education technology company that
helps people teach people, today announced its involvement in the success
of the William Penn School District (Pennsylvania) Cyber Academy serving
K-12 students whose circumstances make blended learning an attractive
alternative to the traditional, brick-and-mortar classroom.
Offering technology-enhanced education with the help of the nonprofit
consortium Blended Schools and combining the benefits of online and
face-to-face instruction, the William Penn School District (WPSD) Cyber
Academy has exceeded administrators' expectations and delighted both
faculty and family users. Cyber Academy was founded in August 2005 and now
offers more than 120 different courses taught by state certified
instructors from WPSD and partner institutions through Blended Schools.
"When we first launched Cyber Academy our informational meetings attracted
four or five parents," said Ursula Willis, director of Instructional
Technology for WPSD. "But after only a few weeks, we had five times that
many. The idea of blended instruction has caught on very quickly."
Cyber Academy now helps meet the needs of students who, for varied reasons,
are learning outside the traditional classroom. While some families simply
favor home schooling, others are responding to a number of medical, social,
and relational factors that make education technology a life-changing
alternative for a growing number of district families.
"WPSD's success illustrates the excitement of our work in the K-12 arena,"
said Yancy Oshita, Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Wimba. "Watching
students get more engaged in learning--seeing our solutions touch people's
lives -- is both gratifying and inspiring."
Cyber Academy uses the Blackboard course management system along with Wimba
Classroom and Wimba Voice to provide audio, video, application sharing,
content display, and vitally important elements of interaction that
transcend text-based courses. These solutions are vital to students who
learn best by hearing or by receiving information via multiple means
concurrently. Wimba also supports student engagement by facilitating vocal
instruction, collaboration, coaching, and assessment.
"I like Wimba because it gives me different ways to learn," said Cyber
Academy 12th Grader Richard Giffins. "I'm more of an audio guy. Hearing my
teacher gives me more of an explanation and a better feel for what I'm
learning."
Cyber Academy instructors have seen the benefits as well. Teacher Lisa
Landrum said, "With [blended] instruction, I'm a much better, well-rounded
instructor. Most students' grades improved over time; they got more
confident and participated more." Willis cited Wimba's ability to ensure
consistent rigor across courses and confirm students' mastery of subject
matter.
Cyber Academy administrators also find the system highly motivational for
students, and praise its inclusive qualities. They said that
technology-enhanced education helps a diverse set of students better
prepare for life after high school, whether it involves college or work.
Willis said, "We need to look at how we're preparing our children for the
work experience and the higher education experience, and this technology is
the way to do that."
Public schools across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are administered by
independent school districts, many of which serve an average of about 2,000
K-12 students. While the larger, county-wide school systems in neighboring
states can individually support online and blended education programs,
smaller school districts with limited revenues have been challenged to keep
pace. Blended Schools has brought together the resources of more than 130
Pennsylvania schools to help them deliver the benefits of education
technology to their families.
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. Our
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 educators 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. Instructors 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