Wimba Resource Page

Using WIMBA in French courses. FAQs

1. How do I register?

   Contact the Course Coordinator who will register you in the system. Information about username and password will be sent to you by email.

2. How do I access the system?

   When you have received confirmation of your registration to access WIMBA go to the login page:

   http://athabasca.horizonwimba.com/athabasca/login

   Type in your full email address (username) and the password you have been given.

   To use WIMBA you will need to have a microphone which can be plugged into your computer.

3. What is the purpose of the voiceboards?

   The French group discussion voiceboard is a public forum intended for use by Athabasca students registered in any French course. It allows you to practice your French by discussing any topic you like with other students registered in WIMBA. You may initiate a topic or respond to any postings on the board.

   Fren200, 201, 305 and 362 have course-specific voiceboards.

   Once you are in the system and see the list of voiceboards, to access the voiceboard you want to use click on the eye (view) on the right of the screen.

   Fren200 and Fren201

   These courses have exercise and exam voiceboards. You can listen to the oral exercises and practice responses to the questions. Although oral exercises are generally done over the phone you may ask permission from your tutor to complete them on the voiceboard if you have difficulty scheduling a phone call.

   If you have opted to do the final oral exam on WIMBA you must first be registered on the system and then agree with your tutor on a date to complete the exam.

   Instructions for completing the exam are given on the voiceboard. You will do brief oral presentations on a selection of topics relating to material studied in the course.

   When you have recorded a response to a topic it is important to listen to it to make sure the recording is clear. You may re-record if you are not satisfied. Because you have the option of preparing answers to the exam topics and of re-recording answers, we expect exams done on WIMBA to be of a higher standard than those done by phone.

   On these boards discussion threads are private (i.e., only tutors can read student responses).

   Fren362

   The Fren362 voiceboard contains the oral exercises for listening practice.

   Occasionally students who have difficulty scheduling times to phone their tutor may use the voiceboard to complete an oral exercise. This can only be done with the approval of your tutor.

   The Fren362 voiceboard also contains some questions on the stories in Le Récit de fiction. Listening to these can help you prepare for the mid-term and final oral exams.

   Fren305

   There is a general discussion board which is open to all students registered in Fren305 and an oral presentation board. Only the tutor or course coordinator can access oral presentations posted by students.

4. What if I have difficulty accessing WIMBA?

   You will need to download Java to access the system.

   If you are having technical difficulties, please contact the course coordinator who will pass on your message to the appropriate person.