UA News

One feature is a shared whiteboard, which participants can write and draw on.

The Office of Instruction and Assessment, in partnership with University Information Technology Services, has launched Elluminate, a Web-based virtual classroom and meeting environment that provides a suite of online meeting tools. UA employees and students – anyone with a UA NetID – can access and use the online tool at no cost.

Elluminate is a collaborative Web conferencing system that allows moderators and participants to share voice, video, text and images – plus whiteboard, chat and desktop applications – making it a versatile tool for online learning, meetings, conferences, workshops and on-demand presentations. 

Elluminate has been designed with a focus on instruction. The system includes a variety of ways to hold class sessions online, enable communication between participants and monitor student activity, facilitate students working in groups, record meetings, publish recordings as podcasts, plan meetings, facilitate online polling, etc. Plus, the software is compliant with the guidelines of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

"With Elluminate, users can create virtual meetings independent of location," explains Wayne Brent, senior consultant at the UA's Office of Instruction and Assessment.

"You can use this tool for virtual classroom sessions, virtual office hours, recording content and student project meetings. Students can work in groups during class time or at their convenience between class sessions, allowing for greater flexibility of schedules and more time on learning. Other potential applications include department meetings, outreach and lab/work group meetings. Researchers have used Elluminate to coordinate grant collaborations, too." 

For example, the instructor or meeting leader can bring in PowerPoint presentations and control what the participants see or give them the ability to navigate on their own. This allows them to review a presentation at their own pace, go back and forth between slides and take notes without feeling rushed. Participants also can share applications, Web sites, video and audio content, presentations and documents.

Elluminate's virtual meeting room comes complete with a shared whiteboard to write and draw on, giving participants the opportunity to mark up the illustration and keep it evolving.

Just like in a "live" meeting or class, participants can signal their intent to respond to a question (by clicking a "Raise Hand" button), signal their understanding (by clicking a "Happy Face" button) or convey their concerns (by clicking a "Confused Face" button). Because the instructor can keep track of the order in which students raised their hands, he or she can even call them back in order, unlike in a physical classroom setting, where it can be hard to tell who raised their hand first.

Lessons and meetings in general can be enhanced by "bringing in" a remote guest speaker, at little or no cost.

Another useful feature is the opportunity to set up Web tours.

Brent explains: "The meeting leader can guide the participants through a series of Web sites and content in real time. This makes for a more elegant and efficient way of teaching, as opposed to taking class time and risking typos by saying, ‘And now, everyone please go to ‘w-w-w-dot ....'"

In addition to interacting within the main meeting room environment, breakout meeting rooms can be created, allowing for small group discussions and collaboration among defined sets of participants. Students can use Elluminate to work on group projects. It also allows them to work together on applications, such as by allowing them to collaboratively create and edit a document or presentation.

The recording feature makes it possible to capture a meeting in its entirety for students who missed a class or need to review,  access it online or convert it into a stand-alone file, or to make edits to it and publish it, for example as a podcast or movie file. If desired, instructors can create a link to a specific meeting from D2L or any other learning management system for easy access. 

Elluminate's planning feature allows instructors to script a lesson or a meeting agenda, gather media and resources and set up events and activities beforehand. This saves time that otherwise would have slowed down and distracted from the actual class session. Instructors can also share lesson plan files among themselves and thus keep the curriculum consistent.

Among the various types of interactions Elluminate offers are some that are difficult in face-to-face meetings or real-world classroom environments. For example, without additional technology in face-to-face classes, only one person can speak at a time. The chat feature allows the instructor to have multiple students ask questions or respond to questions or problems at the same time. They can then review the responses, directing discussions or further questions to select responses. The polling tool allows for the collection and display of responses in real time, allowing teacher and students to get instant feedback and a view of the overall picture.

"Monitoring all the responses in real time can help the instructor get a better feel for whether the students understand the lesson or concepts as well as monitor the beliefs and opinions of students," explains Brent. "The student, on the other hand, can anonymously use this tool to check their understanding.

"Overall, Elluminate enables instructors by expanding their educational choices, while at the same time it helps remove some of the barriers that are part of a physical classroom setting."  

It also can be used to enhance the teaching and learning in a physical classroom with instructor projection and student computers, provided an Internet connection is available. 

The University has purchased an unlimited use, three-year Elluminate software license. The software is hosted at Elluminate.com. 

The site offers training resources, such as tutorials and information on how different formats can be used with different sets of users, and specific sections addressing every feature of the application.

To use the system, computers must have Internet access and download a Java application. Elluminate can accommodate anywhere from two participants up to thousands.

Elluminate also supports a community called LearnCentral.org,  a new social learning network where educators worldwide can connect with peers, share content, build portfolios, access resources, attend events and collaborate in real time.

To find out more
about Elluminate or get started using it for your meeting or classroom, go
to UA's Learning Technology Center. For additional information, contact Wayne Brent at wbrent@email.arizona.edu.