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Created on: 02 July, 2009 Members: 33099 | Community Link: http://e-teaching.wiziq.com
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WiZiQ or EduFire?

by Linda Aragoni
Posted on 07 October, 2009

EduFire has been recommended by people in my Personal Learning Network. It seems to be far more strongly oriented toward North American learners than WiZiQ. For example, less emphasis on testing which is definitely out of favor in the US, greater emphasis on small groups instead of huge classes.

Also EduFire seems to have a better understanding of marketing to Americans and Canadians.

I wonder if anyone who has used both would share their experiences.

Linda Aragoni
http://www.you-can-teach-writing.com
http://twitter.com/LindaAragoni
http://GreatPenformances.Wordpress.com

Tags: WiziQ, EduFIre, marketing,

by Harman Singh posted on 08 October, 2009
Well, this in an interesting post for us :)
I talked to Jon, the CEO of Edufire the other day - great guy. And it seems both of us are on the same mission: to promote online education among the students. Although we are approaching things differently, both our companies are working hard to get students and you, the teacher is going to benefit out of it. Both our companies have raised quite large sums of money as investment, basically to promote online education. So, as an e-teacher, I would say that you be on both platforms and try to get as many students as possible. The ultimate decision will depend on the student - the approach he prefers.
by Harman Singh posted on 17 October, 2009
Stephanie, we are on to this (profile pics in chat) and soon you will see it in the virtual classroom!
by Mark Cruthers posted on 12 October, 2009
Wow what a discussion.

I havn't checked out Edufire as much as I'd like to, but I would point out that Wiziq in addition to a great virtual classroom has an outstanding Content Management system and probably the best power point presentation platform anywhere online except for authorSTREAM.
by Linda Aragoni posted on 10 October, 2009
Interesting responses. None from teachers in the US, I note.

Vikrama, I'm sorry to say I find the revamped profile no better than the current one. If anything, I think it is less useful. The old one at least provided a place where I could link to my website.

Nellie, I wonder if the great session you had at WiZiQ was due to WiZiQ. Perhaps it was as much due to the participants and the fact that you'd already had one practice?

I had to smile at the description of Nidhi Sehgal as having "extensive experience" in online teaching: she began in 2008. I wonder if she was even born in 1988 when I began online teaching.

Linda Aragoni
http://www.you-can-teach-writing.com
http://twitter.com/LindaAragoni
http://GreatPenformances.Wordpress.com



by Linda Aragoni posted on 11 October, 2009
Sorry if I offended you, George, but neither you nor Mark had posted on this thread when I posted previous response. If he's added something since, I've missed it.

Please excuse me for not commenting on the videos. I don't learn well via video so I skip them.

Thanks to Tony for his insights. He addressed issues that concern me.

Linda









by Dr. Nellie Deutsch posted on 11 October, 2009
Love your response and attitude, George: "I can do anything you do and you can..." and even better attitude is what I hope for my students. Linda, you can do anything you set your mind to as the cliche goes. See, George managed to embed the video. We learn by copying and adapting things to suit our needs. Nothing new in that.

Here is a blog I found a few minutes ago that I would like to share with you:

http://myphysicalodessy.blogspot.com/2009/02/self-talkits-not-just-for-crazy-people.html



Linda, I would take George's advice.

Keep smiling,

Warm wishes,

Nellie
by Dr. Nellie Deutsch posted on 10 October, 2009
Greetings to all,

I have tried many live online video conferencing rooms such as Interwise, hotconference, Elluminate, Dimdim, Discovery, Adobe Connect, and some others I managed to forget. I was heavily involved in MLM and network marking for profit and I made quite a bit using the conference rooms. As a lifelong learner and educator for over 30 years, I knew I was hooked on WiZiQ after I had joined Mark Cruthers' live online event on how to use the virtual classroom:











On October 9, 2009, I gave two live online events on Moodle for Teachers (M4T) on Edufire and on WiZiQ. I had about the same number of people.
I am very familiar with adobe connect which has many faults as well as attributes just like any other current programs, but the adobe that I was provided with on Edufire was unlike the original adobe connect I had practiced on for the past 2 weeks before the live online event at Edufirfe. First of all, my mic was grayed out (disabled) because I had used the recording feature. It took me a while to figure that out. The support I received during the 2 weeks I spent at Edufire was very generous and invitational, but completely ineffective. Currentlym there is no recording available to document my experience during the live session, so that I could learn and improve my performance. about 5 hours later, I was back in WiZiQ with many of the same participants but others with the exact same presentation. However, this time, I had the best online event ever. Most of the educators were from the USA, Canada, and Europe. The energy in the room was heart lifting. Everyone joined the Moodle course which is going to take place on December 7 2009. They all congratulated and thanked me for a great session and for showing them what a great platform WiZiQ is.

I do not know the CEO of Edufire or any of the other organizations I belonged to in the past, but I do know the CEO of WiZiQ. He is among us, talking with us, supporting us, and does all he can to make WiZiQ the best he can in serving e-learners and e-teachers worldwide. The following video expresses how I feel:













Thank you for bringing up a great question.

Warm wishes,

Nellie
by Dr. Nellie Deutsch posted on 12 October, 2009
Linda,

You have made an excellent comment: I wonder if the great session you had at WiZiQ was due to WiZiQ. Perhaps it was as much due to the participants and the fact that you'd already had one practice?

I expect technology to facilitate and not burden or frustrate me. However, I have been teaching online for since the mid 90sw am grateful to all the students who have taught me how to teach. It is definitely the learners who make the teaching experience a success.

BTW, Did I mention that I was from Toronto, Canada? I completed high school there and then moved to the Middle East where I live with my husband and son. My parents, aunts, uncles and 2 of my daughters live in Canada whom I visit every summer. I also completed my masters in education specializing in curriculum and technology at the University of Phoenix (USA) and am currently working on my data analysis for my PhD after having completed all my studies at an American university. Linda, you may be slowly finding out that there are more North Americans than you think.
by Dr. Nellie Deutsch posted on 15 October, 2009
Vikram,

That's what I love about WiZiQ. Everyone on the staff is committed to improving the platform and is honest about the current situation. I do not appreciate communities of learning that back up the learning system with their eyes shut. The CEO and team are always eager to
make improvements at WiZiQ.

Thank you.
by Dr AMAN BISWAS posted on 13 October, 2009
I strongly agree with you Mark. No one else so far I experienced could provide not only Poer Point Presentation platform but even Adobe Flash. I am simply proud of the fact that I am associated with such a technically advanced platform, who never stop you come up with any problem in front of them, They have no word in their dictionary"IMPOSSIBLE"> Keep up Wiziq, you don't know Mr Harman what are you giving this World!!
by Vikrama Dhiman posted on 15 October, 2009
That is a great post Elena and a fair one too :)

I can tell you that all the features you asked us - pair work, chat history emailing and student feedback on teachers profile are coming up. What's more - you as a teacher would be able to control which feedback appears on the class and which does not.

Right now, we do not have the feature to broadcast more than 2 videos simultaneously.

Your comment about video quality is interesting. Is it better video on the same system? I could get our programming team to check this one.
by Vikrama Dhiman posted on 15 October, 2009
I think there need to be separate metrics to track your teaching brand effectiveness than just the money you make [as this goal can take a bit of a time to materialize - not many businesses make money in the first year, but we need to know if we are on the right path].
by Vikrama Dhiman posted on 08 October, 2009
Hi Linda:

This is an interesting topic.

I think both WiZiQ and eduFire have distinct approaches and identities. We at WiZiQ are committed to creating a global platform [and I believe so does edufire]. I personally like a lot of things they are doing at edufire.

We are coming up with a next iteration user interface which includes new design and language [the new profile design was just launched : take a look at it here -> http://www.wiziq.com/nidhi] used on WiZiQ. We are incorporating feedback from teachers like you in the same.

I also wanted to add that WiZiQ continues to remain strong and grow well in United States. In fact the number of premium members from United States far outnumber the premium members from other countries put together. We hope to grow the usage in United States (and other countries too) even more. As discussed, feedback from teachers like you would be highly useful in this.

I wanted to discuss the two points you made, further:

>>Less focus on testing
Tests like SAT, AP, GRE, GMAT and ACT are attempted by millions of students every year. I agree that school/ course curricula are experimenting with other form of assessments [everywhere in the world]. Recently, the standardized board examination for Class X just got abolished in India, in favor of grades based on regular and periodic assessment by teachers. At WiZiQ, we plan to achieve multiple goals through our tests feature like providing an opportunity for students and learners to self assess and benchmark with peers, as well as allowing teachers who want to add tests to their courses, to be able to do so etc.

>>Focus on smaller groups
WiZiQ allows you to conduct classes with *up to* 500 attendees in one class. There have been classes where teachers have loved this - for instance, professors and counselors from universities have used this for their orientation classes. In addition, majority of the classes are still less than 06 attendees in one class [a small bunch]. WiZiQ can be used for both purposes. If I missed something, please do let me know.

Thanks

Vikrama Dhiman
Product Manager
WiZiQ.com
by Vikrama Dhiman posted on 12 October, 2009
@Linda: You can still add your website and blog and it shows up in the right side column. Check out my profile or Georges to see how it works.

Thanks everyone for making this a great discussion. I am sure there are different things that people will like in different platforms. We are striving hard at WiZiQ to make a platform everyone can use with ease. More options would be enabled on teacher's feedback in a few weeks. So just stay tuned :)
by Englishteacher Namrata Arora posted on 11 October, 2009
Well, that's a lot of personal experiences, comments and recomendations; let's discuss the Features available.
I'll take up the Teacher's Profile
Your wiziq Profile will have your Academic Count, Subjects taught, qualification, credentials, Live, Upcoming and past classes, Content, Tests; Communities, personal links and the number of Recommendations by Public Class attendees.
Your Edufire Profile again shows your academic profile with the rates, some badges and a full record of your classes taken or attended, the recent students and top friends; Credentials, Testimonials and Feedback, in addition to the facility to show your online presence on other networks(Twitter, Linkedin n all).
Organized differently the profile page on both the websites are informative and well-presented.

What about the other aspects?
by Englishteacher Namrata Arora posted on 07 October, 2009
I have just started taking classes on Edufire. Yet to draw a proper comparison. And yes the audience is different...
by Kirsten Winkler posted on 09 October, 2009
It is great to see that two leaders in the online education sector can get along so well. I definitely agree with Harman, spread your services. Both platforms offer you different kind of services you can build a clientship on.

This way you will be able to target more people. As Bernhard Niesner said on last ETCon, there is Coca Cola and there is Pepsi and other softdrinks and each of them has its own community. Although WiZiQ and eduFire are targeting roughly the same markets, there are huge differences between them and as we are only at the beginning yet no one really knows where it is taking us.

What unites both platforms is the edupreneur / teacherpreneur approach. That you as a teacher have to invest some effort to find your students together with the platform. Both platforms are teacher centered and very dedicated to help you building your own business / brand.

And I think Jon would agree ;).
by Kirsten Winkler posted on 14 October, 2009
One of the questions that you have not discussed yet: where are you earning money as a teacher and how much? Or are you all teaching for free?

Would really be interesting to know because finally everyone of us but especially the platform has to make money somehow.
by Kirsten Winkler posted on 16 October, 2009
The big difference is that WiZiQ can react on requests about the classroom, because they developed it. Most of the other platforms are using third party tools / webmeetings and are so bound to the decisions of those providers. If Adobe is not doing much about Live Connect, eduFire has to live with it. And they cannot implement ideas of their community to the classroom either.

I am a huge fan of in-house developed classrooms because of this. If you take a look back it is amazing how the WiZiQ classroom changed. I also get only positive feedback from teachers about it, because it is made for teachers based on their input.

eduFire is very strong in the use of social media and building a community / tribe. They are also very clever about their SuperPass product and offering very unique classes.

As I said, as independent online teacher you have to try out both for sure. For what you decide in the end will depend on your personal taste. Because both of them do everything to make your life as a teacher as smooth as possible.
by rose posted on 11 October, 2009
Linda Dear
Not that I shall like to critisize anyone, but not had too good experience myself. We organized a class asked few students to join. After that asked technical expert to explain how big files could be loaded, being biologist, nothing goes without figures. Very unfortunately the lady honourable from technical eperts of Edufire consumed solid one hour coming up with the answer, we donot allow webcam, you can enter the class and load your files after the session, we use only white boards, so rsult was zero and lateron no news from them. So sorry Linda to share such an exerience. With wiziq support team, I do not think it takes more than a day to get all solutions. Good day
by Tony Burton posted on 11 October, 2009
I am also on Edufire and have been for quite some time. I have not had good success with their platform. It has a vast number of Canadian, American and European subscribers... but it seems that the preponderance of them are looking for free classes. When I gave free classes, I had great response. When I charged, there was little to no interest.

One problem I have with Edufire (other than that noted above) is that it seems to be growing into more of a social network than a learning platform. It reminds me of when I taught high school, and many students seemed to think their main reason to be at school was so they could hang out in the hallways and socialize, rather than to study and learn.

I admit that I very much like the way screen sharing works there, as well as some of the other technical features, but I have not been satisfied with its revenue production for teachers. Teachers work hard to produce material and prepare for a session, and they commit time to delivering that class. It's sad to do so and have no one sign up or show up, causing a lot of wasted time.
by Vijay Kumar posted on 10 October, 2009
Very interesting debate!

Above all, I find WiZiQ people very warm, responsive & caring. I have not experienced similar responses from others who provide pay-to-procure services in the past 36 years of my professional life.

Besides, lower visibility of a product/service in one market geography does not make it less comparable universally. In the end users will decide what works for them best. I see the community of teachers & students growing at WiZiQ, significantly. Some of the participants of my public classes were from Serbia, Tashkent (Russia) & Philippines!

I can't help but wonder when this nice little company is going to be acquired by someone as its market worth soars! Oh, well...for now I am not going to look at the gift horse's mouth.

All the very best,
by Austin B. posted on 15 October, 2009
Very great discussion here!

I started my online teaching career here on WiZiQ and I thought that this platform is just great! There are many options in the virtual classroom, most of the students are very cooperative and smart, and everyone here is just awesome! But, I was looking online after a couple of months on WiZiQ and saw this platform called EduFire. I took a look at it and I thought that this platform was just perfect! Now, I am not saying that it is better than WiZiQ as I think that they are both equally great in the field of online education.

EduFire is also a great platform with a very active population and I have been on that platform for about 5 months now. I love the community and feel of that site and everyone is just so friendly! I have recently come back to teaching here on WiZiQ and I have to say that with the changes that you guys have made, I don't know which one is better!

Probably in a couple of months, I'll be looking for another platform.. just going on and on... :D
by George Machlan posted on 14 October, 2009
This may sound crazy but my goal is to attract 1000 students before I charge a fee. But I specialize in left field approaches.
by George Machlan posted on 11 October, 2009
Linda, I have a very bad writing style. I write as if we are face-to-face and I forget that you don't see my smiles, smirks and boyish grinning. I think I should stick to video responses. You posted a very bold and honest question and I love people who ask the tough questions. When I get out of line ask Nellie to slap me on the back of the head ;)
by George Machlan posted on 10 October, 2009
Wait a minute, Me and Mark are from the US!

I like Nellie have tried too many platforms to count. I have no doubt that there are comporable products and possibly even a better one but, I have never found a corporate team, a user community and a societal need so perfectly matched. Dare I say it? A match made in heaven.

I too spent a long time working with HotConference not so much as an MLM'er but wanting to build sharing communitites in WEB2.0. Unfortunately the business model proved to be squarely against a holistic sharing community. As far as I can tell that is one of the distinctives that will sustain WIZIQ over all comers world-wide.

The thing is this can be a both/and not an either/or. I would just hate to have someone like you leave before we really give this fancy car a run for the money.

Now let me see if I can embed like Nellie, here was my response on youtube to her posting there. (link in case I can't do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUT16qXXKkw )

by George Machlan posted on 10 October, 2009
Oh cool, it worked! I wouldn't have tried that if Nellie hadn't done it first. (yes, if a girl can do it I have to at least try ;)
by Elena Korobova posted on 15 October, 2009
I've had some experience with both platforms (more with Edufire than Wiziq).

What I like about Wiziq:
- easier to use when you are not familiar with the platform
- the possibility to switch between the ppt presentation and the whiteboard
- a very large whiteboard / presentation window
- being able to create private classes (on Edufire it's either one-to-one or public and there's no way to control who can attend)
- I definitely prefer to pay once a year for being able to use a teaching platform than to pay 15 per cent for each class

What I like about Edufire:
- being able to do pairwork and group work (split students into groups and put them to different rooms and the teacher can switch between rooms)
- better video quality
- more than two people can go on the webcam (useful for very small groups)
- possibility to email the chat history to the participants
- students can leave feeback that appears on the teacher's profile

If wiziq has some of the features I mentioned above for Edufire but I just don't know how to use them, I do apologise and hope someone will explain to me! :)


by Elena Korobova posted on 15 October, 2009
Thank you, Vikrama. :) I'll be looking forward to these new features!

As for video quality, I have quite a good webcam (Logitech Pro 9000) so I noticed a difference (video seems to be a bit blurred on wiziq).
by Puspita Chakraborty posted on 09 October, 2009
Harman/Vikarama,

One feature I would strongly recommend is that of Desktop/Screen Sharing. I am sure you must have thought about that and must be working towards it. But please expedite it as that can make a big difference to the teachers and students.

Regards
Puspita
by Stephanie Inge posted on 16 October, 2009
WizIQ is user friendly, affordable and their tech support is patient, friendly and truly seem to care. In this day and age, good old-fashioned customer service is rare and can make all the difference to the consumer. After weeks of comparison shopping, I find it has all the features I'm looking for; although I will be glad when they improve the web sharing capabilities to make it easier and streamlined. The other recommendation I have is to replace those green and blue icons in the classroom chat window, with an actual profile picture. It's always nice to put a face with a name and after all, isn't that why we uploaded our picture in the first place?

I'm getting ready to schedule my first class and a little nervous and excited all at the same time.
by Stephanie Inge posted on 17 October, 2009
Thank you Harman! I originally mentioned it to Robbie and then Sid and both thought it was good ide :-) Thank you!
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