Wimba Voice Email is a form which, once built, can be used and re-used to send messages to external email addresses.
To create the Voice Email form
1. Log in to My Manager
2. Click Voice Email
3. Click the New button in the center of the screen
4. Enter a name for your Voice Email. For example, you might want to call it “First Assignment” or “Voice Email to Students”.
5. Click the Create button
6. Click on the title of the Voice Email you just created to adjust some settings:
• Information
The Information area allows you to modify the name of your Voice Email form, as well as add an optional Description which will appear below the Email name and above the form itself. Descriptions are useful for posting important text, such as a due date or instructions, above your Voice Email.
• Settings
Email fields
• As you prepare your Voice Email, remember that you are building a reusable email form, not a single email. Optional fields allow you to specify the sender and recipients of all messages sent from this Voice Email form, as well as pre-fill the Subject line and Text in the body of the email. Multiple email address may be entered; they should be separated by comma, semi-colon or a carriage return (one address on each line.)
Disable fields
• lets you enter text in a field that users cannot modify. It may be useful to Disable the Subject line if you use email filters, as all messages sent from this Email form will contain the same subject.
Hide fields
• allows you to remove any field from the Voice Email form. If you wish to BCC yourself on all messages sent from this form, you may consider hiding that field.
• Entering text in a hidden field, such as a recipient's email, will still be recognized by the Voice Email form, unbeknownst to the user.
Display reply links in sent Voice Email
• Reply links offer recipients the ability to respond to your Voice Email. Without reply links, Voice Email is limited to one-way communication. These links are available in the body of the actual email. Three types of reply links will always appear, if this option is selected:
• Reply with your voice: Click this link to reply to the voice email with both text and voice.
• Reply all: Click this link to reply (with text and voice) to all the original recipients of the email.
• New Voice Email: Click this link to send a new Voice Email to any email address. This option is useful for individuals who do not have the ability to create Voice Email forms (such as students). Note: The archive of the Voice Email will contain all the initial emails sent, as well as all emails sent via the reply links.
Audio Quality
• The default (Standard) audio quality will suit most needs. However, you may adjust the quality higher or lower, depending on your users’ connectivity to the Internet. Standard Quality streams audio messages at a rate of approximately 13 kilobits per second (kbps), which works well for users on high and lower-bandwidth connections alike.
Max message length
• You may also adjust the maximum duration for which someone may speak. This may be useful if you plan to use the Voice Email for timed quizzes, or to simply limit the amount of time for each recording.
• After you have finished adjusting settings, click Apply in the lower right-hand corner of the page. If you do not click Apply your changes will not be saved!
• Public Access
Voice Email applets can be placed in any web page. Anyone able to access your web page could interact with a Voice Email form. In order to successfully publish an applet, Public Access must be checked. You may wish to deselect this option if you only plan to distribute links to a Voice Email resource, rather than embed it on a web page.
• Privileged Users and Groups
Only the creator of the Voice Email (or an Administrator) can edit the resource, as well as see its archives.
To grant Admin access to other PowerUsers
• Specify these individuals by entering their Voice Tools Manager account email address in the Privileged users area.
• Choose whether this PowerUser can view the Voice Email Archives.
• Click Apply to save your changes. Repeat the process to add other users.
• Note: This option is not available for Users (students).
To set Group privileges, click Privileged groups on the left and choose the appropriate level(s) of access from the list of Groups displayed.
• Archives
All messages associated with a Voice Email resource can be accessed within a read-only Voice Board. Click the link within this area to launch a Voice Board containing an archive of these voice messages. The PowerUser who created this resource, any Administrator, or any PowerUser who has been granted Admin access, can review and delete archived messages within this Board.
• Publish
Voice Email resources can be accessed via a web browser by your students if you send them the direct URL listed in the first box, or can be published on a web page (if Public Access was selected) by copying and pasting the URL in the second box into your web page as a link.
Follow the on-screen instructions to copy and paste the appropriate code from the Publish page to distribute a link to the Voice Email form, create a link on a web page (using HTML code), or insert the Voice Email resource directly within a web page.
You can use the Voice Email form by clicking on the Try It link, or if you wish to come back to the form later, see below.
Using Voice Email
7. Once a Voice Email form is created and you are satisfied with its settings, it is ready for immediate use. To access Voice Email
• Log-in to My Manager
• Click Voice Email
• Click the View icon located to the right of any instance from the list of Voice Email forms.
• The Voice Email form will load in a new window. Record your message, check your message by listening to it, add any text you wish to include, and press the Send arrow to send it out.