Horizon Wimba Assistance
About Horizon Wimba
Horizon Wimba (live classroom) is an online, interactive, instructor-led learning environment. It allows students and instructors to interact using voice, video, application sharing, polling, and whiteboards. Please check the Helpful Link section for more options.
Installation Information
In order to run and install Horizon Wimba, you must have permission to install software on your machine. You must either be an administrator on your machine, or be granted permission by an administrator to do installations.
If you do not log on to your machine, and are its only user, you are probably the administrator.
Run the Setup Wizard before entering Horizon Wimba for the first time.
Note: If you have difficulty running the wizard on startup, please contact us at 954-262-4357 or by e-mail at wimbasupport@nova.edu.
System Requirements
Listed below are the minimum system requirements to run the Horizon Wimba Live Classroom:
- 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended)
- Internet access at 56k or above
- Soundcard with a microphone and speakers
- 256 MB RAM (higher recommended)
- Broadband Internet access
- Soundcard with a microphone and speakers
Audio Recommendations
Horizon Wimba recommends using headsets (such as Plantronics DSP 500) instead of external speakers or microphones, particularly built-in microphones of laptops.
Listed below are known audio issues and solutions to resolve them. As new topics become available they will be added, if you are experiencing any difficulty that is not listed please contact the Help Desk.
- I am unable to hear HorizonMedia audio using Logitech USB headset.
Some Logitech USB headsets are incompatible with some computer's audio devices, and may cause the system audio to become muted. In cases where there is an incompatability between the headset and the audio device, the system volume and/or recording levels can become muted during a Live Classroom session. This issue will prevent users from speaking or hearing with HorizonMedia throughout a Live Classroom presentation. We currently do not have the specific models of the Logitech headsets that cause this problem. If this problem should occur, the best solution would be to use an analog microphone and speakers or an analog headset, instead of the Logitech USB headset. - I have poor audio quality when using HorizonMedia with a Logitech USB Camera Pro 4000 webcam with built-in microphone.
The Logitech USB Camera Pro 4000 webcam comes with a built-in microphone that can be used with HorizonMedia audio. However the built-in microphone causes various audio quality issues. One known issue is that the audio input volume slider will remain at the bottom until 'Talk' is initiated, then the input volume level will spike. The audio quality in general is also very poor with the built-in microphone. This may be a problem for other Logitech USB webcams as well. The best resolution would be to disable the built-in microphone or selecting another audio input source such as another microphone or a headset.
Using Internet Explorer (IE) 8
Problem:
Wimba Classroom with Internet Explorer version 8...user can run through the wizard but can not enter in to a Classroom session.
Solution:
A default security setting in Internet Explorer 8 may result in an error on page when clicking on the "Enter Room" button in a Blackboard course:
This issue occurs when switching from a Blackboard server that is using HTTPS:// to a Wimba Classroom server using HTTP://.
To resolve this issue, you will have to alter the security settings within Internet Explorer 8 as follows:
- Click Tools->Internet Options->Security.
- Click the Security tab.
- Click the "Custom Level" button.
- In the Miscellaneous section, next to the "Display mixed content" setting, select Enable
- Click the "OK" button.
- Restart Internet Explorer.
You may now access to the Wimba Classroom again by clicking the "Enter Room" link. If you do not wish to alter these settings within Internet Explorer, you may also consider using another supported browser, such as Mozilla Firefox.