Horizon Wimba unveiled its newest collaborative software product for online education -- Pronto version 1.0 -- a free instant messaging and voice chat tool that allows students and instructors to spontaneously meet live online at any time to discuss their coursework.

Pronto is unique to education because it works with course management systems such as Blackboard and WebCT to automatically populate students' contact lists with their classmates' names, thereby making it easy for students to spontaneously collaborate live online. After all, not all learning can be scheduled -- it's often informal and unplanned.

Pronto features include:

-- Instant Messaging (IM)

Students can chat with classmates or instructors anytime.

-- Voice over IP (VoIP) Audio

Talkative students can plug in a microphone to their computers and speak to classmates regardless of location.

-- Group IM and VoIP

Not limited to one-on-one conversations; entire groups of students can chat at one time.

-- Contact lists automatically populated according to class rosters

Students' contact lists are automatically populated with the names of their classmates in each course, thereby eliminating the need to track down peers throughout the year.

-- Tightly linked to Blackboard and WebCT

Campus administrators don't need to create usernames or passwords for their students, as all access privileges are created automatically based on a school's course management system.

-- Access CMS classes from Pronto

Students click on their class names inside Pronto and pass through directly to their CMS course pages.

-- Teachers and T.A.s displayed differently

Easily distinguish between students, instructors, and teaching assistants.

Ideal for informal, unplanned communication, Pronto simplifies communication on any campus by tying together many of the different forms of communication that students currently use to collaborate. Now, instead of relying on disparate forms of communication such as instant messaging, email, social networking websites, Blackboard or WebCT, and the phone, students can use Pronto for all their academic and social collaboration needs.

While Pronto offers many similar features as other instant messaging tools such as AOL and Yahoo! Instant Messenger, and fosters social networking similarly to Facebook, Pronto is unique to education because it integrates with course management systems such as Blackboard and WebCT, thereby automatically populating each student's contact list each semester with the names of every student in their classes and social organizations. With Pronto, students simply log on to their computers and instantly see who's online from their classes, clubs, and study groups -- without even logging in to their CMS. Each student can then spontaneously ask questions or make comments to classmates.

Pronto benefits include:

-- Spontaneous Learning and Communication

Students can instantly ask their classmates and/or instructors questions about their coursework the moment they need help.

-- Simplified Campus Communication

Instead of relying on disparate forms of communication such as the phone, email, chat, and instant messaging, Pronto wraps all these means of communication into one simple platform.

-- Student-to-Student Interaction

Research shows that students often learn better from each other than from instructors. Now students can easily ask their classmates for help.

-- Ideal for Unplanned Communication

Students can meet online at any time, no longer relying on scheduled classes or office hours.

-- Integrates with Popular Educational Technologies

Pronto automatically populates each student's contact list based on their classes because it seamlessly integrates with Blackboard and WebCT.

-- Social Networking

The student community is a vital part of any school. Students can use Pronto to discuss the numerous social activities they care about.

"We spent more than a year speaking with students, instructors, and staff members at education institutions throughout the world and created Pronto to specifically fulfill the communication and teaching needs that thousands of campuses face on a daily basis," said Tommaso Trionfi, CEO of Horizon Wimba. "We heard time and time again that students need an easier, more reliable way to meet with each other to discuss their coursework. We're delighted to report that the initial response to Pronto has been even better than we imagined and we truly believe that Pronto has the potential to change the landscape of education communication."

Pronto 1.0 is currently available for pre-release clients and will be available to all education institutions for free in Fall 2006. Schools interested in reserving their free campus-wide license can sign up at http://www.horizonwimba.com/products/pronto.