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WIT Announces Publication of Technology Leadership Book Where Josette Fleszar (President of Jigsaw Meeting) is Featured in Their First Book “CLIMB”.

Women In Technology (WIT) is proud to announce the publication of their first book, CLIMB: Leading Women In Technology Share Their Journeys To Success. CLIMB  which features more than 60 profiles of leaders influencing Atlanta’s business. This publication offer deep insights into the business climate and technical innovations and the role of  Atlanta’s women business leaders play.

“These powerful and poignant contributions illustrate challenging and often humorous leadership lessons that can impact readers of all ages and gender,” said Sandy Hofmann, president of WIT, Inc. and co-editor of CLIMB. “These extraordinary women have generously shared their invaluable experience, advice, and journeys that will inspire leaders in this generation and the next.”

Josette Fleszar, originally from Ft. Lauderdale, FL has been profiled as a leader in our technology community. Josette is currently the President & CEO of Jigsaw Meeting.  Her contribution is titled Blessed Time and Time Again. Jigsaw Meeting operate an online meeting software company that allows for web video conferencing. Jigsaw Meeting also own and operate a virtual classroom software company that allow educators and company with training needs the platform to conduct online classes that are interactive.

CLIMB also describes efforts by WIT and The WIT Foundation to support the next generation of women through pre-career programs encouraging girls to study and work in STEM-related careers (science, technology, engineering and math.)  Net proceeds from book sales will provide additional funding for the WIT Foundation.

CLIMB will first be available in limited quantity at the upcoming WIT Women of the Year in Technology Awards gala November 10, 2010, then sold online through WIT’s website (www. mywit.org), as well as at WIT signature events and forums. The book will be available on Amazon in 2011.

Printed locally by Graphic Solutions Group, CLIMB was produced through support from Executive Alliance, Grant Thornton and WestReed.

About Women in Technology (WIT)

WIT’s mission is to serve as passionate advocates for advancing women in Georgia’s technology community. Each year, more than 1,000 thought leaders and professionals attend WIT Forums, WIT’s leadership and networking series.  WIT delivers professional development programs, such as WIT Executive Coaching and WIT Careers in Action, to enable members to hone their leadership skills and achieve visibility within the business community. WIT’s philanthropic and educational programs, such as Girls Get IT, provide outreach to educate and encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in science and technology. WIT has two annual premier events, WIT Connect, WIT’s annual fundraiser event, and WIT’s Women of the Year in Technology Awards honoring the women who lead Georgia’s technology community. WIT is a founding society of the Technology Association of Georgia, an umbrella membership organization that serves the Georgia technology community. For more information on WIT and the WIT Foundation, WIT’s philanthropic arm, visit www.mywit.org.

Over the years people have gotten more comfortable with the idea of virtual interactions in place of real world contact. Think of all the friends that you have on Twitter, Facebook or Myspace. How many of them have you seen in real life versus how many will you probably never meet? If you are anything like the rest of us then there are more and more that fall into the “never meet” column. So, it should come as no surprise that schools have been slowly working toward online classroom systems. There are some parents that do not like the idea of Virtual Schools because they do not think that the children will get the same level of socialization as in a physical school. Other parents feel the lack of socialization is a good thing because of the rise in violence in public schools. With the new advances in Online Educational Software students can a lot of the benefits from socialization without the danger.

The benefits of Virtual Classrooms to the students include:

· Having all of the reference material at the tips of their fingers. If the student does not understand a word or subject then they are able to quickly get up to speed and back into the discussion.

· Note taking and exam preparation that has never been easier. All of the email, chats, discussion groups and other means of communication are logged along with the student’s notes so that they can look back and review the information at any time.

· A richer learning experience. In the past having a movie or visual aid was something of a treat for students because the normal form of teaching was by lecture. Now the teacher can easily combine their lecture with audio and video clips to fully immerse the students in the subject matter at hand.

Online Classroom Systems offer just as many benefits to the parents:

· It offers them a flexible schedule. Since a lot of Online Educational Software will allow the courses to be taken on variable schedules, the parents have more options for their work or family plans.

· Virtual Classrooms are real time and money savers because there is no travel time involved. A typical commute to school and back is around thirty minutes to an hour which equals out to around 5 hours per week that you could be doing other things and quite a bit of money saved on gasoline.

· Virtual Schools also allow the parents an unparalleled level of involvement in their children’s education. They can get feedback from the teachers, look over their children’s class work and be a part of the process.

Public schools have been reluctant to fully embrace Online Educational Software for a number of reasons. Mainly because the Online Classroom Systems have just recently become sophisticated enough to give the students a fully immersive educational experience. But another reason might be that the schools only see the initial expense of instituting the Virtual School and are not aware of the benefits that Virtual Classrooms can offer to them over the brick and mortar system. Here are a few of the many reasons that you may want to become a Virtual School:

· Traditionally a schools growth has been limited by its geographic area. There are a finite number of children within an easy commute to the school so once you have enrolled them all then your school will stop growing. Online Classroom Systems do not have that limitation and Virtual Schools can expand as far as they feel comfortable with going. Many schools of this type have students enrolled from countries around the world.

· Using Online Educational Software allows the students to be more productive with their time. In a typical day a student has to drive or be driven to and from school and find something to do with the time between classes which can be substantial. With Online Classroom Systems there is not any wasted time so the student can finish their school work and use the extra time to have fun and follow other interests.

· Virtual Schools do not have to worry about the overhead that a standard school would. They do not need the safety officers, janitors, lunch room attendants and other personnel that a brick and mortar school would. They do not even need to have a campus which is where most of the money for a school is invested.

· The administrators of Virtual Classrooms have a greater ability to monitor and interact with the students. It is easy to track the students and see who has been attending the classes and who has not. They can tell which students are struggling and need a little extra help. Online classroom Systems prevent children from falling through the cracks and when you need to alert the parents to a child’s behavior, you have the data logs as proof and a much needed backup.

· One of the biggest benefits of Virtual Classrooms is how easy it makes the process of learning. All of your notes, research material, study groups and lectures are accessible within the Online Educational Software so when it comes time to study for a test, the students are fully prepared.

For years now colleges and universities have been offering Virtual Classrooms to their students and many have now become full fledged Virtual Schools. Some people have looked down on these types of schools as inferior to a “regular “ school but advances in Online Educational Software has made it possible for them to give all of the benefits of a traditional school with none on the disadvantages. Let’s look at a few.

Over crowding has always been a problem for traditional schools because they only had a limited amount of space at their location. If the school needed to grow then the actual building had to be expanded in order to give more space for classrooms. Since that took time and a lot of added expense, many schools would put it off until a teacher was overloaded with students and could no longer teach them effectively. The schools that have implemented an Online Classroom System do not have to worry about there being too many students and not enough teachers. The use of cutting edge Online Educational Systems allows one teachers to easily give a multitude of students the one on one instruction they need, while still guiding the class through a group setting. If the class does become too much for one teacher to handle then it is a simple matter to split one group off into another Virtual Classroom. Many times it is done behind the scenes so that the students are not even aware of the change.

If you are worried that your child may miss out on the social component of school then you have not seen the new Online Classroom Systems in action. Virtual Schools have come a long way from just being simple online classes. They have mascots, team colors and a sense of school spirit that makes it unique and gives the students a real feeling of belonging. The students can interact with their classmates, chat and meet up online just like they would at a physical campus and if you have a camera connected to the computer it can feel like they are in the same room as their friends.

By far the biggest advantage of Virtual Classrooms is the flexibility that it gives the students when setting their schedule. You may remember the days of signing up for classes in college and trying to get all morning classes with as little time wasted between classes as possible. Inevitably one class would fall through and you would end up walking across the campus in the rain or having to waste two hours while waiting for your next class to start. Online Classroom Systems takes the guess work out of the process and allows the students to set up their schedule however they see fit. Since there is no wasted time before or after classes, they still have time to keep a job or just have fun with their friends in real life.

Many of the best colleges and schools are beginning to switch over to Online Classroom Systems. It makes sense for them because it saves a lot of money in the long run. When schools use Online Educational Software they do not have to keep as large of a staff or campus to give their students the same quality of education. Even though Virtual Schools are a great idea from a business standpoint they are even better for students. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Flexible schedule – With money being tighter than ever, many students go to school while holding down a full or part time job. Virtual Classrooms can be scheduled more tightly together because there is no need to allow for travel time to the school or having to run all the way across a large campus. You can schedule all the classes that you need in the morning or night depending on your work schedule and still have time for a social life.

2. Notes and class work – Online Classroom Systems allow all of the class material to be uploaded to the server. Many will also allow the student to store their notes online. Granted, you will no longer be able to use the “dog ate my homework” excuse but you will have access to all of your course work, anytime that you need it.

3. Connecting with other students – Study groups and student discussion are a great way to prepare for upcoming tests and to help each other understand the information. Online Educational Software makes getting together easier than ever with virtual study groups. You can talk and trade ideas as easily as if you were sitting in the same room as your friends.

4. Comfort – Waking up and getting ready for an early morning class can be a pain. Most students do not even schedule morning classes because they will either sleep through them or not be able to pay attention. When you are attending Virtual Classrooms, the only hardship is rolling out of bed and booting up the computer. You do not even need to get dressed unless the Virtual Schools support video conferencing.

5. Backup and verification – Keeping track of your grades and class schedule can be stressful at times but Online Classroom Systems take care of that for you. Virtual Classrooms keep track of your past grades, upcoming lectures and tests for easy reference.

In the past it went without saying that you would send your kids to public schools. With public schools installing metal detectors and seeing an increase in violence, parents are teaching more of their children at home. The upside of home schooling your children is the increased protection and focus on education. The downside is that the kids do not get the same level of interaction with other kids or a sense of belonging.

Virtual schools are bridging the gap between the experience of a public school and the safety of home school. Children in Virtual Classrooms can interact with the other kids during class discussion, study groups and group projects. If the Online Educational Software is good enough, they can even hold video conferencing to feel like they are in the same room as their friends and teachers. Virtual Classrooms have the added benefit of keeping all of the study materials online so that the child can access them whenever they need to study.

As I mentioned, one of the drawbacks of teaching your kids at home is that they do not feel like they belong to a school. They live in different houses, use different computers and the software that they use is drab and dull. Quality Online Classroom Systems will allow the look and feel of the software to reflect the schools unique teaching style. A Virtual School should be branded in the same way as a brick and mortar school to give the kids a sense of community and school spirit.

Virtual Classrooms solve another of the problems that people see with home school. If it is not done correctly, a child that has been home schooled can be sheltered and not get the benefits received from meeting children of different backgrounds. Online Educational Software allows students from all over the world to come together and share ideas while learning the fundamentals that they will need for later life. Virtual Classrooms add a level of variety that cannot be matched by brick and mortar schools because they are not restricted to only receiving students from a certain geographic area.

If you have been considering home schooling your child then there is no better time to start looking into Online Educational Software. Colleges and private schools have been using virtual classrooms for some time but public schools are slowly integrating Online Classroom Systems. Maybe in the future we will get a choice in our children’s education. Where some days we can send them to school but on other days we can let them log in from home. It would be the best of both worlds.

The internet is able to put people in touch with each other anywhere in the world for business or pleasure and Online Educational Software is able to do the same for schools but some are still slow to adopt Online Classroom Systems. Many schools say that they do not have the funds to make the change over and others think that it lessens their reputation as an educational institution. Let’s face it, virtual schools and virtual classrooms are the wave of the future and there are many benefits to virtual over physical schools. Here are a few reasons that you should offer it to your students:

1. One of the biggest advantages to Online Classroom Systems is that they take distance out of the equation. You can attract teachers from distant locations that you would normally not have access to. Those different perspectives and lifestyles will enrich your student’s experiences in the Virtual Classrooms. It also allows a school to overcome one of its primary drawbacks. Before Virtual Schools were available a school could only attract the students that lived within a reasonable distance to the physical location. With Online Educational Software you can attract as many students as you feel comfortable with teaching.

2. Virtual Classrooms allow the students to be more flexible with their schedules. Traveling to and from school takes up a lot of time. To make matters worse, many students are left with blocks of time with nothing to do because their next class doesn’t start for a few hours but it is not enough time to go home. With Virtual Classrooms they can have more time for a job, family or anything else that they need to do.

3. Online educational software puts all of the tools that a student needs for their education at their fingertips. They can research papers, join in with study groups and read over class notes, all within the Virtual Classroom.

4. Online Classroom systems allow for more parental involvement as well. It is much simpler for the parents to look over their child’s work, interact with their teachers and ask questions.

5. Virtual Classrooms allow the school to easily track student data and attendance. If you need to prove that a student did not attend class or that student’s grades have been on a steady decline than there is nothing more simple. Online Classroom systems keep all of the records for you and provide the proof if you need to inform a student or their parents.

Well the short answer would be “yours” There is a vast array of business software available for purchase and many of them are only suited to a specific business. A small company would not need an enterprise sized CRM program and a big corporation would probably not need an application like Dropbox. Online Meeting Tools are another story though and companies of any size can benefit from their use in different ways.

First let me explain a little about the features of a quality Online Business Meetings application. They will usually include:

· Features that allow the host to get feedback and opinions anonymously from the guests in the meeting

· Features that keep track of chat logs, email, and other data that is transmitted between the guests to make note taking obsolete.

· Multiple ways for the guests to interacts through live chat, texts, audio and video conferencing

· Allow guests to use Desktop Sharing Software and other applications that facilitate collaboration

· High quality security features that will protect the data that is being transmitted during the meeting

If you run a small business then Web Video Conferencing can be especially useful in building your reputation with clients and competition alike. Smaller companies cannot spend the amount of money that larger ones can on beautiful décor and lavish meeting rooms. If you are using Online Meeting Applications then your office is taken entirely out of the picture. As long as you dress nicely and adhere to proper meeting etiquette, you will make just as good of an impression as the big boys. It will also give you the ability to expand your business across the country because you will not have to worry about travel expenses unless you want to visit them in person. Online Business Meetings are a great equalizer in the business world and takes the size of your business completely out of the equation.

Larger corporations will see the benefits of Online Business Meetings in other areas. Yes, they will save money on travel expenses and will not waste time going to and from the meeting location. More importantly, Online Meeting Tools give the business leaders more control over the meeting. If they give a meeting in person then they may think that a boring meeting went over quite well because no one will tell them the truth out of fear of being fired. By using Online Meeting Software with anonymous feedback the guests will be truthful and the host can then tailor their meetings until they are a useful tool. With so much interactivity it is also hard for employees to get away with skipping the meeting or not contributing because the programs will take stats throughout the meeting that the host can review later.