Dimdim Launches Hosted Virtual Classroom

• By David Nagel
• 11/10/08

Videoconferencing software developer Dimdim recently announced that it's releasing a Web-based conferencing solution specifically for education. The company's new Dimdim Virtual Classroom Pack, which debuted late last month, allows 10 teachers to host up to 40 students at a time in an online environment.

The Dimdim Virtual Classroom Pack is a a completely hosted Web conferencing solution offered as software as a service (SaaS). It requires no additional software, and there are no fees for bandwidth usage. It's targeted toward both K-12 and higher education. Some features include:

• Support for up to 40 students per virtual classroom;
• Customization for teachers, including landing pages, logos, and other images;
• Integrated support for video chat; and
• Built-in VoIP service, plus 10 free audio conferencing accounts.

"Dimdim was launched with the goal to bring the world together, across all disciplines, whether in a business environment or on an academic campus," said DD Ganguly, CEO and co-founder of Dimdim, in a prepared stsrement. "We feel it is our responsibility to provide easy to use, low cost collaboration tools like Dimdim Virtual Classroom Pack for schools and educational causes worldwide, and we are thrilled that several academic leaders have already embraced Dimdim to interact and share knowledge and ideas."

In other Dimdim news, the company has also launched a new Dimdim Zimlet for the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, launched new modules for integration with Moodle 1.9, and released an update to the learning environment module for the open source Claroline learning management system.

Dimdim Virtual Classroom Pack runs $2,199 per year and includes support for 10 teachers and 40 students per virtual classroom. Further information can be found here.