VoiceThread

What is VoiceThread?

• A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too (2). 

What’s a VoiceThread Anyways?

Articles:  

Applications for Teachers:

• Virtural Lessons for kids who miss class. Lesson slide shows can be made for students to view if they have to miss class (1).
• Teachers can make slide shows to extend their lessons (1). Kids can do these at home or during school hours to enhance their learning experience.
• Allows teachers to showcase primary source materials and post questions about these resources (4).

  Applications for Students:

• Students are able to use VoiceThread to comment on the slide shows and share ideas with their fellow students and teacher in or out of the class room (3). 
• Students  can post videos of their projects and get questions or comments from classmates (4).
• Foreign language students practice pronunciation or writing skills (4).

Advantages of VoiceThread: 

• Student driven discussion 
• Growing lecture 
• Improved social presence
• Better understanding of nuance (understanding tone of voice) 
• Student projects

Why VoiceThread: 

• Engaging- 
• Digital partners can be boring. E-mail and discussion boards and nothing more than written text. This gives users something interesting to talk about. Being able to hear one another makes digital communication much more personal.
• Asynchronous-
• Users can work on & enjoy VoiceThread presentations at any time, even if “partners” are sleeping a million miles away.

Lesson Plan: 

• Create a Story!
• As a class, create a few characters and a setting for the story. After that, divide the class up into 3 groups. One group will use VoiceThread to create the beginning, the next to create the middle, and the next to create the ending. They can record their voices, and create doodles for the story and then put it all together and have a class story.
•  Alternative lesson plan:
• Use a well known short story and have each student recreate the pictures and retell the story by recording their voice.

References:

1. http://www.artjunction.org/voicethread.php 

     VoiceThread outline for art classes. Gives ideas for uses of VoiceThread if students are missing class.

2. http://voicethread.com/about/features/

     Voice Thread explanation page on VoiceThread.com. Tells about the uses of VoiceThread

3. http://www.edutopia.org/voicethread-interactive-multimedia-albums

    Explains how VoiceThread's commenting feature can be used to extend the class room and encourage participation. Also includes links to tutorials on how to use different features of VoiceThread.

4. http://lis5313.ci.fsu.edu/wiki/index.php/VoiceThread_in_the_K-12_Environment:_A_Multi-Media_Discussion_Tool

     Explains how VoiceThread can be used in varying subjects by both teachers and students.