VoiceThread is a handy, easy-to-use tool in education with potential
for digital storytelling and beyond. It
can be used to hold debates, explain, describe, persuade, etc. It allows participants to interact on one
platform in five different ways: writing, recording audio, doodling, video, or
phone. My online class will soon be
experimenting with VoiceThread (VT). I’ve used it in my
College of Ed classes, a middle school classroom, with my adult ESOL classes,
and at a personal level for several years now; I continue to see its benefits.
Getting Started and Examples in
Education
I presented on VT back in 2007ish and hadn’t returned to the how-to’s
since. I was tickled pink to find that
they still have their original (updated) directions. If you don’t get anything else from this
post, do yourself a favor today and watch slides 5 and 6! (Use the arrows
to access them quickly.) The first avatar still cracks me up. What a great example of digital storytelling!
Viewable in a lovely world where I never age
is my first attempt at a VT. I was surprised when a year after creating it, I returned to it and
discovered people from around the world had responded. It was memorably one of my first “ah ha”
moments that this thing called social media, multimedia and digital
storytelling had a bright future.
Embedded below is one my kiddo created years ago explaining her learning
from a travel experience.
Ways I have used VoiceThread and
things that have worked for me
Set-up: A. Use ones already
created. (Do a search by browsing on VT.)
B. Make my own that I use either in the classroom or have students
respond to. C. Guide students in making either a class, group,
or individual VTs and in responding to each other.
Instructions/Purpose: It is
important to have a clear set of instructions and purpose for the VT
assignment.
Storyboard/Process: When students create their own VTs, I often
have them storyboard their responses first.
This works well in a process oriented assignment. For ELLs, it gives them the opportunity to
use all modes of the language: reading (if they did research on the topic),
writing/editing, speaking, and listening.
I provide checklists and grading rubrics with expectations along the
way.
Collaboration: I have
experimented using VT when working with multiple sections of a class. I teach two sections of one class, and the
students never see each other, but they are able to correspond, discuss questions,
etc. via VT. This also works in online
courses when students enter VT from around the world.
Things I have learned as I’ve
used VT
Privacy settings: I need to
be mindful of students' comfort levels and privacy. At this point, I do not have any VT that my
students have made to share in public because as a class they opted to keep
them private for various reasons.
Comfort level: I once had a middle
school student who did a phenomenal job on a VT. He was engaged in a way I hadn’t seen him
engaged before. He put a ton of effort
into his VT, from the writing process to recording his voice several
times. When we got ready to share with
the class, he hit “delete.” It was beyond his comfort level to share with
others. I think this is important to
honor and another great reason if it is a project to be assessing with a rubric
and/or checklist along the way.
Recording Issues: The reality is that the tech doesn’t always
work. With best efforts, particularly in
online courses, some students have hardware limitations and experience
difficulties recording audio/video. This
is where the writing option comes in handy.
Potential I see in VT beyond
what I have done
Portfolios: VT could be a
portfolio for students to showcase their work and reflect.
Global Collaboration: VT
could be exciting to work in a more global way with other classes.
Course Development: It could
be fun to add to the same VT with subsequent classes. This could work great with vocabulary. Students in Spring term class create VTs for
vocabulary on chapter 1 and Fall term create them for chapter 2, etc.
Get started with the free version of VT.
So far with planning, I have been able to use only the free
version. There’s an app for that. Last
year, VT introduced an app. It’s
straightforward to use and allows students yet another way to be mobile with
their learning.
How do you use VT?
Happy VoiceThreading!
The K-12 Online Conferences always have an abundance of information and great presentations. This year's looks like no exception. The topic is Learn, Share, and Remix . It runs from October 22 - November 2nd. 
Considering the amount of time I had spent gazing at the
books, I wandered slowly home carrying only a light
knapsack with room to spare. Much of my time had been spent
browsing the spines, daydreaming about what story, adventure, or truth of human
nature might be encompassed in those brief titles. I knew exactly where the larger than life
dictionary was located and frequently used it to look up the meanings of words
in the titles. Being that I was only in
third grade, most of the books were beyond my reading comprehension level, but
the titles allowed me to create my own stories.
