3. VoiceThread- Great Web 2.0 Tool

3. BLOGGING TOOLS
VOICETHREAD

Blog Post Agenda:

15 COOL IDEAS FOR BLOG POSTS
ABOUT VOICE THREAD
EXAMPLES OF CLASSROOM USE
RESOURCES AND TUTORIALS
COMMON CORE STANDARDS YOU CAN TARGET THROUGH THE USE OF VOICEHTREAD
END OF BLOG POST BONUS

15 COOL IDEAS FOR BLOG POSTS:

1. Create and post a glog (www.glogster.edu)
2. Embed a Voki talking avatar (www.voki.com)
3. Embed a project using Blabberize (www.blabberize.com)
4. Create and interpret a word cloud (using www.wordle.net or www.tagxedo.com)
5. Use Wallwisher to get your students express opinions, brainstorm topics, or to get feedback from them (www.wallwisher.com)
6. Create and publish digital stories (using www.storybird.com, or www.storyjumper.com)
7. Post a Question Chain
8. Have students use their blog as a Student Learning Journal
9. Embed student created comic strips, or cartoons (www.toondoo.com, www.stripgenerator.com, or www.pikikids.com)
10. Embed a VoiceThread (www.voicethread.com)
11. Embed a Digital Story Telling Project created using Photostory
12. Publish podcasts
13. Post unit-based inquiry questions
14. Publish a prezi (www.prezi.com)
15. Publish student created videos (using web tools, or iOS devices).

For additional ideas, check the following presentation here.

ABOUT VOICETHREAD

Starting with this blog post I will outline my favorite tools for showcasing student learning.  Even though you can showcase your students’ knowledge using these tools without doing any blogging, keep in mind that blogging has a few added benefits: it represents a digital portfolio (so you can collect all their online projects and embed them in a single place, as opposed to having them all over the cyber space), it allows interaction through comments written by an authentic audience, facilitates the development and interaction of a wider community of learners, and empowers students through its unique features.

The majority of tools I will describe starting with this post fall into the category of Web 2.0 tools. Web 2.0 tools are Internet applications which allow users to share information and user-generated content, work in teams, network, cooperate, collaborate, edit, interact, and disseminate information. My favorite blogging tool at this point is VoiceThread. Voice Thread offers you the following concise overview of its features:

With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. All with no software to install. A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways – using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Sharea VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies.

EXAMPLES OF CLASSROOM USE

This is how I used VoiceThread. 🙂 Many times I’ve heard teachers say that quite often while using technology students forget what their learning purpose was. The way I used technology in this example helped me make sure they were cognizant of all their learning goals. So, from the very beginning, they knew that after they finished writing their expository piece on immigration, they would have to create a VoiceThread that illustrated why their writing was an expository text. Also, I will mention the fact that behind all this technology integration lays a lot of pen and pencil writing. For instance, whenever students had to record themselves, they needed to first write their speech so that later they could just read it using a microphone. Creating audio recordings is no easy task for anyone. Therefore, spelling out the speeches beforehand helps tremendously. The speeches that my students had to write for their VoiceThread was nothing else but argumentative pieces of writing (they had to find arguments that proved the fact that their essays were expository writing).

The example of a successful and interesting VoiceThread that caught my attention before I started using it was the following one, which I encourage you to check out here. 🙂

RESOURCES AND TUTORIALS

For other rich ideas on how to use VoiceThread, you can check out their Digital Library which has ideas for teachers and professors working with K-college students on a great variety of subjects.  Each individual one has ideas for classroom use, procedures, tips, and a VoiceThread sample.

VoiceThread’s site provides you with concise HOW TO directions.

VoiceThread in 5 minutes or less here. It’s a very good tutorial, but since it doesn’t talk about switching identities, you might also want to check out this very brief VoiceThread tutorial if interested in that feature. 🙂

I was about to forget about AVATARS! Students have so much fun creating an avatar for them to use when switching identities in VoiceThread. I used Build Your Wild Self. They loved it so much! After they create their wild self, you can save that avatars as JPEG files by clicking on GET A WILD DESKTOP, and then right click, and SAVE. 🙂

Other VoiceThread tutorials are offered by their site in their attempt to answer all questions you might have.

One of VoiceThread’s drawbacks at this point is the fact that you need an account for each student since you cannot open an account on multiple computers (it just automatically signs you out if you try to do it). However, creating an account is easy: all you need is an email address.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS YOU CAN TARGET THROUGH THE USE OF VOICEHTREAD

–pulled from Grade 5, but you can check their equivalent for any K-12 grade level due to the vertical alignment of the Common Core

LA.5.RL. 7. Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).
LA.5.RI. 7. Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
LA.5.RI. 9. Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
LA.5.SL. 4. Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
LA.5.SL.5. Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.
LA.5.SL. 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation.
LA.5.L. 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
LA.5.L. 6. Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition).

END OF BLOG POST BONUS

Primary Pad can be used for collaborative brainstorming, for getting ideas or for sharing and quickly posting pieces of information when working in a group or collaborative environment. PrimaryPad integrates seamlessly with Wordle, PrimaryWall, PrimaryPaint. With the free version, the pad’s life is 30 days and a number of 50 users can utilize one pad at the same time. With the free versions, pads cannot be embedded. When I want to be able to embed the pad, I love using Padlet, a very user friendly web tool with great potential for instruction.

You can find tutorials regarding Primary Pad that give you clear directions regarding its use.

Enjoy! 🙂