Dr. Richard “Rick” Lumadue, Educational Leadership
Voicethread
Frustrated by the lack of personal connection in the use of the current discussion board format in my online courses, I resolved to find an innovative way to enhance this experience for my students. Fortunately, there was a simple and effective tool available for me to apply to help resolve this issue. Voicethread provided the answer! I have found this service to be very beneficial to enriching the asynchronous discussion board assignment in my online courses. There is an annual subscription fee for this service. However, a free (limited) version is available to try before you decide to pay for the added features. Voicethread is very simple to use. The user may upload images, presentations (PowerPoint or Keynote) and videos. Once a slide, or presentation has been uploaded the Voicethread may be labeled and categorized by groups to keep them organized. Comments may be made on the Voicethread through video, audio or keyboard input or even via telephone. Another exciting tool with this service is the ability to create multiple identities for making comments to more than one individual on a slide. This feature is really significant in terms of organizing the interaction of the Voicethread. I have embedded the Voicethreads I created for the discussion board assignment in my course website in eCollege. This makes it easy for the students to post their comments within the course website. Sometimes I upload video into the Voicethread I am creating for a discussion board, but most often I will embed a YouTube video on the discussion board page of the module the students are working on for that week. Then, I will create a slide (using either PowerPoint or Keynote) and save it as a .png file and then upload that file when I create the new Voicethread. I suggest saving as a .png file in portrait format because the resolution looks so much better on mobile devices. Presentations that have multiple slides should be saved in this format and uploaded to Voicethread. Voicethread handles this format very well. Students in my online courses have created group presentations using Voicethread with great results.
Students have reacted very positively to the implementation of Voicethread in my online courses.
Here are some of their comments:
“I like using the voice thread; it’s something different. I found that I needed to really organize my thoughts better because when I type, I can always go back and edit. I was hoping I didn’t sound too lame! I think we should move forward using the voice thread as this is an online class about global learning. Let’s continue to take chances in how we learn.” – Meesha
“Awesome. I love it! I definitely would like to keep using it-I think that there is a better discussion and I feel like I am in the classroom sharing viewpoints with my classmates.” – Abby
“I would prefer to do voice threads versus typing in responses. I really like the voice threads even though I sound really funny and I can tell I have a twang.”
– Jessica
A free Voicethread app was recently released for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that allows the user to view and listen, post comments and even create new Voicethreads. I am beginning to experiment with this new app on my iPad. I am just beginning to grasp how innovative this really is for educational purposes. For example, imagine you are at a museum or at an important event in another state or country. A picture may be taken and uploaded to Voicethread and shared with a class for discussion. Talk about a relevant educational experience!
The days of being frustrated by the lack of personal connection in the use of the current discussion board format in my online courses have been resolved through this innovative, simple to use, but incredibly effective technology.
By the way, the customer support provided by Voicethread is exceptional.
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