Saturday, August 8, 2009

Voice Thread

After looking at the video under Voice Thread on Moodle, all I can say is that I was overwhelmed. At first, I could not get my head around how so many different features Voice Thread actually incorporates into it. Then it hit me, how would I make something like that??? “Voice Thread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. A Voice Thread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world.” (Cassinelli, 2009).

I decided to take a look around the site before attempting to create my own voice thread to give me some more ideas about what others have created. I came across a page on the site that listed the benefits of using voice threads in relations to education. It stated: “Voice Thread notes that: Students learn to use technology. Students learn ways to discuss learning outside of school with family and friends. Students learn to use online applications and tools for networking. Students respond to questions and interact in new ways; and, students think critically about what they have learnt in the past.” (Voice Thread, 2009).

I noticed while browsing at different voice threads, that some were more ‘professional’ than others. Some were made for a specific purpose or to discuss or teach a specific topic, however some were not. I liked that there was a digital library to search through different topics of voice threads and was pleased to find that there was an educational section.

Instead of posting my really bad progress and attempt at a Voice Thread (like this specific blog task asked), I thought it would be more beneficial for you who are reading this and for those of you who are wondering about how Voice Thread really could be of benefit in an educational environment, by sharing a specific Voice Thread I came across. This was a Voice Thread that was designed by a teacher for the purpose of explaining a PowerPoint that she used to help her students learn how to use a blog. I thought it was great how she explained in this Voice Thread what she did through her PowerPoint presentation to help her students and explained why she did certain teaching practices for specific reasons/purposes. She also invited viewers of the Voice Thread to give suggestions and encourages us to modify what she did to suit our own classes.

I thought this clip would show a better description of how a presentation can be made, and ultimately how Voice Thread can be used in teaching specific content, compared to the one that I have practiced making.


(Baker, n.d.).

REFERENCES

Baker, S. (n.d.). Blogging Tutorial. Retrieved on August 14, 2009, from http://voicethread.com/#q+education.b40969.i214889

Cassinelli, C. (2009). Voicethread 4 Education. Retrieved on August 14, 2009, from http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/

Voice Thread. (2009). Library of Uses. Retrieved on August 12, 2009, from http://voicethread.com/library/13/

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jill

    This is a particularly useful clip when attempting to understand Voice Threads. I found your explanation highly useful in terms of what Voice Threads are, how they can be used in a classroom context and how we can go about learning this technology ourselves. I am about to embark on this e-learning journey soon and your written and visual explanations are of great use to me!
    Thanks

    Hannah

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  2. Hello Jill,
    I must admit that i too was particularly overwhelmed by this topic at first. However after I had a bit of a look around the website I soon realised it's really quite simple.
    Also a nice choice of VoiceThread that you have included. A good demonstration on how this technology can be used in an educational sense.

    Naomi

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