VoiceThread: Creating Interactive & Collaborative Presentationsthe Web 2.0 Way

Presented by Diane Stonebrink, ESL Faculty, Estrella Mountain Community CollegeMCCD’s Teaching & Learning with Technology Conference, May 13, 2008

to access the following information online, please go to: www.estrellamountain.edu/faculty/stonebrink/vt.htm

In this presentation, attendees will:See examples of how VoiceThreads can be used for educational purposes in various disciplines;Learn about account types & Sign up for a free account;See the different Sharing Options (participation settings) a VoiceThread creator can enable;Participate in a VoiceThread by making text or audio comments for others to respond to;Collaboratively edit a VoiceThread by uploading documents & images to the presentation.

What is a VoiceThread? from the website: “A VoiceThread 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. They can even be exported to an Archival Movie for offline use on a DVD or video-enabled MP3 player. A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world.” http://voicethread.com/about/

How can you use VoiceThread for teaching & learning? VoiceThread designers collaborated with Information Technology Services at the University of North Carolina to create a portal for a pilot project. The website http://voicethread.unc.edu/ gives sample VoiceThreads to show how the application can be used to:Demonstrate | Explain | Interpret | Practice | Analyze | Report | Critique | Show off | Have fun

Is it free?Yes and no.For participants, it is completely free. Registration is fast (email & password – that’s it!). For creators of a VoiceThread presentation, it is free with some limitations. If your college department or you are willing to spend some money, you get more.

As of 5/08, the 3 account options for higher ed instructors are:1. Free Account

create 3 VoiceThreads (50 slides each) 75 MB of storage 3 phone commenting minutes no uploading MP3 comments 30 min webcam commenting

Archival Movie exports, $2.99 the presence of advertising single file size limit of 25 MB no downloads of your media

send 50 invitations per day 2. Pro Account

create unlimited # of Threads 10 GB of storage 1 hour of phone commenting upload MP3 comments unlimited webcam commenting

30 Archival Movie exports no advertising anywhere single file size limit of 100MB allow downloads of your media

send 500 invitations per day3. Higher Ed Account

same features as Pro Account costs 25% less (=$45 annually) college departments purchase accounts based on number of faculty call 1 919 724 4486 for more information

What useful features does VoiceThread have?We’ll see & practice many of these when we get to the hands-on practice part. The website also gives many simple, clear tutorials on these (go to http://voicethread.com/#c28 – the tutorials will also appear on your MyVoice page after you create an account).

What useful features does it NOT have now but WILL have soon?The VoiceThread designers are actively improving it on a monthly (sometimes weekly) basis. Changes are announced on their blog: http://voicethread.com/blog/They are very open to users’ suggestions, which can be posted in the website’s Forum section: http://voicethread.com/help/forum/

As of 5/08, VoiceThreads did not yet have the (designers say they’re in the works), ability for:

email notification when someone makes a new comment*. However, you can see yellow flags on VoiceThreads indicating new comments after you log in to your account, or you can use an RSS reader to keep track of new comments on any VoiceThread - click on the orange RSS symbol in the upper right of your MyVoice page to get the url.

making duplicate presentations*. You can "copy" a Thread by clicking the My Media button on the Create – Import page to add images from an existing Thread to create a new Thread, but then you have to re-record all commentary.

playing animated gifs* or animations & transitions in PowerPoint slides

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pausing or editing capabilities for audio recorded directly into the presentation via a microphone**. However, you can record in another program, such as Audacity, & then upload that audio as an .mp3 as a comment in your VoiceThread with Pro accounts.

sorting VoiceThreads (e.g., alphabetically or by categorizing them into folders, or by just name or url). On your MyVoice page, presentations are currently listed from most recent upload furthest to left to oldest to the right.

linking to another website so that other webpages display live/active content within the VoiceThread presentation*

bulk upload (batch import) participants*. You must enter friends’ emails one by one.*Wimba does this. I am an active, long-time user of Wimba Voice Boards, Voice Presentations, and its Oral Assessment Builder. I am a relatively new user of VoiceThreads. Based on my experience using the two tools with ESL students: Wimba Voice Boards are better for threaded voice discussions than VoiceThreads. VoiceThreads are better for presentations than Wimba Voice Presentation.

**Not necessarily a bad thing. Studies show students prefer to listen to podcasts that capture natural, authentic speech. Take it from a linguist – reading copy aloud is harder for listeners to process. Don’t be afraid to record comments for a VoiceThread by just talking directly into the microphone as if you were in front of your classes. Pauses, ums & uhs, and even throat-clearing are fine!

Time for Hands-on Practice! 1. Write your email on the classroom board so I can add you to my friends’ list in my

VoiceThread account. I’ll need this to enable editing rights for you on a VoiceThread we create together shortly.

2. Open a new web browser and go to google.com > images (or elsewhere if you prefer). Find & download an image to your desktop (or jumpdrive) that you’d like to use to represent you (VoiceThread’s default image is just a silhouette).

3. Also find & download an image that represents your hometown or a favorite location. Save this image to your desktop or jumpdrive too.

4. Open a Word document and write a few sentences that describe your interests or any other quirky information you’d like to share (e.g., interesting things you’ve done or seen). Save this document to your desktop or jumpdrive too. You’ll share the hometown image & this Word doc in our collaborative VoiceThread.

5. Go to http://voicethread.com. Click the words Sign in or Register at the upper right. Don’t add your email yet! First, click on the gold word Register! near the bottom of the sign in box. Then, type in the name you want displayed when you participate in a VoiceThread (don’t worry, you can always edit this name later), your email address twice, and a password that is at least 6 characters in length.

6. While waiting for others to finish the first 5 steps, spend some time clicking around the VoiceThread site. Look at some examples or view the tutorials.

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7. Diane will show you a few basic features (e.g., how to invite people to a VoiceThread) and Sharing Options (participation settings) that you can enable when you create your own VoiceThreads for students to use.

http://voicethread.com/share/39132/

This VoiceThread has a Sharing Option of Private enabled. You’ll notice that even though you have its url, when you click on the link, you won’t be able to enter the presentation at all – you’ll only get a message that says you need to request its creator to invite you to it. Only people whom the creator invites can view the presentation.

http://voicethread.com/share/39027/ To, From, In, At, On? Prepositions with Places

This VoiceThread has a Sharing Option of Public, no comments enabled. When you click on the url, you will be able to enter the presentation and see/hear the slides, but you won’t be able to record or type in any comments – you won’t even see the webcam, microphone, or type icons as options at all.

http://voicethread.com/share/38274/English Language Study – Talking about Age

This VoiceThread has a Sharing Option of Public, yes comments. When you click on the link, you will be able to enter the thread &see/hear the slides, and you will be able to record or type in any comments – you will see the webcam, microphone, and type icons. However, you won’t be able to upload any new slides or edit the existing ones because Diane hasn’t enabled this for you.http://voicethread.com/share/131128/VoiceThread: Creating Presentations the Web 2.0 Way

Okay, let’s build a presentation together! Click on the link above and sign in. This VoiceThread has a Sharing Option of Private,

plus Diane added your email to her friends’ list & enabled Editing rights for you (you can do this to Public threads too), so now you can upload/add, move, & change slides (& comment, of course). The only thing you can’t do is delete the entire presentation.

There are several more editing capabilities and display options available, but you can easily learn them by going through the tutorials on the VoiceThread site, and then practicing on your own. It’s easy! If you have any questions, please email me at diane.stonebrink@estrellamountain.edu.

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