VoiceThread Project Technical Features

The way I organized this project was to create a group for my students so that they can all access and comment on each others work. While this scared me originally, I have done this project now three times and have yet to have a student slip innapropriate comments into a classmates presentation because it shows who is making the comment. Here is a picture of what my group setup looks like.

One source from the VoiceThread website that is very helpful for helping to inspire ideas is http://voicethread.com/about/library/. This site has examples from multiple disciplines and age levels which have provided me with many ideas as to how I can adapt this Web 2.0 technology for meaningful inclusion in my classes.

Another source which may be helpful to educators is http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/. This site is a wiki created by an educator to show the different ways VoiceThread is being used by teachers, and has many examples which you could use for your students or for coming up with new ways to incorporate this technology.

Lastly, I have included the rubric as a google document which I use to grade the project and to give the students context on my expectations. This rubric has changed slightly each year I have done the project, so any input would be appreciated.

Collaborative VoiceThread Project

Above is an example of a VoiceThread project in which students were placed into groups of four to provide feedback on their projects. Each student was required to create their own VoiceThread project and to join a class group which I created. I divided the class into groups of four where they were responsible for watching and providing two comments or questions to each of their group member's projects. At the end of the project, the students told me that they were really excited about the ability to comment and critique their colleague's work outside of class. Many students told me that this allowed them to more freely share their true feelings than they would have felt comfortable doing in a classroom. The comments and questions offered by other students online were then addressed in class to provide further context from each project.

I think this project is not only a great way to incorporate meaningful technology into my curriculum, but the collaborative aspect of VoiceThread is what makes this technology so valuable for our students.

For your convenience, the two best examples of collaboration occur between :15-1:23 and 7:15-8:10 in the movie.

Welcome All

I hope that my postings on three Web 2.0 technologies for teaching will be helpful or inspiring to you all.