VoiceThread

Introduction
Like wikis, Voicethreads are an inexpensive and easy-to-use Web 2.0 tool. These two characteristics makes VoiceThread an ideal tool to introduce to those who may be new to technology and to Web 2.0 . Many of my colleagues at my school, I suspect, are in many ways like me, new to World 2.0. Very few, I believe, are familiar with technology and how to integrate it into our students’ daily learning experiences. Voicethreads with its integration of images or videos and the ability to comment on and about these images or videos with voice, text, webcam, or even phone would provide newcomers, such as my colleagues and for that matter myself, a fun and easy-to-use Web 2.0 tool to try.

Bob Sprankle (2009) states, "It can seem overwhelming when every time one turns around, there’s a new tool to learn about. As a technology integrator for grades K-4, one of the tools I am most excited about and recommend to teachers who are just starting to incorporate Web 2.0 tools in the classroom is VoiceThread. It is an incredibly easy tool to get up and running and a perfect tool to bring 21st century skills such as creativity, innovation, communication, and collaboration with a global audience into you classroom."

Learning About VoiceThread
Before trying my three free VoiceThreads I had never used VoiceThreads before and had only heard of it at the beginning of this course when it was mentioned in a class discussion. My experience with VoiceThread was just getting interesting when a notice come up that I had used my three free VoiceThreads and would have to subscribe to make any further VoiceThreads. Unfortunately, at this time I don’t have a school email (but will definitely get one now) because the public library I work at in our community is not in the same building as the school and so I did not get a school email account.

What I did learn with my three free VoiceThreads was that it was indeed easy to use for the most part. Pictures were incredibly easy to upload from Flickr and adding my own voice to the image was also very easy. I added a webcam comment, a voice comment and a text comment and all were straightforward and easily done. I had a friend add a comment to one of the images I had uploaded and this was also easy to do. When we add our comments to the image a little icon representing each of the speakers appears around the edges of the image. When you click on the icon you can watch, listen or read the comment the speaker has made. Not a lot of flash and bling with VoiceThreads but this maybe what makes it so easy to use. With only three tries at VoiceThreads I am pretty confident in my use of it and I am sure it would make for a good introduction to Web 2.0 tools for other new, as Sprankle (2009) calls them, “prosumers” (producer + consumer).

My Personal Learning of VoiceThread
I watched and listened with interest to one of the examples of VoiceThreads and how it could be used. The example, Muth Family Photo, showed a picture of a mother with her five young children taken a number of years ago (the mother was wearing cat eye glasses just to give you an idea of how long ago the picture was taken). The VoiceThread then had the mother and a few of the children in the picture discussing the event around the picture taking.

The mother’s description of what was going on in the picture and the questions she had about the expressions on her children’s faces are hilarious. In her VoiceThread she comments on how some of her children look like they have an anxiety disorder and she wonders aloud in her VoiceThread about why her children would look like this when they are, well, with their mother.

It really is a charming and enchanting use of VoiceThread. This VoiceThread of a picture from years past and the comments by some of the people in the picture would make for a wonderful VoiceThread family album of pictures from one’s childhood. I may very well have to experiment with VoiceThread in this way.

Teaching & Learning with VoiceThread
Sprangle(2009) states, “Unlike many Web 2.0 products, VoiceThread caters to the education community by offering numerous account options, and allowing teachers and students to create private or public VoiceThreads.”
Because it caters to the education community VoiceThreads has a very good tutorial at its site and a list of successful VoiceThread projects completed by teachers and their students. Each project includes the instructors of the projects written discussions of the VoiceThread project including some of the challenges they had while doing the project.

One project in particular that caught my attention was a project where a 5th grade class worked with primary resources. The project called, The Ellis Island Journey saw the students in the class assuming the persona of a person in one of the pictures of immigrants crossing the ocean to a new life at Ellis Island.

In each of several pictures students commented, using VoiceThread, as though they were that particular person. To identify who they were in the picture the students used the doodle tool in VoiceThread to circle who they were in the picture. The use of VoiceThread in this project brought to life the pictures, the lives of the people in the pictures and the journey for many immigrants to Ellis Island. These examples at the VoiceThread site and at VoiceThread 4 Education Wiki provide a number of great ideas on how to use this inexpensive, easy-to-use tool with students.

But what else does VoiceThread have to offer besides an inexpensive, easy to use tool? For our students it offers them an opportunity, as Shannon Bomar (2009) states, to develop a sense of audience and an opportunity to try a variety of tones and focuses in presenting their messages. The use of multimedia to share your message brings the possibility of it reaching a larger audience and in turn an audience “whose knowledge of the topic is varied and often unknown”. Students must now be aware of this “new” audience and how their message must be arranged as to ensure their message is being heard by their audience and not being misconstrued by an unclear or unorganized message.

Conclusion
Teacher professional development and the use of technology can be a challenge for many schools. At any given school you have teachers and administrators who may use technology as a part of their every day lives and as an integral part of their profession. Then at any given school you will have staff members who have very little knowledge or experience with technology. Introducing easy-to-use tools such as VoiceThread to both technology experienced and technology inexperienced teachers would give the one group another tool for instruction and learning and the other group would perhaps gain the confidence in their use of technology to think about using VoiceThread and other tools that could enhance their instruction and their students' learning.

References

Bomar, S..(2009). A Pre-Reading VoiceThread: Death Comes for the Archbishop. Knowledge Quest, 37(4), 26-27. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1709435541).

Sprankle, B.. (2009). VoiceThread. School Talk, 15(1), 4-6. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from Proquest Education Journal. (Document ID: 188421811).