Voicethread is an online image and video sharing tool. Educause (2009) describe voicethread as media aggregator that allows people to post media artifacts for community feedback. It lets users add voice annotation to documents, slide presentation, video, or a collection of photos. The following link is a introduction to Voicethread that I found helpful, http://www.voicethread.com/share/409/
Voicethread is a great collaborative tool for students to use as they actively engage with images, analyse, discuss and add a written or voice recorded commentary. It is easy to set up and use, so a Learning Manager would be able to create one for the class in no time. In a classroom students would be identified on the side bar either individually or as a group, thus allowing all students to actively participate. Activities could range from reading, discussing, debating, interviewing through to designing and building their own in the upper level primary could be part of the task itself
Voicethread aids the students literacy skills, visually by the student interpreting the images, speaking, listening and critically thinking with reading and writing and digital literacy with the interaction of the software. Through the use of Howard Gardner's (1991) Multiple Intelligences theory, Voicethread will aid the visual learners through the use of images and photos, being a hands on activity helps the kinesthetic learners, music and voice reacording for the musically inclined and linguistic learners, group activities to engage the interpersonal learner as well as individual input for the intrapersonal students. "By far the greatest potential of Voicethread lies in the creative opportunity it provides for students to tell their stories and to contribute to or directly critique the narratives of their peers." (Educause, 2009)
References
Educause. (2009) 7 things you should know about..: Voicetrhread. Retrieved 16 August, 2009 from, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7050.pdf
Gardner, H (2001). Gardner’s multiple intelligences. Retrieved July 24, 2009 from http://www.kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/thinking/MI%20Smarts.htm
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI like what you have to say about VoiceThread, and reading your blog reminds me that providing opportunities for Indigenous students to use the medium of storytelling can enhance their engagement with the learning. Using a web application such as VoiceThread would offer this opportunity for all learners to tell their stories and practice the age old custom of 'yarning'.
All the best, Sharon
Hi Sharon, connecting the classroom to the outside world is so important. I am finding the numerous tools that we have discovered in e-learning are going to be invaluable. We could communicate with Indigenous students in remote Australia bringing them into our classroom and sharing our experiences.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Amanda