VoiceThread1

= = =Communication Tool:= Group Members:

Troy Leffel, Jason Turmail


 * Screenshot**




 * Brief introduction of the tool**

VoiceThread is a way for people to communicate to eachother in the form of voice, text, video, and images. It forms a sort of slide show, which typically appears to have a single picture background to a narration. It then allows people to comment in either voice or text form. These comments are then added to the video so each progressive viewer is able to see the original video followed by the comments of previous viewers. There is also a tool that allows for podcasts with the same setup, only with video allowed. The slide show is then added to a database where as many (or as few) viewers as the author designates will be able to view, edit, and comment on the video he/she has posted.

**//Advantages of the tool//**

VoiceThread is a collaborative tool that allows the expression of both author and viewer in an innovative way. As the viewer watches the video, the more comments made, the more the viewer has to think about. These comments become part of the video, so it becomes a sort of asynchronous conversation initiated by a presentation. This is invaluable in a subject that stresses interpretation and discovery. The students are able to communicate directly with each other without being in the classroom together. The teacher can also comment on the video and give the student feedback to either edit, or simply as a comment for future thought. The teacher can even create a thread to which the students must respond. Each progressive student will have more opinion to build on, and the conversation can take on a life of its own, that becomes an experience of discovery for teacher and student. VoiceThread also allows a protection tool that allows only teacher and student into the students' threads, providing the students (or parents) are invited in by the teacher. This is useful when trying to protect students, or having a project so specific that the general public needs to be prevented from commenting posts.

The ability of the user to manipulate the project in the program seems extremely limited. The user must create a slide show movie or podcast outside of the program and upload it in, editing it as desired. This seems like it could become a cumbersome activity when there are other, simpler ways to present slide shows. Also, at any break, which seems to be the only way to initiate a change in graphics, there is a pause where other users present their comments in either voice, text, or video forms. Though users can doodle to accentuate points, its difficult to picture a prolonged cohesive idea through this tool. It is a good tool for initiation to discussion and presentation of thoughts, but as a tool to assess students comprehension, it lacks key features (ability to make information interesting, cohesiveness of prolonged script) to allow full potential for student expression.
 * //Disadvantages (limitations) of the tool//**


 * Application of the tool in your subject area**

Our subject area is social studies and we will be focusing on US History for grade level 12. The way that we would apply the use of this tool for our students would be to have the students use this tool for a project called "What Happened on the Day of My Birth". The students would take the day and year they were born and find out what happened in US History on this date. Then they would take this information and use VoiceThread by uploading an image or two to VoiceThread. They would also record a comment that describes the image. Finally the rest of the class would look at each others project and guess what year the student was born my looking at the images and listening to the comments.

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 * Find a tutorial video on YouTube**


 * //List of key features shown in the YouTube Tutorial://**
 * Voicethread starts with a document or a couple of documents that are uploaded.
 * Then several users can record comments about the document from computer microphone, telephone, text, audio file (MP3/WAV), and webcam.
 * Users can also doodle on the document to add emphsis to a certain point.


 * Useful Resources**

http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/ => Describes uses in education subset into almost all conceivable sections.

http://voicethread.ning.com/video/2111899:Video:58 => Podcast describing how to use VoiceThread

http://thinkingmachine.pbworks.com/Think-VoiceThreads => Indicates many (100+) uses for VoiceThread in the classroom, ideas for all subject areas, and an instructions to getting started with VoiceThread.