Originally Posted by Rebecca on January 13, 2019
VoiceThread is an app that can be used for interactive instruction. It’s format is very much like PowerPoint; however, users are able to comment on what they see. I used it a few years ago, and am coming back to it again here. When I consider an app in my profession as a language teacher, user friendliness is paramount if I am to ask my students to use it. The language barrier I experience with my students is twofold – the barrier between L1 and L2, and that which exists between those who are digitally conversant and those who very much aren’t. Not only do I want to use interactive tools in the classroom like Nearpod, but I also want to be able to leverage technology and empower my students as well. No one app is the be all and end all of quick language acquisition, as many are want to profess. What I want to do is give students opportunities that apps afford when they are used in, as well as out of the classroom. When I used VoiceThread in the past, it was web based only, not mobile. It now has an app and the features of the product itself have broadened. For example, there is much more control with the privacy settings and editing components.
With VoiceThread, you can upload a presentation in the form of a PowerPoint and narrate the content. You can ask students to comment on specific aspects of the presentation using the voice recording feature. Students can then respond to each other and this can all happen asynchronously. It’s a great tool for flipping if you want to generate discussion before students come to class. I would like to use it this term as a collaborative tool. Many of my students have jobs and families, but they also have to do group projects. Being able to have a tool that allows for visual, voice and text input gives EAL learners multiple ways in which to engage with each other and the content of their presentation. They would be able to practice their portion of a presentation and allow others in the group to listen and critique, asychronously. It also allows them to listen to themselves and self assess according to speaking skills taught in class.
I have posted below an article that studied the efficacy of VoiceThread in a language classroom if there are other language instructors in our course.
Dugartsyrenova, V., & Sardegna, V. (2017). Developing oral proficiency with VoiceThread: Learners’ strategic uses and views. ReCALL, 29(1), 59-79. doi:10.1017/S0958344016000161
I used VoiceTread about 10 years ago, and at that time there was only the desktop version. When I first saw it in a private school north of Seattle, I was so amazed by its capacity to engage students and make learning so personalized.
This cloud-based application represents an interactive, multimodal and collaborative way of learning. It builds up an online learning community featured by participatory culture and authorship, turning students into both consumers and producers of media.
Thank you, Lyon, for sharing! Yes, it is very similar to CLAS, and it also reminds me of another past student’s post: InsertLearning.
Seems to be similar to UBC’s CLAS (https://clas.ubc.ca/), where instructors / students can annotate and discuss within videos and slide decks.
A testimonial on the VoiceThread website captures the need for these sorts of platforms quite well — “a way to recreate the seminar table virtually”. With more and more courses going online now (higher ed, but also K-12), it won’t be enough to just distribute recorded lectures or slideshows — interaction and engagement must be fostered as well!