I can't get this paint off my hands!

VoiceThread Part II

 

Well, here I am again. Another Sunday, another blog. What’s that? You don’t sense the excitement in my voice? Hmmmm…….Okay, as I mentioned a few days ago, I haven’t spent as much time exploring VoiceThread as I would have liked (&*#$@* painting) to but I think I’ve come up with a few ideas on what to do with it and where to use it. My original plan was to have my kids put together a VoiceThread slideshow of our new house that is being built, but here I am on Sunday night, they’re in bed and I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to say and do on my VT. I’m sure it won’t be half as interesting as if my kids did it but I’ll take you on a tour instead (at least there are some pictures of my kids in it).

 

 

Educational Resources

 

I did a quick search on google and found all kinds of sites that have educational uses for VoiceThread. VoiceThread ning is a relatively new website that has been created for educators to share their experiences using VT in the classroom. There are only a few members to date, but I’m sure this will grow as VT is used more frequently.

 

Moving at the Speed of Creativity (one of my favourite blogs) by Wesley Fryer posted a blog on why VT has become one of his favourite web 2.0 tools to use recently. The article provides some great arguments on why educators should use VT and provides several links for educators to further explore VT.

 

What would a list of good resources be without a wiki on the current topic? Here’s a wiki created by Colette Cassinelli titled VoiceThread 4 Educators Wiki. In the true sense of technology, this educator is using a powerful web 2.0 tool to collaborate with others about a web 2.0 tool (smart eh! Joanne…feel free to award bonus marks for that web 2.0 connection). I love the fact that she has organized her sidebar by grade level (not too broad of a grade span) as well as included links for library, admin, ed tech, best practices, etc. A pretty handy and useful site if I do say so myself.

 

There are countless other fantastic sites that have suggestions on how to use VT in the class at a variety of different levels. I can’t wait to tell teachers about VT and help them integrate it into the class. You could use this in any subject area and is a great way to tap into the multiple intelligences to meet different learning styles.

 

 

My World

 

I have been busy working with several classrooms this fall putting together ebooks. This has been a great experience and we plan on doing several others as the year goes on. Now that I’ve been exposed to VoiceThread, I think I may revamp some of my initial plans (which I’m sure will drive a few teachers crazy) and do some digital story telling using VoiceThread. I could easily post this on our school webpage so the world could see how our students are learning and what they are learning. The wheels are turning as we speak. I’m really starting to regret not spending more time on this tool during the week. I know that my kids would have love this too!

 

 

Reflection

 

I can’t get over how easy this VoiceThread thing is! When we talk about how so many of the web 2.0 tools are so easy to use, this really redefines simplicity in my mind. Here is an application that literally takes minutes for even the most web-paranoid individual to use. Uploading your photo’s is probably the most complicated part of VT and once you figure out how to do this, a few simple clicks will get you on your way and published.

 

VoiceThread has some great tutorials as well if you do need any assistance getting started. Hats off to the creator of VT in making sharing easy as pie!

DB,

The latest VoiceThread fan!