VoiceThread

Has anyone found Ed.VoiceThread worth the money? I'm interested in doing it, but I'd like to know what affect it has had on the students and their interest and learning. Also, how many students can you put on it at a time?

Tags: networking, pedagogy, voicethread, web2.0

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Permalink Reply by greg on August 15, 2008 at 7:05am

Hi Mark,
During the second semester of last year, I starting using voicethread.com the free one, not ed.voicethread.com
I would do all my reviews for tests and quizzes in class like I normally do. Next, I posted my reviews online and told my students about it. It was the most effective technology strategy I have ever used. I was happy with my students results and they were estatic.
My suggestions is to try the free voicethread.com and see what results you get.
I hope this helps. Here is my classroom example.
Greg

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Permalink Reply by Brad Wilson on August 15, 2008 at 9:45am

Mark,

I was able to obtain an ed.voicethread account this summer for a tech camp I ran with 5th-6th grade level students. Each student got their own log-in and could create as many VoiceThreads as they wanted. It is a great tool for creating presentations or working collaboratively on writing projects. For as powerful as VoiceThread is, ed.voicethread does little more than give you the ability to create student accounts. The class manager tools leave much to be desired, and the site was very 'buggy' throughout the summer. It is easy for students to learn and use, but we had some difficulty with students trying to share their VoiceThreads with others. It certainly is secure, but almost too secure- they can't share their work with family because family members aren't on the ed.voicethread network. There are ways around this of course, but more teacher controls and options would be nice.

Overall, VoiceThread is amazing. I am a huge advocate of it. Despite this, I was disappointed with ed.voicethread. They certainly are on the right track and I appreciate Steve Papell and Ben Muth's recognition of the possibilities that VoiceThread has for education. If you want to get this tool in the hands of your students throughout the year, yes go for it- the $60 is worth it. Hopefully there will be updates to the site soon, but that will only happen with continuous feedback from us. Good luck!

To see my presentation examples and links for a session I am doing on VoiceThread with other educators, see this wiki.