Becoming+a+voicethreader

__Becoming a Voicethreader! __ Presenter: Karen Kelly-Miller/ Grade 4 Teacher/ Sir Isaac Brock P.S. Contact info: karen.kelly-miller@ugdsb.on.ca
 * Email me on first class and I will send you a summary of what you can learn at this station with some helpful links!*


 * What to Bring and Do Before You Play with Voicethread **
 * Voicethread can be created and viewed on any device that has access to the internet. In my class, my students use laptops, computers, IPads, IPods and Nintendo Dsi all at the same time!**

iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, iPods). Top prepare, please download this app ahead of time if possible. iPad, iPod or iPhone
 * Voicethread is available as an app on**

www.voicethread.com
 * For laptops (PC or Mac) users, there is no download required.**


 * To play with Voicethread you need to create a free account. All you need is an e-mail address. If you do plan on setting up a class or school account, I would recommend using a gmail address instead of your home or first class addresses (to save space in your mailbox). As an administrator, you do receive regular e-mails from Voicethread every time your students comment on a Voicethread or create a Voicethread.**

If you have headphones or a headset (headphones and microphones) please bring them, this will be helpful for muffling the background noise in the room as you record your voice.

Quick Cheat Sheet:


 * What is Voicethread? **


 * Voicethread is an online tool where you can upload images, videos or documents and then leave voice/audio comments on them. It is a terrific medium for collaboration and feedback because multiple people can leave comments on the same images and you can see or hear everyone's comments on the same page. On a Voicethread you can draw on the image, video or document while leaving an audio or text comment. It is also a fairly "safe" tool for students because voicethreads can be private between voicethread members or public to share with the community. **


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 * Why did I start using Voicethread? **


 * In my class, the students were learning how to reflect about their choice of strategies in Mathematics and how to provide positive, descriptive feedback about their work and the work of others. I found that this was a very frustrating task for students who had low written output issues. These students either had to wait for a scribe to be available to record their answers, take a passive role in math groups because they could not write their responses or take longer to finish their work. Valuable learning time was being lost, students were not feeling very positive about a subject that they used to excel in and they were "tuning" out or "goofing off" because they were not engaged.**


 * I decided to see if Voicethread would help me accurately assess these students' abilities to reflect and give feedback about their work. By posting work for "consolidation" on Voicethread, all students in the class had an equal playing field because they could comment on the work via text or audio.**


 * I found that all students enjoyed having the choice of responding by text or audio. Also, since all the their responses were on the same page, they were reading or listening to each other's comments and taking care to share their best work because it was visible to all their classmates. Moreover, as an educator, I found that I was using this Web 2.0 tool for more than just talking about "success criteria" and "next steps." My class was using Voicethread as a presentation format for projects, posting youtube videos and slideshows for discussion and even using it to partner with another school in Australia to participate in an interactive pen pal project.**


 * Here are some great ideas on how to use voicethreads in education.**

Voicethread 4 Education Wiki

Here are some examples of how I have used Voicethread in my class.

Frames4 video my students made for our Australian friends to introduce our school.
 * https://voicethread.com/share/3053252/**

Some math problems we commented on.**

https://voicethread.com/share/3156209/ https://voicethread.com/share/2799893/ https://voicethread.com/share/2462790/

How can you set up an account? = Free vs Pro? =

To see the options for a single educators please go here: @http://voicethread.com/products/k12/educator/

For educators there are two options. - ** Free option ** (VT Educator - you must apply/request this using your school board email address). It allows you up to 50 voicethreads. You cannot create student accounts but can create identities for students. This means you would have to log into Voicethreads and then students can leave comments using your account.

- ** Pro Account ** (cost is $60/year). This allows you to create up to 100 student accounts (each student can have 50 voicethreads) and create groups within your class. Student will have their own login and password and can login from anywhere.

Choosing which one works best for you depends on how you will be using the tool. If you are using it with younger grades who will always be using Voicethread with your supervision and if you will be creating the voicethreads while students are leaving comments, then the free option will likely work well. If you would like students to be creating their own voicethreads and logging in from home, the paid version is likely best.

Many schools are going to a whole-school option where they purchase an account for every student and teacher. This costs approximately $1 per account. So if you have 300 students and 25 staff members, your cost will be about $325. This option allows you to create classes, groups and manage all settings in one place. For more information about this option please see here: @http://voicethread.com/products/k12/school/
 * Whole-School Options **

//**How can you set up an account for your class? For your school?**// **RESOURCE:** Step-by-Step Instructions on how to set up a Voicethread for classroom use (PDF file that can be downloaded, saved, emailed, printed to share)

What is a group? One neat feature with Voicethread is that you can create groups. For me personally, this has given me a spot where I can showcase some of the neat media projects my class has created and to get some feedback from other professionals about my voicethreads. My class used this feature to post videos, slideshows and media projects ( bitstrips, glogster creations) to their Grade 4 friends in Australia. Next year, I am planning to create reading groups and math groups in Voicethread.
 * [|Details]
 * [[file:ecoo11-mindsonmedia/voicethread instructions.pdf|Download]]
 * 1 MB

Here is a tutorial you can view so see how easy it is to start and add people to a group. []

How can you get help? Here is Voicethreads "Introduction Video" with an overview and information on how to get started. @http://voicethread.com/media/misc/IntroductionToVoiceThread.mov

Voicethread has some excellent "how to" resources:
 * Creating Voicethreads
 * Editing
 * Viewing
 * Commenting
 * __ Embedding __[]
 * Doodling

All of Voicethreads "how to" support can be found here: @http://voicethread.com/support/howto/Basics/

How-to support for the mobile Voicethread app (for iPads, iPods and iPhones) - @http://voicethread.com/support/howto/Mobile/

What are the pros and cons of using Voicethread? I have been using Voicethread quite regularly for about a year. As with all tools, there are some pros and cons.

-you can add clips from youtube -you can add videos, pictures, movies (e-mail size, podcasts work best) -great place to showcase student made media work
 * Pro**

-you can't create a slideshow directly inside Voicethread with music playing in the background -if your file is too big, it will not upload to Voicethread, check restrictions for photos, files and video and audio -if you are linking two groups, don't drag and drop, send the link to the invitees instead -students need to be reminded to check their audio recordings to make sure that their voices were picked up by the microphone
 * Con**

Practice Voicethread

**Click on the following link. If you are logged in to your voicethread account, you should be able to comment.** https://voicethread.com/share/3196260/

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Please feel free to leave comments on the practice voicethread. Remember that once you leave a comment you can delete it, but this is an online tool and therefore all aspects of digital citizenship need to be remembered. Anyone can go to this voicethread and see/hear your comments. Comments should be appropriate, constructive and positive. =====