Shameless Self-Promotion

As many of you know, I will study abroad in India next semester.  In fact, I leave in 18 days.  In preparation for this exciting experience, I have begun a blog: Jennifer's Journal: India.  So, as the semseter winds down and our Pedagogy blogs become wonderful memories, feel free to stop by my newest blog intended as a method of sharing my adventure with anyone interested (my mother already has the blog in her RSS feed, so I know I'll have at least one reader!).  I may also continue use of Twitter on occassion and will obviously make frequent use of Facebook, but the blog will allow me to share more than the limited messages allowed on Tweets or status updates.  Who knows?  You may learn something useful for teaching geography or world history.

VoiceThread

Never heard of VoiceThread?  Neither had I until assigned to write a blog post about the Internet tool.  VoiceThread allows users to share pictures, videos, and presentations with a target audience, be it a small group or all Internet users.  Once VoiceThreads exist, users may comment on posts using video, voice, or text comments.  To watch a VoiceThread about VoiceThreads, watch this: http://voicethread.com/share/409/.  There is also an excellent summary of the product at http://voicethread.com/media/misc/getting_started_educator_mpb.pdf that is geared specifically to educators.

There is also an educational version of VoiceThread.  Unlike regular VoiceThread, Ed.VoiceThread is a secure network only available to teachers, administrators, and students.  The school or classroom receives its own URL, and default settings assume that conversations are to remain private.  Students have most of the rights of regular VoiceThread users but may not view or share VoiceThreads outside of the Ed.VoiceThread community.  This ensures that students are unlikely to encounter inappropriate content and allows students to publish material without worrying about privacy issues.

After watching a number of the informative VoiceThreads about VoiceThread (and the creators did an excellent job of providing information about just about everything related to the website), I found a number of strengths and a few glaring weaknesses of the product that a social studies teacher may encounter:

Strengths:

• Ed.VoiceThread is secure from various problems related to the more general site.  Students should not encounter inappropriate materials.  Just as importantly, student identities may remain safe through private discussions and existence under a teacher's classroom account (no ties to an email address or other identifying information).
• Students may hold discussion around a picture or document outside of the classroom.  Students who dislike typing may enjoy speaking their comments, while shyer students who feel uncomfortable voicing opinions in classroom discussions may enjoy being able to express their thoughts through text.
• While private conversations ensure that discussions may occur without concern for external viewing, teachers may intentionally set-up discussion with other students from around the world.  This may prove especially useful in a world geography class.

Weaknesses:

• Ed.VoiceThread costs $60 per year for an individual educator.  While it is possible to use a free version of VoiceThread instead of paying, the free version forfeits many of the benefits of the educational version.
• Due to many potential comments and a probable time gap, it is difficult to establish the back-and-forth conversations that often help face-to-face conversations to be effective.  Students are likely to post their assigned comment without exploring the variety of subjects that may stem from the given picture or document.

If a social studies teacher does decide that VoiceThread would be a beneficial tool for the classroom, there are a variety of intriguing uses.  For example:

• Use VoiceThreads as a medium to discuss controversial issues.  Using pictures, statistics, and other elements of arguments from both sides of the debates, VoiceThreads may facilitate discussion in which students can discuss issues one piece of "evidence" at a time.
• Teach students to create VoiceThreads like they would create PowerPoint presentations.  After presenting the VoiceThreads to classmates, students can comment on likes, dislikes, surprises, and more of each other's presentations.  This encourages students to pay attention to presentations and learn about presentation skills in a more interactive way than peer evaluation worksheets.
• Establish a relationship with a class in another community, either elsewhere in the United States or somewhere around the world.  Students can share pictures, projects, and perspectives to learn, for example, world cultures from students their age who live in these cultures.

Of course, a variety of problems may occur when using VoiceThread in the classroom.  Some students may not feel comfortable posting comments that peers may see as often as desired.  Fortunately, the text option may help some students in this situation.  In addition, a teacher may potentially allow for anonymous comments.  However, anonymous comments and the lack of comment recipients physically present may encourage inappropriate comments.  Teachers can moderate comments to ensure that such comments do not reach their intended destination, but the best way to approach that problem is through discussion of courtesy.

I am unsure what to think about VoiceThread.  It certainly has some excellent qualities that can help within a classroom.  In addition, the Ed.VoiceThread site addresses many potential problems that teachers strive to avoid in Web 2.0 tools.  On the other hand, I am not sure whether the benefits make the money and time involved in use worthwhile.  In the meantime, I plan to post a VoiceThread soon to explore the site more.