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using voicethread a guide for educators voicethread is one of the best tools available online for education and it s free too produced by suzie vesper http learningweb2.wikispaces.com

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using voicethread voicethread overview what is voicethread a voicethread is a collaborative multimedia slide show that is stored and accessed online that holds images documents and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways using voice with a microphone or telephone text audio file or video via a webcam a voicethread can be shared with other teachers students and the wider community for them to record comments too voicethreads can also be downloaded as a movie format but there is a cost for this function supported media formats voicethread supports pdf microsoft word excel and powerpoint including office 2007 formats images and videos voicethread also imports photos from flickr facebook or the web uses of voicethread in education voicethread is a very flexible tool so it can be used for a huge variety of uses such as · orally publishing written work with art work displayed on the slide · uploading speeches for comments and feedback · describing methods for solving maths problems · displaying videos of pe sessions for comment and feedback · art portfolios describing processes used at each step or just as a simple art gallery · gathering perspectives on an idea or concept from the students · sharing news or exciting events for students · collecting comments from partner classes involved in collaborative projects produced by suzie vesper http learningweb2.wikispaces.com

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creating an educator voicethread account 1 go to the voicethread website at http voicethread.com click on sign in or register above the voicethread title 2 click on the link at the bottom of the pop-up screen that says register 3 click on the educator click here link 4 there are three options then shown for educator accounts to get started click on apply for the free educator account 5 this will then take you to another login or register screen click on register a new account 6 fill in the details on the next screen and then click on the register button remember to keep a record of the email address and password you enter as this is what you use to log in to your account 7 you will then be asked to supply details about your school fill these in and then click submit these are us grade levels k is new entrant and grade 12 is the end of high school when it asks for school email it is asking for your own school email address not the office email address as soon as you enter all of this information and submit it your account is instantly active produced by suzie vesper http learningweb2.wikispaces.com

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adding to a voicethread discussion 1 make sure you are signed in to your voicethread account using the email address and password you chose when you set up your voicethread account you can do this by logging in to your account at http voicethread.com or by clicking the sign in option in the bottom corner of the voicethread you want to add your comments to 2 you will see an image appear in the bottom left hand corner of a voicethread that represents you click on the comment option 3 you can record an audio comment with the record button you will need to have a microphone either attached or built in to your computer type a comment with the type option or record a video comment need to have a webcam using the little video camera button 4 when you click on record a pop-up window will appear that asks you to allow voicethread to use your audio and video on your computer click on allow be aware that as soon as you do this voicethread will then start recording directly afterwards so be ready with what you want to say 5 when you have finished your comment click on stop recording you will then be able to listen back to the comment you have left if you are happy with this click save your comment will now appear around the outside of the voicethread slide 6 at times there may be more than one slide in a voicethread the big arrow at the bottom right of the voicethread will move you to the next slide you can click on the little squares next to the arrow to see a view of all of the slides to jump to a specific slide using the doodle tool while commenting with doodling you can draw on top of the voicethread slides as you record your comment this will be saved along with your recording and will be played back with your comment it has a range of uses such as highlighting part of an image you are talking about or showing the working out of a maths problem produced by suzie vesper http learningweb2.wikispaces.com

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how to doodle 1 you will see a circle with coloured circles around the outside when you are recording a comment this is the doodle tool 2 you can click on a colour and then doodle on the slide while talking both the audio and the doodle will be recorded in real time the doodle will be replayed when someone plays back that recorded audio 3 the big circle in the middle can be solid coloured or half faded this controls whether or not the doodle fades out over time or whether it stays solid you click on the circle to swap between the two options oddly when the middle circle looks faded that is when the doodle doesnt fade away and when the middle circle is solid the doodle will fade away your voicethread account changing your account details and image on the top right of the screen there is a down arrow next to your account image click on it and select my account when you are on your account page you can click edit next to your account name this will give you the option to change your account name and image adding identities to your voicethread account for your students so they dont need accounts themselves !2 choose a name for the identity 1 click on the sign next to add an identity 3 upload an image for that identity you will need to have an image on your computer ready to upload 4 click save when the big pop-up window opens showing the details for that identity 5 keep doing this until you have an identity for each child or group of children in your class a note on internet safety it is best to not include a last name if using a childs name for an identity remember that you should have a signed agreement from parents if you use photos of the children an alternative is to let the children create avatars visual representations of themselves using some online tools or by making a drawing to use in a tool like kidpix you could also scan in an image of their artwork to use produced by suzie vesper http learningweb2.wikispaces.com

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swapping between identities when commenting this is a relatively simple process at the bottom of the voicethread screen is an image showing which identity is the current one click on this image and select another picture to change to that identity creating a voicethread uploading 1 click on the create tab and then upload generally you would choose the option to find photos from my computer but there are other options for where to get the images from such as flickr if using the my computer option a window will open up into your iphoto library on macs or a file browser window pc 2 select the photos you want to upload you can hold down shift key to select more than one in a row or the ctrl apple key on macs key to select photos not all in a row 3 the photos will then upload in the window you can click and drag photos in the window to reorder them you can also add titles and descriptions to the photos as well as adding recordings or text to your slides when in the preview mode comment option this gives you a preview of how the voicethread will look and you can add a comment in just the same way as described above to set the scene or give instructions for the voicethread share option here you can send an invite people in your contact list to let them know you have shared the voicethread with them the hyperlink for this voicethread is also available when sharing with friends you can give them different levels of access such as only viewing able to make comments or able to edit the voicethread itself title for the entire voicethread title for the specific slide produced by suzie vesper http learningweb2.wikispaces.com

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publishing and playback options there are many important settings and information in these options that run along the bottom of the screen when you are creating a voicethread playback options a voicethread will play all the comments on a slide before automatically moving to the next slide you can change options for how this playback will behave there are also some useful security settings in here you can choose if others can download the media you have used or make a copy of your voicethread export with a free account you dont get any exports unless you purchase them quite cheap basically the voicethread can be downloaded as a movie file so it can be viewed off line very useful if you use voicethread for making e-portfolios you want the children to be able to have on a cd or dvd at the end of the year if looking to have an export per child i strongly suggest you purchase a class subscription voicethread account for $60 us a year that allows for 30 exports as part of this price as well as having a lot of other benefits for educators embed this is the option that provides you with the embed code for adding to blogs and wikis publishing options here you can decide how public your voicethread will be i normally allow anyone to view and leave comments but will choose to moderate the comments and not have it show up on the voicethread browse page if i want it to be private people will then only know the voicethread is there if you give them the link to it also the advantage of doing it this way is if you embed the voicethread into a blog or wiki people will still be able to leave comment on it there where do i get further help there are tutorials available on the voicethread site click on help on the right hand side and select tutorials also if you are having issues with voicethread not working at school you might need to unblock some sites these are listed under help troubleshooting your firewall nework settings produced by suzie vesper http learningweb2.wikispaces.com

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