Read alouds are a staple in many classrooms around the world. We know that read alouds can be beneficial for both older and younger students. Creating a VoiceThread read aloud can be a wonderful learning experience for all students and a great way to assess reading ability for their teachers.
However, listening to students reading a published work by an author they love on a VoiceThread is tricky when we consider copyright and fair use rules. The good news is that you don’t need to violate copyright laws to create VoiceThread read alouds. One way to get around copyright issues is to have students read original works that they write themselves by using storybird and VoiceThread together!
Instead of using read alouds to assess reading ability alone, why not have give your students experience both writing and reading their own work? If you want to give it a try, we broke down the process into 16 easy steps.
STEP 11: To upload those images to a VoiceThread, click “create”.
STEP 12: Click “Add Media” then search “My Computer” for the images.
STEP 13: Once the images are processed, click “comment”.
STEP 14: Select either audio or webcam as your commenting method, record your narration and click save.
STEP 15: In the upper-left corner, click on the menu then click “share”.
STEP 16: When the sharing window opens, click on the “basic” tab, then click “copy link” then paste it on your website or in an email to share it.
That’s all there is to it!
If you create on original read aloud using storybird and VoiceThread, let us know. We’d love to see your work, so feel free to paste your link in the comment section below!
Connecting your students with other classes around the globe for World Read Aloud Day can be tough. Scheduling a live skype session with a school in a different time zone can be a deal-breaker for what would otherwise be a wonderful learning experience for your students. Even when you overcome the scheduling issues, technology can fail to cooperate. Sometimes their mic isn’t working, sometimes your bandwidth ruins the idea, sometimes the server goes down or your principal decides to have a fire drill halfway through.
The good news is that you can still execute these ideas and not have to worry about the problems if you use VoiceThread for an asynchronous collaboration. At VoiceThread, we understand the issues surrounding global collaborations and we want to help you avoid the pitfalls of synchronous scheduling, high-pressure troubleshooting and bad timing.
We would like to empower you to create rich, memorable learning experiences like this:\
If you want to connect with other schools for collaborative read alouds, there are a few options. If both teachers have a Pro Educator License, they can share editing rights to a single VoiceThread. Even if one or more of the teachers is using our free trial account, you can still collaborate. Below you will find the steps you need to get your collaboration off the ground.
6. Share your VoiceThread with the other teacher. In the “secure” tab, search your contacts for the other teacher and click on them. Then click “edit” and click the blue share button.
7. The other teacher will be notified that you shared the VoiceThread and they can upload and edit it with their own students.
8. Finished!
*** Collaboration between free accounts***
1. Login to your VoiceThread account.
2. Create your VoiceThread either by using your webcam to record students reading, or by uploading images from the book and having your students record audio comments for each image.
3. Ask your collaboration partner to email you the screenshots from their book. (Free trial users cannot share editing rights, so one of you will need to do all the uploading for both groups)
4. Click “share”
5. Click on the “Basic” tab and then click “copy link”. You can paste the link in an email and send it to your collaboration partner.
6. Your collaboration partner can have their students record their portion of the read aloud as audio or webcam comments.
7. Finished!
Let us know if you have any questions or comments about creating an asynchronous read aloud collaboration using VoiceThread. If you need help connecting with another school, let us know and we can help.
We would love to see your work and share it with the VoiceThread community! You can share your read alouds here: VoiceThread Read Alouds
This is a guest post by Eoin Lenihan, a pedagogy lecturer and VoiceThreader.
Students at the University of Augsburg recently took part in a weekend seminar on Evidence-Based Teaching (EBT). One of the key areas of agreement between John Hattie @VisibleLearning and Robert Marzano @MarzanoResearch, the two most influential voices in EBT, is that feedback has one of the most significant teacher-attributed effects on student achievement. The problem with feedback, as Hattie (2009,4) points out, is that the vast majority (80%) of feedback that a student receives in school is from a classmate, and the majority of that (80%) is incorrect. In our seminar, we worked as a group to assess how to deliver better quality teacher and peer feedback. This tied in neatly with another strand of our seminar, the lack of EdTech in the German classroom. VoiceThread was the logical option for enhancing the quality of student feedback while integrating user-friendly EdTech.
Feedback is not simply positive reinforcement, patting a student on the back and saying “nice work”. Praise is welcome but quality feedback is explicitly related to helping a student form an awareness of where he currently stands in relation to realising academic goals and what steps need to be taken next. Essential to feedback is goal-setting, making criteria and rubrics clear and understood and evaluating where a student is in relation to these. Hattie (2011, 5) breaks it down into three steps – “Where am I going?”, “How am I going?” and “Where to next?” One simple method of quality feedback that fulfils these steps is @GeoffPetty’s (2009, 90) “Medal and Mission” routine. A “medal” is awarded where a student meets a goal or where a specific element of his work meets a designated element of the rubric. A “mission” is simply a specific target to help the student continue to improve his performance in relation to the set goal and rubric. We experimented with this method using VoiceThread.
Students from the University of Augsburg, Germany give structured feedback using VoiceThread
We designed a poster project rubric and placed a photograph of a semi-completed poster by “Thomas” on our VoiceThread canvas. Students were tasked to read the grading rubric and then leave a VoiceThread comment on Thomas’s work. Our first attempt allowed us to reflect on how we give feedback and our conclusions were revealing. Most feedback was positive reinforcement and there was little direct reference to Thomas’s poster project rubric. Further, comments went on too long, students became lost in their thought processes and there was a great deal of repetition. In short, our feedback was of little academic use to Thomas. Had we not used VoiceThread, these deficiencies would not have been clear to the students and visible to me as the teacher. Like Hattie said, poor Thomas got lots of feedback, just not much of it useful. As a result, we brainstormed how to give Thomas a better chance at academic success.
Students brainstorm (using a chalk-talk) how to improve our feedback method
The group decided that to maximise the potential of VoiceThread as a tool for quality feedback, input from students would need to be short. We chose to limit each person to one minute per comment. Comments would focus on academic feedback only by giving each one “medal” and one “mission” per feedback session. These would be strictly worded and linked to the attached rubric: “I am awarding you a medal for…” and “Your mission is…”. This allows the student receiving the feedback to easily comprehend where he needs to go next by integrating these “missions” into his work. Having agreed upon these guidelines, we once more gave Thomas feedback and the results were transformative. Comments were focused, brief and criteria-driven. Without doubt, Thomas will now achieve a better grade in this project and, more importantly, have a deeper understanding of how improved academic performance is related to goals.
Having finished our experimentation, we awarded “medals” to VoiceThread. Here are some of the reasons the students will be using it in their future classrooms.
It can be used on any device with an internet connection.
As the teacher is the administrator, data is safe and comments are moderated.
It provides different ways to communicate and it creates a “visual dialogue”.
It is simple to use and wastes no time to set up.
It is fun!
It is a totally different way to think about feedback.
It makes learning visible to parents and it keeps them involved.
It gives parents a deeper understanding of the learning process and not just a grade at the end of the year.
It allows experts from all around the world to comment on student work.
It can be used as a means of collaborative planning for teachers.
It can be used as an excellent introductory tool for student-teachers at a school.
Eoin Lenihan (@EoinLenihan) is a lecturer of Pedagogy at the University of Augsburg, Germany. He has taught at the International School of Augsburg and the Bavarian International School. For more see: www.eoinlenihan.com.
When Matthew Phillips, a business instructor from Wake Forest University, learned one morning that his evening class would be canceled, he turned to VoiceThread as a “just-in-time solution” to hold class anyway.
Even though he’d never done it before, he quickly created a VoiceThread, tweeted the link to his students, and then actively participated with them that evening. “Since Wake Forest University has a campus license,” explained Mr. Phillips, “we didn’t really have any problems. Only 1 of my 90 students had trouble, and his problem was fixed in about 40 seconds.”
Mr. Phillips has held three canceled classes with VoiceThread, and he’s found that “students get the experience of a real conversation better than with any other single solution.” The majority of his students say that they prefer using VoiceThread instead of a simple recorded lecture when they can’t be in class. Now that he has some experience, he says he’ll also use VoiceThread for a larger variety of activities, including “flipped classroom” discussions and bonus content for students.
School closures have affected students of all ages, and some districts have already exceeded their allotted snow days for the year. With ever-growing technology initiatives and one-to-one programs, however, not all of those schools lost that class time. Several school districts across the US, including some in Indiana, Minnesota, and New Jersey, have held virtual school days. Read more here. VoiceThread is a perfect fit for those days that you can’t be in class. Students can participate whenever and wherever it’s convenient for them, they can collaborate and ask questions around the material, and since there are no time constraints, you can require participation from each and every student. See an example in the VoiceThread Library.
Winter is not over, and there may be more snow days to come, but you don’t have to lose a full day of instruction. VoiceThread lets you be there even when you’re not!
This is a guest post by Susan Bertolino, University Professor and VoiceThreader.
Online education is a part of the college experience. More departments are choosing to include online classes in their course schedule. Many instructors are trained to use Web Ex as a mode of conducting synchronous learning, in which college students meet with their instructor via the internet for class discussion, questions, outlines of assignments and other necessary components of active learning. Yet problems arise with this method. Some students have difficult schedules that cannot allow for certain meeting times. Some students have quirky home Wi-Fi connections, so they do their online work at the college computer lab, where they sit next to other students who use the lab to check Facebook and go on Tumblr instead of doing coursework. How does the online instructor address these problems when the emails come in, saying I work every night, I have to pick up my kids, the lab is crazy busy at that time, my roommate uses the computer for his online class at that time—the list goes on.
Our program decided to address these issues by dispensing with synchronous learning entirely. We use Voicethread as our one common tool, along with Temple University’s Blackboard system that is available for all instructors and students. The advantages are enormous:
* Students choose when they will log into the assignment along with the background material necessary to complete their work.
* Students can choose to record or videotape any comments. (They can also write their comments, but I personally discourage it as I use Voicethread for the interactive benefits.)
* Second language learners can practice speaking their English in a non-threatening environment.
* Voicethread builds community. Once students get used to using the tool, they begin to relax and open up. They see each other online, so they feel they are building relationships with each other, just as they would in an in-person classroom.
* Students who refuse to talk in class feel less pressure when they need to speak, as they are discussing the text on their own terms. Often the shyest students excel with Voicethread.
* Students can comment directly on assignments and powerpoints.
* With a free account, students can create 5 voicethreads. Some students choose this instead of commenting on the comment Voicethread. It is up to the instructor whether he or she is comfortable with separate voicethreads, depending on the assignment.
* The tool is easy to use. Common glitches may come from an outdated flash player; bad Wi-Fi or too many people are accessing the same voicethread.
I use Voicethread with my online and in person classes, as I believe in using educational technology in the classroom. Too many people think of technology as consumption along with instant gratification. It is one thing to write a tweet. It is another to respond to an assignment with page numbers from the text along with personal insights into specific information. Good technology keeps our minds active. Once the student gets used to the format, it all works out. By the final assignment, I don’t get any email that tells me the tool is inaccessible. They know what to do.
I’m including some work from my fall semester of 2014. One combines one of my in-person classes with my online class. I created this assignment as a response to Stud Terkel’s Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. The first Voicethread assignment asked the students to interview a full-time worker; the second section asked them to reply more about the book Working by Studs Terkel. I deleted some of the answers for the sake of brevity. I also included an interview with my husband as an entertaining way to model the first half of the assignment.
The second assignment pertains to The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Only my online students participated. It is based on a powerpoint I created on some of the chapters in the texts. Students were asked to comment on key images, using specific terminology from the text.
You will see that Voicethread allows for a lot of teacher commentary to explain the powerpoint. I alternated from comments I created for my summer class to new ones I made for my fall semester one. Both voicethread assignments show how some students choose to use the web camera while others preferred the audio recording. For the powerpoint assignment, I gave them the option to choose; however, for the interview, I asked the students to videotape their interview unless they had a reason not to do so, and that problem needed to be discussed with me.
I hope I have given an overview of how Voicethread works in online classes along with the more traditional classroom format. Speaking for myself, it has opened up my teaching tremendously. Students left the course with better critical thinking skills and a sense of accomplishment on how to use educational software. Voicethread creates a positive teaching tool for any class environment. I encourage all educators to give it a go!
Susan Bertolino has taught in the Intellectual Heritage Program for the past ten years at Temple University. Before moving to Philadelphia, she was a bilingual classroom and resource teacher for K-8 in Chicago–Spanish is her second language. She loves using educational technology in various modes as she thinks it addresses the three primary learning styles: auditory, visual and tactile.
This unconference is for educators who work at the intersection of literacy and technology. At VoiceThread, we believe in conversations, not presentations, and the unconference model embodies that belief. At Novel Ideas, educators will work together to discuss different perspectives on teaching and assessing literacy in the year 2015 and beyond.
Details
VoiceThread is partnering with LitWorld, the global literacy non-profit, to bring you this event. The goal is to make connections and share innovative ideas about how to improve reading and writing instruction in our blended, hybrid, or online courses.
If you’ve ever been to an EdCamp or any other unconference, you know that the topics of conversation will be designed by you, the participants. Pre-conference planning for Novel Ideas with take place virtually using our planning VoiceThread to pitch ideas and discuss potential topics of conversation.
On the day of the conference, we will hit the ground running. The beautiful living room and loft area in the Flatiron Hotel will comfortably accommodate 75 participants as we huddle up for our breakout conversations.
This event is also part of the build up to World Read Aloud Day, LitWorld’s special global event advocating for reading as a human right.
We encourage all participants to contribute to our Read Aloud VoiceThread Collection in the weeks leading up to Novel Ideas and World Read Aloud Day.
Space at Novel Ideas limited, so if you sign up but can not attend please let us know so we can give your spot to someone on our waiting list.
Each month for the 2014-2015 school year, we will be accepting submissions for a “VoiceThread of the Month”. Each month, we will ask for an entry based on a different theme along with a link to submit the work when it’s complete.
If your submission is chosen as our winner, and your school doesn’t already have a license, you will win a free license for a year!
The winning selection for each month will also be added to a special section in our digital library so everyone can see the great work you do.
For January, the theme is:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Do you discuss the impact Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had on American history?
Do you discuss the civil rights movement with your students?
Do your students study the “I Have a Dream” speech?
Then turn those discussions into a VoiceThread and submit it using the link below.
Here’s how it works:
The submission can be either student or teacher created.
We are looking for conversations, not just presentations.
The VoiceThread will be judged on these 3 criteria:
1. Comment Quality– all comments should add value to the content of conversation.
2. Visuals– all images/documents/videos should be appropriate, interesting, and properly sourced.
3. Comment Quantity– more people engaged in the conversation means more points of view.
If you have an Ed.VoiceThread license and have opted to allow anyone to view it in the past, you know that Comment Moderation was enabled for you automatically. After receiving your feedback about the needs of students and teachers, we have updated that policy.
Now, Comment Moderation will not be enabled automatically if you choose to allow anyone to view and comment. There is only one time that Comment Moderation will be enabled automatically, and that is if you opt to publish your VoiceThread to the Browse page. (Learn more here)
Comment Moderation is a powerful tool for assessment, for students who are hesitant to comment if other students can see their work, and for simply making sure that all comments are on-topic and appropriate before allowing your audience to see them. Learn more about Comment Moderation here.
This is a guest post by Sarah Diaz, VoiceThreader and Kindergarten teacher.
I had first used VoiceThread as a student in graduate school. I loved the idea of sharing media, narrating it, and giving/receiving instant feedback. As a student, I enjoyed the freedom it gave me and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to create new projects. I began to think of how I could use it in my kindergarten classroom. There would be challenges because their knowledge and skill sets are limited. As emergent readers and writers, they would not be able to use all of the features on VoiceThread; however, young learners are exceptionally good at thinking beyond the box, and I wanted to see what they were capable of.
I began by presenting them with VoiceThread as a digital story. I took pictures and narrated an alphabet story, Max Grover’s “The Accidental Zucchini”. The class roared with laughter after hearing a favorite story in a familiar voice on the computer. They wanted to watch it over and over.
Once I had their attention, I asked them if they wanted to create their own alphabet story and make a VoiceThread as I had done. They were very excited. Each child chose two letters, listed two things that began with that letter, and made their letter pages for our class book. In the past, this is where the class book was assembled and the project ended. Now, I took pictures of my students’ work and recorded each of their voices reading the work aloud. When the big debut of their class digital story came, the students were so proud to share their work with each other, other classrooms, and their families.
This was the beginning of my students’ use of VoiceThread. Since this project, I have created different digital stories for the students to listen to, and they respond by using the comment feature. They have given predictions, opinions, and compared different texts through either recording audio or video. It serves as a formative assessment for me on their comprehension skills of the story and in their language development.
I am an international teacher. The majority of my students are English language learners who are not from our host country. Developing their English language skills and having the ability to share my class’ stories with their families from all over the world is important. Technology helps tremendously in keeping my classroom connected to our families and global community. Parents and relatives alike can view our stories, and see their child’s growth for themselves.
One of the joys of VoiceThread is that it can be used in any subject, at any level, in any class. Young students can be shown which buttons to press after the visual content has been added for them, but the stories are still their own. Now that there is a VoiceThread app, my students have an easier time making stories with the class iPads. It has been one of the tools that significantly added to my students’ 21st century skills and continues to amaze them with what they are capable of with technology.
Sarah Diaz has been a kindergarten teacher for the past 11 years and has worked with students in public, private, and charter schools in the United States and abroad. She is passionate about early childhood education, STEM, and digital storytelling. Catch her on twitter @SarahDiaDiaz for more ideas from her kindergarten classroom.
This is a guest post by Alissa Harrington, VoiceThreader and Instructional Designer at Stevenson University.
VoiceThread is so flexible and simple to use, that we often overlook some of its powerful built-in features. Below are three ideas to incorporate into your VoiceThread experience:
1. Insert an Active Link– An easy way to share a file* or website with students during a VoiceThread presentation is to copy the source URL and paste the link in a text comment. Links in the comment area are live once posted. Alternatively, you can also post an active link in the title of a slide, however only one link can be shared per slide using this method. No matter which method you choose, be sure to introduce the URL with a video or voice comment so the students are aware of its purpose.
*Note: To share a file, place the item in Google Drive or Dropbox first and then select share to generate a URL for the file.
2. Create Assessments Using Comment Moderation– Comment moderation “hides” comments from all users except the creator of the VoiceThread. This option is useful for assessment prompts as it forces students to create original and creative responses. To enable this feature, select Publishing Options from the Edit page of your VoiceThread and then select the ‘Moderate Comments?’ option. Moderated comments will appear grayed out with a closed-curtain icon. Once all grading is complete, instructors can click the closed-curtain icon to reveal each comment to the class.
3. Organize Conversations with Tags– Tags are an optional, yet powerful item; they allow you to conduct a search based upon keywords. The tag field appears in the ‘Describe your VoiceThread’ dialog box under the title and description fields. Use tags to associate your VoiceThreads with categories, research topics, or presentation types, such as debates. Once you assign tags you can quickly filter related conversations by entering a keyword into the search field located on the MyVoice tab.
About Alissa Harrington
A former elementary school teacher turned techie; Alissa is recognized for her ability to teach complex technology concepts to the non-technical. Technology and education have been her passion for nearly 20 years. Alissa is currently an instructional designer for Graduate and Professional Studies at Stevenson University. Follow her on twitter at:@aj_harrington
Students from the University of Augsburg, Germany give structured feedback using VoiceThread
Students brainstorm (using a chalk-talk) how to improve our feedback method
School closures have affected students of all ages, and some districts have already exceeded their allotted snow days for the year. With ever-growing technology initiatives and one-to-one programs, however, not all of those schools lost that class time. Several school districts across the US, including some in Indiana, Minnesota, and New Jersey, have held virtual school days. 
