I've revisited Voice Thread again to trial this with a focus group of ESOL students. I'm involved in a project that is monitoring the growth of their thinking, questioning and language by using science as a vehicle. We've been doing a few science experiments and getting the chn to talk about what is happening and to ask questions, both in a written and oral form. A fortnight ago they embedded podcasts into their blog, which is no easy feat for younger children, although I have to say they coped really well. Voice thread gives us the option to include photos, titles and listen to the oral commentary, and was definitely much easier to use. To date this has been very successful.
One of the positives with Voice thread is that the student's families, and the students themselves can leave comments on the voice thread too. I'm hoping this aspect of voice thread may well strengthen those home / school partnerships.
Accounts. I had a basic account which only allows you to have 3 free voice threads, so I continually deleted previous threads. What message is that sending the students about valuing their work. I then went into the K-12 option and upgraded the account to an educator which allows me to have more that 3 threads.I'm sending much better signals to the students and valuing their work. :-)
Thanks here to my colleagues Allanah and Warren who tested the site and helped me out of a hole when I was trying to embed code.
You will see the same Voice thread on the side menu as in the previous post. In the side menu of a blog you are able to add html code as a gadget. I have changed the code, the html code in the Voice thread post on the side bar so that it sort of fits into the allowable space, which is why its smaller. However I haven't compromised the speech.
Voice thread offer 2 embedding options. One is the html code, the other is a link. To use the html code option you will probably have to switch tabs at the top of your post constructing window. Switch from Compose to HTML. Your work will still be visible and editable if you switch back and forth. However you will notice tags and source code. (geek speak for letters surrounded by < and > signs. This is the behind the scenes stuff you don't see in Compose. However knowing the code is there also allows you to manipulate it eg change the width and height of your voice thread by changing the numbers. object width="480" height="360".
The link points you away from your blog and off to Voice thread to listen and respond to the post. This link does have its limitations, as it takes your audience away from your blog/ post and puts them into the Voice thread site. A good advertising salesmanship technique. Your audience may or may not return to your blog/ post/ presentation/ wiki.
One of the positives with Voice thread is that the student's families, and the students themselves can leave comments on the voice thread too. I'm hoping this aspect of voice thread may well strengthen those home / school partnerships.
Accounts. I had a basic account which only allows you to have 3 free voice threads, so I continually deleted previous threads. What message is that sending the students about valuing their work. I then went into the K-12 option and upgraded the account to an educator which allows me to have more that 3 threads.I'm sending much better signals to the students and valuing their work. :-)
Thanks here to my colleagues Allanah and Warren who tested the site and helped me out of a hole when I was trying to embed code.
You will see the same Voice thread on the side menu as in the previous post. In the side menu of a blog you are able to add html code as a gadget. I have changed the code, the html code in the Voice thread post on the side bar so that it sort of fits into the allowable space, which is why its smaller. However I haven't compromised the speech.
Voice thread offer 2 embedding options. One is the html code, the other is a link. To use the html code option you will probably have to switch tabs at the top of your post constructing window. Switch from Compose to HTML. Your work will still be visible and editable if you switch back and forth. However you will notice tags and source code. (geek speak for letters surrounded by < and > signs. This is the behind the scenes stuff you don't see in Compose. However knowing the code is there also allows you to manipulate it eg change the width and height of your voice thread by changing the numbers. object width="480" height="360".
The link points you away from your blog and off to Voice thread to listen and respond to the post. This link does have its limitations, as it takes your audience away from your blog/ post and puts them into the Voice thread site. A good advertising salesmanship technique. Your audience may or may not return to your blog/ post/ presentation/ wiki.
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