Cool Technology
The online teaching environment is constantly changing to keep pace with the latest in technological advances. Just when I think I mastered the latest and coolest in high tech something new comes along. About 3 weeks ago, I was introduced to voice thread. For those of you unfamiliar with voice thread, it allows you to have conversations around presentations such as PowerPoint. Once the voice thread is created, it can be e-mailed and shared with anyone. You can invite your friends to listen in on your voice thread. Another cool feature of voice thread is that it allows you to embed YouTube videos and send them as a voice thread. You can set up the voice thread to allow comments or you can set it up to moderate comments. Over time PowerPoint presentations become boring, with voice thread the students hear my narration during the presentation.
I created a voice thread for one of my online classes and embedded the voice thread into the course announcements. The course announcements portal is a tool that I use to keep the students informed of important information. Most students don't bother reading the announcement board and I end up sending out mass e-mails. Since embedding the voice threads into the course announcements, the announcement board is quite a popular place for students. I use the voice thread to summarize what we learned from the previous week, reinforce concepts and test taking tips. I have seen an improvement in test scores with one of my classes. The students have provided positive feedback to the voice thread.
You can check out this cool technology at http://voicethread.com/. The site allows you to create three free voice threads. You will need to register by using your e-mail address and a password. The site offers a tutorial to help you navigate your way around voice thread. I found the tutorial easy to use.