Voice Thread

A voice thread is a tool that will allow you to, as the site says, have a conversation around specific media. A voice thread allows you to upload pretty much anything that you would like, and lets you add comments either through text or voice, allows you to make visual comments with a writing tool, and even allows others to collaborate on the project as well. This is another tool that I plan to create a professional development around in the up- coming school year in hopes that teachers will either use it to create tutorials or even allow students to create tutorials on their favorite topics for collaborative sharing.
It is a powerful tool that can be utilized to create training demos. Not only are you able to provide visual images; you can also make comments and draw on the screen in an effort to ensure clarity on any given topic. The site provides an embeddable code and a URL that can be hosted on a website so others can access it and use it for its intended purpose. The ability for viewers to post comments takes it to an even better level. This helps create a sense of team around the given topic.
I was first introduced to voice thread a couple of years ago by a co-worker. In the sample I saw a person was creating a family tree of sorts. Images were pulled in and audio provided descriptions of the images. The author posted comments as well. What made this so interesting to me were the comments made by other family members. It became a walk down memory lane for the whole group. Each one was able to provide a tidbit of information for the whole group. Even though I did not know the family personally I felt like I did after I was finished viewing it. I can easily see this tool being utilized in a History class for the creation of oral histories of a local community or even to recreate thoughts and ideas of historical figures of importance based on topic.
There are so many ways that this can be utilized to make the learning process more engaging. It is simply another tool that can be used to pull students further in and making them active participants of the learning process.
You can view my voice thread by clicking here or by scrolling down to the bottom of this page.

You can view my voice thread by clicking here or by scrolling down to the bottom of this page.