BP_4_Voicethread

I have been looking for the perfect tool for my students to use to reflect on their recent outdoor-play provocations. This is always a bit of a "sticky bicket" (as my Brit friend says) considering the people I want to do the reflections are at best role-play writing. I've been asking myself; would my kids type or perhaps write/scribble with a pen on the IWB to an up-loadable bulletin board? Have you ever seen second language learner Kindergarteners type? Picture Mr. McGoo hunting and pecking while immersed in molasses. It's all about the squinting and the speed (i.e. reverse.)

But I digress. I think I've found the perfect Web 2.0 tool and can't wait to get my kids using it. It is called voicethread. After a couple of tutorials, I ran to the tech admin at our school to talk about getting our kids accounts so that we can get started. He is checking on the site license right now. Yes!

So what is it?

“A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways.”

You can use your microphone or a telephone and leave voice comments on someone’s video. But the fun doesn’t stop there; you can leave text, audio or video comments and then share your images, video or your comments on someone else’s video with your friends. Then they can comment as well.

The tutorials are super user friendly, even I can get it. Now if I can just upload my videos, you too will be amazed.

This movie was a capture made with Telestream's Screenflow of a tutorial on the voicethread site. You can watch it yourself at http://voicethread.com/about/features/sharing/

This naturally was the first "feature" that I was interested in watching a tutorial of as yesterday's fiasco with the 12 hour upload was not a feature that I was interested in repeating. I'm thinking super easy, let's watch more. I really like the way the tutor used the yellow pencil to highlight areas of his screen. I see something in the sidebar called "doodling" and think, I want to be able to do that. I then watch the following tutorial for "doodling" but still never get where he actually picks up the pencil. There is no button but I do learn how to pause and play a video. I then spent way to much time pondering the significance of the fact that the subject of their tutorial is Wiley Coyote a.k.a. "Super Genius" and also my profile pic on Facebook.

"I'm sure that the universe conspired to bring me to this site!" - she said to herself.

Anyway, I will show you this next blip and you'll see what an "collaborative multi-media slide show" really is...oh and if you see where he gets the doodling pencil, let me know. This S.G. is on the way to making a voice thread of her own.