Throughout the course of this semester, we have seen presentations from our peers on tech tools to use in the classroom, from Prezi to Fakebook/Facebook to Capzles. Voicethread was really the only tool I could envision using in my classroom as a way to engage students. I have experience with Prezi; while they are aesthetically pleasing and more "fun" than traditional Powerpoints, they can be dizzying if overdone, and I couldn't identify any significant way Prezi would deepen understanding. Fakebook seemed like it could be a fun way for students to research and act like historical figures, but the limited functionality made me second guess that idea. And Capzles sometimes pulled a Healthcare.gov and collapsed on us.
Voicethread, however, made me think more about facilitating a digital discussion and ensuring that students engage with digital content. With anyone able to leave voice messages about the content presented, Voicethread seems like an awesome tool to use for differentiation and/or engaging students outside of the classroom. As the presenters told us, Voicethread also allows students to leave comments with text, voice, or video, helping those students with anxiety about speaking, or those who feel more competent expressing their thoughts with spoken word. Really, Voicethread and Capzles seemed to address a similar niche: relating content online and providing a medium through which related images and videos can be grouped.
Of course, Voicethread, like any new teaching tool, is only as effective as the teacher's planning and goal-setting around that tool. With this tool, online conversations occur around a topic, allowing students the opportunity to engage in focused, academic dialogue outside of the classroom. This is another opportunity for teachers to reinforce respectful, thoughtful discussion, transferring those classroom norms to a digital format. This could have important implications for students' conduct online.
Check out a student example, followed by a teacher-created Voicethread:
I really appreciated reading your comments about Voicethread! It was also one of the ones I could see being useful in a math classroom. I did worry, though, that students might have trouble or forget how to use the tool when they were in a situation where it would be useful. For example, for my math classroom I would like to have students upload pictures of things they see in everyday life that have to do with math, and then comment on how they see it being related. However, I worry that when my students see something math related they would forget how to use Voicethread and then the opportunity would be lost. I know that if I don't use a tool a lot, I sometimes forget the ins and outs of how it works. I'm not sure if you foresee this being a problem with your students, but it was just something that I had thought about! Good luck if you do end up using this in your classroom, and let me know how it turns out!
ReplyDeleteGriffin,
ReplyDeleteI’m glad to hear that you think VoiceThread might be a tool that you might use in your classroom! I hadn’t heard about it before this semester, but I was glad to have the chance to research a tool that I also can see myself using in the classroom.
I also appreciate your thoughts about using the tool to support respectful conversation and dialogue. This is something that I think about, even outside of the digital realm. How do we encourage students to comment on each other’s thoughts I in a way that is kind and respectful, even when they are disagreeing? This isn’t always easy. And I can see it being even more difficult to moderate when it is happening on-line.
One thing we have been talking about in our literacy class is the importance of modeling these types of practices. We can’t just expect that our students will know how to do these things. Instead, we need to explicitly teach by modeling constructive comments (and maybe even giving appropriate non-examples?), and making clear our expectations for conversation. I appreciate your thoughts about the teacher’s role in ensuring that this type of conversation happens.
Griffin, thanks for stopping by my blog to leave a post. I thought that I would pay the favor in kind. I actually did my Tech Tools presentation on VoiceThread (VT). Alas, we are in two different cohorts: you, Maize, and I, Blue. Nevertheless, I thought similarly about VT and Capzles. In some ways they do seem similar, but, extending on my post about flipping the classroom and your comment on my post, I had mentioned in my group's presentation of VT that I thought that it could be incorporated into the repertoire of tech tools that could help enable teachers to flip their classes. Even if I do not use VT for that purpose, I can nonetheless see using it to extend beyond the physical space of the classroom. But, you are correct when you say that "any new teaching tool [whether low-tech or high-tech] is only as effective as the teacher's planning and goal-setting around that tool." In fact, I was showing my mentor some of the Tech Tools to which we have been introduced. He likes the idea of possibly making screencasts, and seems very open to the idea of using VT after I gave him a brief demonstration. He said, "Figure out how to make it work [for us] and make it happen." So, I have the green light to try some new things in my placement, and VT may very well be one of them. I'll keep you posted!
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