Group audio & video blogs

Voicethread clouds

A very interesting tool available to teachers and students is Voicethread. This type of tool is often called a group audio blog but it is in fact more than this. There is nothing to download, everything is web based and it is easy to learn.  You do have to register though.  The free area is limited with most of the site directed to users paying.

I have reproduced the information from the company about free accounts below.

"The Free account helps you get to know VoiceThread. With 3 minutes of phone commenting, 5 VoiceThreads with up to 50 slides each, and unlimited voice and text comments, you can do a lot with a Free VoiceThread account! Take a look at this video to see the basic features of VoiceThread in action: Introduction to VoiceThread.

Keep in mind that you will not be able to share VoiceThreads securely or delete old VoiceThreads to make room for new ones with the Free account. You'll need to purchase an upgraded license to use those and other upgraded features."

How does it work?
A user uploads an  image, document or video to the website.
Next, other users can post comments about the uploaded file in 5 different ways. They can record text and audio comments about the uploaded image using the tools pictured in red below. The icons represent;

• a phone
• a microphone
• text
• an audio
• files - PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• web cam

Voicethread gives students the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with other learners which could include those from around the world or just class mates about an image. Teachers can control who can join and who does what and can limit the users to just their own class. Sometimes tools like this can rightly make teachers nervous as inappropriate posts may appear! The potential for teachers of English is enormous and the site is well-worth exploring to see what other have done and what you could do.
 
I watched a wonderful demonstration thread where a family photo was the uploaded image.  Next, members of the family in the photo uploaded audio files where they talked about their individual memories of the moment the photo was taken. I loved it but this in itself is not enough to recommend it to teachers, so I started to think about how it could practically be used.  Here are some random ideas which focus on all 4 skills and not just speaking and listening;

• post an image from the news and get your student to comment on it. They can record their thoughts using a microphone or write them down and upload them
• post a class photo and get students to introduce each other or desribe people in a photograph
• if you have an exam class that has to comment on a photo as part of their speaking exam (Cambridge First Certificate, for example) post a typical exam type photo and get students to comment using a microphone. Then set a listening activity so the class to listen to their classmates and note the comments they make.  What language do they use to desribe the photos? Do they speak for long enough? What adjectives do they use?  and so on.
• as the student's voice is recorded the teacher can give feedback on spoken ability. For example, the teacher can point out grammar mistakes and pronunciation problems

Where can I get some ideas about using Voicethread?
Read an article about how one teacher based in the USA has used Voicethread at the address below;
http://www.edutopia.org/voicethread-interactive-multimedia-albums

Read a blog which has instructions on how to use Voicethread;
http://digitallyspeaking.pbworks.com/w/page/17791585/Voicethread

Browse the teacher created Voicethreads at;
http://ed.voicethread.com/#q

Finally, Voicethread can be found at the address below.  Please note that you will need to register before you can use the site - name / email / password need to be provided;
https://voicethread.com/