I first asked myself what it means to use a "presentation tool". It could be an alternative to the "poster project" - the culmination of research being presented in a digital format. However, through this course, I have tried out a variety of tools that could be used to present information - I would like to see my students create products where they have to synthesize information rather than just report it.
Voicethread is also a tool that can do presentations, but it is also an exciting way for students to interact with their audience, and have their audience interact with them in a multi-modal way.
My first attempt at a Voicethread involved using a video from the internet. The first problem was that it was at low resolution and showed up postage-stamp-sized! In addition, it was a commercial with little educational value. Instead, I chose to present my bathroom repair from two summers ago as a photo slideshow with text, voice and video annotations. If you have a Voicethread account, you should be able to add your comments to this as well.
MOVIES
Another aspect of Voicethread is using video. I did learn how to upload and "mark up" the video as I was commenting, but the method of inserting comments is not particularly user-friendly. The comment seems to always end up at the end of the video file - in order to put a comment in the middle, I think one would have to split a longer video into scenes with Windows Moviemaker or iMovie.
The basic steps to creating and annotating a movie with this application are:
Find a video / Shoot a video (with an iPhone, for example) - put it on the computer
Create a new Voicethread
Import Video from my computer
- Movie (mov) file taken with my iPhone
- Movie (mpg) file from web
Comment as desired.
In my bathroom example, I used "doodling" once when I circled the float and the sponge on the counter. This can be used equally well with a video while commenting.
http://voicethread.com/about/features/doodling/#
In theory, it should be easily possible to move a comment to any location on the time line. At first, I wasn't able to make the following instructions work on my Mac (usually, you use the command key when windows uses). Afterwards, I realized that the instructions say to use the SHIFT key!!! Pays to read instructions carefully.
http://voicethread.com/support/howto/VoiceThreads/Commenting/Can_I_change_the_order_of_comments_on_a_page_slide/#
Technical Considerations
Of course among teachers, there are always the "reluctant users" who like to follow instructions. Voicethread comes through with a printable manual that covers the main functions of the application
Classroom/Library use
How would one use this tool with students? The Community of Voicethread users contains a range of actual projects created by teachers and students. It is located at http://voicethread.com/community/library/
For example, by clicking on "library" and then on "foreign languages", there are a number of Voicethread examples where students practise English, Mandarin, French or Spanish. The greatest benefit that I can see in the area of languages is that Voicethread allows students to work on their oral language, and it allows the teacher the opportunity to evaluate their oral language... something that is difficult to do in a class of 30 students.
