Voicethread+Explained

What is Voicethread?
One of the best free tools available to teachers and students who are learning with the world rather than about the world is Voicethread. Known as a “group audio blog,” Voicethread allows users to record text and audio comments about uploaded images. Voicethread has two distinct advantages for classrooms that are communicating and collaborating across counties, countries or continents:

Tutorial 1: Go through the presentation and go to the last page and open the link. Click on the Link Collaboration Made Simply View and Interact with the Voicethread.
 * 1)  **Voicethread is Asynchronous:** That means users can work on and enjoy Voicethread presentations at any time--even if their "partners" are sleeping a million miles away!
 * 2)  **Voicethread is Engaging:** Let's face it--sometimes working with digital partners can be pretty boring. After all, email and discussion boards are nothing more than written text. Voicethread gives users something interesting to talk about---pictures! What's more, being able to actually hear one another makes digital communication through Voicethread much more personal.

Planning a Voicethread
Begin by carefully selecting a images about your topic that promote conversation and debate. After collecting a series of images that represent your topic, carefully script out short opening comments for each image that include a question for viewers to consider. Scripting comments prior to recording will allow you to organize your thinking—and your images—in a logical order. This early organization will save time as you produce your final product.

Commenting Tips for Voicethreaders
The best Voicethreads are truly interactive—with users listening and responding to one another. They are super interesting digital conversations! The following tips for Voicethreaders are adapted from the collective work of Gallagher, Copeland and Project CRISS:

To be an active Voicethreader, start by carefully working your way through a presentation. While viewing pictures and listening to the comments that have been added by other users, you should:
 * 1) **//Gather Facts: //** Jot down things that are interesting and new to you
 * 2) **//Make Connections: //** Relate and compare things you are viewing and hearing to things that you already know.
 * 3) **//Ask Questions: //**What about the comments and presentation is confusing to you? What don’t you understand? How will you find the answer? Remember that there will ALWAYS be questions in an active thinker’s mind!

**//Give Opinions //**: Make judgments about what you are viewing and hearing. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Like? Dislike? Do you support or oppose anything that you have heard or seen? Why?

Use the following sentence starters to shape your thoughts and comments while viewing or participating in Voicethread presentations. Comments based on these kinds of statements make Voicethreads interactive and engaging.


 * This reminds me of…
 * This is similar to…
 * I wonder…
 * I realized…
 * I noticed…
 * You can relate this to…
 * I’d like to know…
 * I’m surprised that…
 * If then ___
 * Although it seems…
 * I’m not sure that…


 * FAQ**


 * How do I invite someone who is not a member of my school account to participate in a VoiceThread?**
 * Open your VoiceThread
 * Go the the final share page
 * Click the menu icon (cog)
 * Click Share
 * Enter the email address
 * Click "Send Invite"
 * The recipient will receive the VoiceThread link in an email


 * || [[image:jointheconversation:vt-show-menu3.jpg align="center" caption="Click Share"]] ||
 * = Click Share ||
 * || [[image:jointheconversation:vt-invite.jpg width="412" height="177" align="center" caption="Send Invite"]] ||
 * Send Invite ||


 * How do I hide or show comments?**


 * Comment moderation allows the teacher/owner of the VoiceThread to hide or show comments
 * New comments are labeled with a yellow post-it note
 * Click the VoiceThread avatar to view the comment
 * Click the curtains to hide or show the comment




 * **Playback Options** || [[image:jointheconversation:vt-playback.jpg width="351" height="325" caption="Check Playback options"]] ||
 * Check Playback options ||
 * = **Publishing Options** || [[image:jointheconversation:vt-publish02.jpg width="296" height="312" align="center" caption="Check Publishing options"]] ||
 * Check Publishing options ||
 * **Embed VoiceThread** || [[image:jointheconversation:vt-embed.jpg width="300" height="313" caption="Copy Embed code"]] ||
 * Copy Embed code ||

The following websites are excellent sources of images for Voicethread presentations: > **Wikimedia:** [] > Utter the word Wikipedia in most schools and you'll be met with grumbles, won't you? Most teachers see Wikipedia---the free online encyclopedia maintained by thousands of Internet users---as the root of all digital evil! "It's unreliable!" we cry. "You can't trust the content that you find there." And while some of those arguments may be true, Wikipedia users are some of the most open content creators in the world. Wikimedia connects to a collection of images and videos posted in Wikipedia that are often copyright free---or free for use in most situations with nothing more than a citation of the original source. This site will introduce you to the Wikimedia collection, which is sorted by category and nothing short of impressive. > **Morguefile**: [|http://www.morguefile.com] > Like Wikimedia, Morguefile is designed as a warehouse of images that are copyright free and available to any user for any project with little restriction. The photographers who share their images in Morguefile are working to create a set of reference images on common topics for the world to use. They take great satisfaction in lowering the barrier to incorporating high quality photography into school-related projects and often only request an image citation or an email for a picture to be used. As described on Morguefile's website, "The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits. This is the world wide web's morguefile." > **Flickr Creative Commons:** [] > Flickr is another one of those websites that has probably earned its share of grumble from teachers and district technology leaders in your community, right? Chances are that it may even be blocked by your district's firewall! And while there are legitimate reasons for concern with Flickr---users can definitely find inappropriate content posted by others!---Flickr also has an absolutely INCREDIBLE collection of images that photographers have made available under [|"creative commons" licensing]. Images found in Flickr's creative commons gallery can literally be used for almost any project that is related to education with nothing more than a credit to the original photographer. Voicethread comment rubric
 * Use Copyright-Free images:** Images--like books--are often protected by copyright. That means you cannot simply Google for images and use what you find. Instead, you must search for images that photographers have made available for use without permissions or copyright protections. You can find sources for such images in the resources section at the bottom of this blog post.
 * Sources for Copyright Free images:**
 * Finish Voicethread**