Voicethread
1. What standard(s)/outcome(s) are being met?
1 A. Identification, selection, installation and maintenance of technology infrastructure, and hardware and software applications for school administration and instruction.
1 B. Integrating technology into curricular planning and instructional design.
2. Identify 1-3 elements of the artifact and explain why/how they demonstrate mastery.
Voicethread is a Web 2.0 application that allows the user to take still photos of objects or shoot videos with a web cam and upload them in slide form to the Internet. The thing that makes Voicethread remarkable is that users can then comment on the slides by microphone, webcam, or even telephone. This application is a great tool to integrate into curricular planning and instructional design. In this artifact, I had students break the Preamble to the Constitution into several parts, research their part, design and illustrate a poster, then shoot a still image to upload to Voicethread. Once the stills were shot and uploaded, the students read a digital voice over of their portion of the Preamble. The final product is the entire Preamble done by my students, while preserving their anonymity.
3. How does, will, or could the content of this artifact benefit your instructional audience or professional community?
This artifact benefits my instructional audience by adding an element of engagement and 21st Century learning skill to a vital piece of our curriculum. In addition, it allows the students' families the opportunity to view an example of authentic work from outside the school and even make comments and praise the work from their homes anywhere around the globe. Thus, this is truly a project incorporating the global community.
4. Reflection: What did you learn from the experience when you created the artifact or took the course?
I learned that Voicethread is quick and easy to use. It is a safe program to use because you can photograph students work, and not necessarily their faces for web publication. I also learned that comments from the public can be moderated easily from my administrative account. I have never had an issue with any inappropriate comments from the public, but these are viewable by the global community, so anything is possible.