Task+3--Voice+and+Pictures

====The next tool is extremely versatile. Again it is another tool to help students combine an image with either written or oral comments. Voicethreads have been used by kindergartners media type="custom" key="6252313" and[| adults]. Can you think of a way that you could communicate something about your subject area or grade level and let the world comment? How much could we learn from each other? Before you read any further, please be sure you have seen both of these examples. ==== ==== And If you go [|here] there are literally 20+ pages of examples in educational settings of students of all levels. I know a couple of you have already tried this tool. Judy Callahan is an excellent resource on this for you and she is there and can help you if you have problems. ====

 Here are the results of some searches that I did on VoiceThread. Maybe you will get an idea or you can do your own search.
==== For the [|English] teacher. This is an example of an [|historically based one]. Here is something for a [|Foreign Language Teach]er====

==== Here is another Wiki that has some examples of VoiceThreads If you notice, there is a tutorial for VoiceThread at the bottom of these examples and there are also some handouts in your packet. (Since the instructions there were made there have been some changes made but you can still get a free account if you are an educator. ) If you go to this wiki, you can find all kinds of examples of VoiceThread for different age levels. If you click on the links on the left, they will take you to a page where people have added wiki examples.This is another way to use a wiki that is open to others. ====

==== Be aware that there are two types of VoiceThread and there is an education version that has settings that are more appropriate for younger students. For those of you that are not in Lower Division or are new, I have set up an account for you. Lower Division people mostly have accounts already set up. You can add yourself to our Summer 2011 class group, using the email and password I am sending you individually, [|to the class by clicking on this link.] If you decide you want to have individual accounts for your students, we have an education account and accounts can be set up for your use in the education domain.Technology coordinators at all levels have money to purchase paid accounts for you. Lower Division has 200 and keeps them all the time; I think Judy likes to do it by the month. ====

====Please add join our[| V][|oiceThread group] and then add your comment to [|this Voicethread][|.] ====

====For those of you who have already used VoiceThread, here is another tool you might like to try. It is called[| Fotobabble]. Your "foto" does not have to be a photo. You can use any .jpeg or .gif file. You can use photos from the web as well. There is a limitation, though, on how big the photo can be. You may have to edit the size of it or if you take the photo yourself, you may want to set your camera to take pictures that are smaller. The finished products are embeddable in your blog or wiki or even social networking site. One caution about VoiceThread and Little Bird Tales. Both use Flash to make them work correctly so your students that have Macs cannot do these activities in the Mac mode. ==== ====media type="custom" key="6403589" It is suggested on one of the sites I found about this that you can create a class account for the under 13 set to use. In the profile section, you can uncheck a box and make the Fotobabble private. I see this as being extremely useful because it is very user friendly. Maximum length of audio is 1 minute. In language, you could use it to have students record something about a vocabulary word.This technique would work well with a second language. It could be recorded by you as a prompt in a blog. You could use it with a Wordle or other word cloud. In a social studies setting, you could have kids find or draw a picture about an historical event and describe its importance. There are example uses in this[| blog]. You could string some of these together but I believe it would have to be done in some other tool. Here is a [|very good explanation] of the nuts and bolts of using Fotobabble. The teacher here combined it with Wall Wisher which is a tool we will explore later. Combining the two works well--you could set up a vocabulary site and have each student record something about a word and embed it or an historical event and have students get pictures that would be relevant to that event and record something and post it. ====

====Another tool I recently discovered is called[| Little Bird Tales.] I set up a sample story and accounts for each of you as members of our class. Julie, I think you might want to spend one of your 3 hour blocks on VoiceThread and another one on Little Bird Tales. They are certainly appropriate for your age students. I like that they can draw and then add their voice and adding the voice using a laptop with a camera is a snap. Their home page has information you might like about how it can be used. You can add scanned artwork or digital photos and students can make their own pages using the built-in art tools and then record their voice. I can see this tool being used for the 4th grade family album as a new way of doing things. I am attaching a list of accounts for you to use. You can make your test stories public. You can now print these for 99 cents each or email it. It is clearly meant for younger students but it also seems that it might be good for foreign language or vocabulary practice. Actually I think upper school students might use it as an alternative to VoiceThread. A class book might be made following a unit of work. ====

Points for this activity
==== 1 point for reading about VoiceThread and exploring some of the many examples you found out there. Pay particular attention to ones on your age level or in your subject area ====

 1 point for logging into my example voicethread and leaving a comment. * See instructions below.
====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> 1 point for blogging about this on your blog. Is there any assignment or topic you will use in your class that would work well as a VoiceThread, either for a whole class who comments on one presentation such as the 100 days, or ones where your class would each have their own VT to create. ====

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> To add your comment, go to the example Voicethread I created:
media type="custom" key="6405147"
 * 1) ====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|Log in to the Voicethread here] and make a comment. If you don't have a VoiceThread account, you will have to create one. ====
 * 1) ====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Click on the Comment button. (Your laptop has a microphone already in it but speak up if you decide to use your built in one. There are some in Lower division as well and Judy Callahan might also be able to help you with one.) ====
 * 2) ====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">It will say speak when you are ready. Then there will be a box on that asks if you want to allow web access; click on the green button. Be sure you identify yourself in your comment. ====
 * 3) ====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Speak your comment and then click the stop recording button. Notice that one can also comment in other ways including typing. ====
 * 4) ====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Save the comment when you have finished. That's it. ====