A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways – using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) – and share them with anyone they wish. About Voicethread

Here’s a good starter tutorial:

Here’s an example of how a voicethread works:

Here’s how to embed a voicethread into a blog:

Here’s a voicethread wiki.

Here’s the voicethread Ning community

And then Language learning: Using Voicethread for practising speaking skills which is probably the most comprehensive step-by-step guide out there, by Ann – here’s Ann’s blog.

They’re using an application called profcast

They make two kinds of audio recording:

1. Teacher created podcasts – they call these enhanced podcasts. Teachers make them to help teach key concepts in maths or to model language. They see this as a form of communication for the parents to use with their kids. The benefit is that it’s easy to use and provides a consistent message about what’s been taught in class.
2. Learner created podcasts – Learners record what they read aloud, record interviews and record their oral reflections about a topic. The presenters gave one example of an interview recorded by two learners saying that their teacher use the recording to reflect on and evaluate their learners’ speaking skills.

Why podcasts? Canberra Primary have found that audio recordings

1. integrate well in a langauge learning contex
2. are a useful tool to model reading and speaking
3. allow learners to evaluate and improve their own speaking ability (they record, listen, evaluate and rerecord their attempt at improving)
4. build confidence
5. support communicative and collaborative skill
6. allow learners to make meaning through social interaction: leaners worked in small groups to problem solve while making the podcast.

For most of the presentation they’ pretty much focused on making and using audio. The podcast element, the online rss sharing element, wasn’t explored in much detail. However they did mention that they have a site for uploading and commenting on the podcasts. The hosting site is shared among 7 teachers. But they reckon each teacher should have their own site. Parents have access to the site.

The online hosting and how they share is what’s interesting to me, and I’ll contact them to find out more.

They’re doing some great stuff.

• Creating audio books, with pictures, text and audio. (using powerpoint).
• Learning journeys around town taking their own photos and adding text and audio, scripts too.
• Audio diaries.

They pointed out that due to their learners syllabus, training to use software had to be done outside the curriculum.

They closed by adding that they needed to and were planning to do some qualitative and quantitative research to evaluate the learning.

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