VoiceThread

=What is a VoiceThread?= toc media type="custom" key="3859357"

VoiceThread allows all students to make observations, comments, or narration about a photograph or graphic. To get started you will need to go to the website for [|VoiceThread]. From the website you can view demonstrations, actual classroom examples, and detailed instructions for how to create one of your own.

**Powerful Uses of VoiceThread**

 * [|A 10 year old described his trip to Washington D.C.] Then, he published his photos and thoughts of his trip in Voicethread. Visitors to his VoiceThread came, listened to the thoughts of this 10-year old kid, a nd left relevant comments and extended the experience to build a community around his adventure. His thread was used to present the "report" he created for school and you can clearly hear that he is using a checklist to meet a rubric of requirements (ex. figurative language, similes, etc...). Notice that on the last page it lists the number of views and the number of comments. This student is on his way to becoming a global citizen!
 * [|5th grade students shared how to multiply fractions.]
 * [|Kindergarteners shared their digital drawings and knowledge about animals they have studied.]
 * [|First graders read their writings, worked on fluency, and displayed their artwork.]
 * [|High school students used VoiceThread for a book club with teachers as facilitators]. There are hundreds of books discussed here. //To see them all at once, click the button in the bottom right corner of the window that looks like 4 picture squares clustered together.//
 * The possibilities are limitless!**

Sign-Up for VoiceThread Account
You will need an account to begin the process. At the top left corner of the screen, you will see a "Sign in or Register" line. Click on the line and a sign-in popup screen will appear. (If you have an account, simply sign in with your email and password.) If you have not yet registered, you will see the words, "Not Registered Yet? Register!" at the bottom of the pop-up screen. Click on the word "Register" and it will take you to a registration screen. You must enter your name, email address (twice), and a password (twice). Click the "Register" button and your account will be created and you will be immediately logged on to Voice Thread.

Voicethread offers several types of Accounts.
 * Generic FREE account - this account has the most limitations. The most important one being that only three threads can be stored at a time. When a fourth thread is created, the account holder must delete another thread.
 * Generic FREE account for TEACHERS - this account has fewer limitations than the generic free account. Teachers are allowed to store UNLIMITED threads.
 * PAID ACCOUNTS - There are several accounts that offer bells and whistles that can be very powerful BUT require a subscription (with a fee).

Disclaimer - There is a small button at the bottom of the screen called "pricing"...this lists the available pricing plans for the program and the limitations of each.

Simply registering for an account with Voicethread creates the generic free account for the user. Once that generic free account is created, users can "upgrade" to the free teacher account.

To Register for the FREE TEACHER account:
 * Log-on to Voicethread
 * Click on "Products" in tiny letters at the bottom of the screen.
 * You will see many options, choose K-12
 * Here you will see subscription accounts available to teachers with the price listed. You will also see the free account listed. Click on the word "Free" at the bottom of the pricing column.
 * You will be asked to fill out another registration screen. This one will ask for a little more information. Most importantly, it will have a spot for your school webpage address...BE SURE to copy and paste a link to the faculty page of your school webpage here. This is how Voicethread validates that you ARE a teacher! Complete the Registration screen.
 * You will get a message saying that you have successfully applied for a FREE TEACHER account. You will immediately have the privileges of this account. They will validate later and email you only if they can not find your name and email on the faculty webpage.

There is an option to join Ed.Voicethread.Com which is a K-12 Secure environment where there is much more control over who views and responds to student threads. There is a nominal fee for this type of account.


 * Multiple identities can be added to a single account. This can allow all students in a class to respond to a thread while signed on to the teacher's account.**

Navigating VoiceThread.com
At the top of the window you will see three tabs. BROWSE, CREATE, and MY VOICE. Click the tab of your choice to begin.

BROWSE

 * This tab allows you to view Threads that others have posted. The site randomly picks threads to show on the Browse screen to get you interested. It also has a text box in which you can type Keywords for searching. It is fun to browse through what others have done and it will give you a great idea of the different functions available. It is often possible to respond to the threads you view here.**

CREATE

 * This tab takes you to a very simple creation screen that walks you through the process for creating a thread in //three steps//!**

Step One - Upload...This allows you to upload a picture, document, or video from your computer. Try uploading a photo first! With only ONE CLICK you choose and upload your photo! You will see it on the screen and you can click to rotate, resize, or add a title.
 * This can be done with __photos, files, or videos__...
 * on your computer.
 * on your other Voicethreads.
 * on Flickr.
 * any Creative Commons Licensed photo on the web with the URL button. (Find the Creative Commons Licensed photo on the web. Find the web address of that picture by using the right-click it on a PC or Control-click it on a Mac to click on the picture. Next, click on a choice from the list called "Copy Image Location" or "Copy Image Address". Come back to the VoiceThread. Click on Upload and URL. Click on EDIT menu and choose PASTE, then OK.)

Step Two- Comment...This allows you to add text comments, audio comments, and video comments. Try adding an audio comment first! You can also use the drawing tool to circle, draw, or write on the screen over the pictures, videos, and files in your VoiceThread. If you have not yet uploaded a personal image to represent you (photo, clipart, etc) you can do it at this point.

Step Three- Share...This allows you to share this thread with others.

This is where you decide if the thread is "private", "public-allow comments", or "public-no comments allowed". You must choose one of the public options for others to view your thread. Once you make it public, you can choose whether or not your thread is included in the BROWSE feature.

This is where you decide if you want comment moderation to be on or off.

This is where you can specifically invite others to view your thread by entering their email addresses. Click the friends button and then click "add". Put in the email address and name for each friend you add to the list. Then click on the image for each friend and click the "invite" button. Everyone you invite will get an email telling them to check out your new thread!

You can also share your "public" threads by sending out the web address to others via email or newsletter, or by adding a link to your thread on your webpage.

MY VOICE
This tab takes you to your personal section of VoiceThread. It will show all of the original threads you have created and those shared with you by others. MyVoice is the section that allows you to edit an individual VoiceThread's content, sharing permissions, and comments by clicking on the menu icon shaped like a gear.

VoiceThread Tutorials on VoiceThread
This is also where the tutorials are located. Click on a tutorial button and see all of the bells and whistles that Voice Thread has to offer!
 * **Microphone Setup for a Mac** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b416.i3138]
 * **Microphone Setup for Windows XP** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b415.i3143]
 * **Make a VoiceThread in a Minute** - Super Quick, Super Easy, Super Powerful - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b23349]
 * **Using the Zoom Feature with Images and Video** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b783.i9610]
 * **Using Multiple Identities from a Single Account** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b11932.i79515]
 * **Uploading PPTs to Voicethread** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b23349]
 * **Comment Moderation Feature for Reviewing Other People's Comments on Your VoiceThread Before Others See Them** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b718]
 * **The Doodler Tool** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#q.b711] - writing/drawing on the picture while talking about the picture and your drawing
 * **Video Doodling** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#q.b21651] - writing/drawing on the video while talking about the video and your drawing.
 * **Sharing Your VoiceThread** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b325897.i1731223]
 * **Embedding Your VoiceThread into Another Website** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b805]
 * **Using the WordPress Plugin to Add VoiceThread to Your WordPress** - [|http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b4643]
 * **Embedding Your VoiceThread in Wikispaces** - http://empowerstudents.wikispaces.com/PostingWeb2.0Wiki - text directions listed specifically for Wikispaces.

Advanced VoiceThread Tricks

 * Adding Video Clips & More** - Photos are not the only thing you can put into a VoiceThread. For standard accounts, the size limit is 25MB. For Pro and Educator accounts, the maximum file size for upload is 100MB. Other than file and size considerations, the upload process is the same for uploading pictures.
 * Videos must be in one of the following file types.
 * Quicktime - MOV
 * Windows Media Video - WMV
 * AVI
 * Flash Video - FLV
 * H.264
 * Other document types:
 * Microsoft PowerPoint - PPT
 * Microsoft PowerPoint Show - PPS
 * PDF
 * Microsoft Word document - DOC
 * Microsoft Excel spreadsheet - XLS

(Some sites, such as TeacherTube, allow for you to legally download and use videos posted there. For any videos downloaded from TeacherTube to be uploaded to VoiceThread you must obey the following from TeacherTube.)

//**Note:** TeacherTube provides the ability to download videos to your computer for personal or classroom educational use only, provided you give a link back to TeacherTube in any presentation, website, or other form of media in which the downloaded video is included and give credit to the author of the video.//

VoiceThread allows you to leave comments in many forms; text, audio, and video. The text and audio begin working without any hoopla. The video may take some more work. The webcam is not as straight-forward. You need to set up the right type of camera. Sound complicated? Not really, but it is not and obvious step.
 * Setting up the Webcam (Built-in iSight camera) on Your Mac to Record Your Video Comments** -
 * 1) Click on one of your VoiceThreads as though you wanted to comment on its pages.
 * 2) Click the PAUSE button.
 * 3) Click on the COMMENT button.
 * 4) Move your cursor arrow over the picture.
 * 5) Hold down the Control key and click your mouse button at the same time. A drop-down window will pop-up.
 * 6) Click on "Settings" in the drop-down menu. A window will appear on the screen.
 * 7) Click on the Camera button in the new window.
 * 8) Click on the drop-down menu to change the "DV camera" to "USB Video Class Video"
 * 9) Click CLOSE.

//You should only have to do that one time.//


 * Video Doodling** - While playing a video in a VoiceThread, comments can be added, shapes can be drawn, and the video can even be paused.

If you have a VoiceThread with a video clip, you can draw, pause, and comment on the clip.
 * 1) Click on the Comment button.
 * 2) Click on the play button on the bottom.
 * 3) A pencil will appear. Click on the screen to drag and draw.
 * 4) You may pause the video, as needed, during your comment.
 * 5) When you are done, click on red "Stop Recording" button and "Save".


 * Subscribing to RSS Feed for Comments** - Allows you to take an RSS feed reader and subscribe to your VoiceThread to have the feed reader alert you that someone has added a comment to your VoiceThread.

In the My Voice section, 1. Click on the "New Comments on RSS" button on the icon on the right. A new window will open. 2. Choose your application to handle RSS feeds. You can also use your email program, such as Entourage or Outlook, to handle RSS feeds. 3. Click on SUBSCRIBE.


 * To Duplicate a VoiceThread** - Allows you to create one VoiceThread slideshow, copy it, and use the new copy with a different group or class. Keeps you from having to recreate it just to use the same pictures again, such as with another period or class of students.

1. Go to MyVoice tab. 2. Click on menu icon of the VoiceThread you wish to copy. 3. Click the "Make a Copy" button. 4. In the window that pops up, click in the text boxes to change the name or description to meet the duplicates purposes. 5. In the same window, choose what to do with the comments from original in respect to the copy. You can "Include All Comments", "Include Only Your Comments", or "Don't Include Comments".

If you choose "Include Only Your Comments", it will keep all comments your account has made. This means if you made a class set of identities under your account, all of the comments with those identities will be transferred. The recommendation is to choose "Don't Include Comments". It starts with just the pictures in the VoiceThread itself.


 * This is a powerful collaboration tool with creative applications that can meet curricular needs and impact student achievement! Try and Enjoy!****