Educating students is becoming much more of a student driven profession, where students help make their own learning. This can be done through reports, slideshows, or videos. This podcast, Making New Connections with VoiceThread, introduces a new resource that I have not heard of before; VoiceThread.
According to the podcast, VoiceThread is a new system that allows people to post media artifacts for anybody to access. These artifacts range from photos, videos, or even documents. What the system does is it allows users to go in and make Flash-animations with the documents that students can look at as an alternative means of learning. On top of this, though, the creator has the ability to go in and create a commentary by using the microphone in the computer, webcam, or even type it in with words for the students to read while watching the animation.
This application is so versatile and appropriate for all ages that one of the teachers in the podcast discusses a project she coordinated between many schools and grades. She had second graders in one school create pictures and post them onto VoiceThread. Then, ninth grade English students in a whole different state wrote a story based on the picture and uploaded them with the picture. The final step was fifth and sixth grade music students created songs based on the picture and the writing that was completed. What I gain from this is that VoiceThread is much more than a resource; it is a place for students to work together to accomplish something and get real world experience.
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