VoiceThread —
At a Glance
- Student-student and student-instructor collaboration
- Add video, audio, and text comments around pictures, documents, videos, or PowerPoint slides
- Web-based, nothing to download
- Share VoiceThreads with specific groups of students
- Provide interactive feedback on student submissions
Description/Overview
VoiceThread is an interactive multimedia presentation tool that promotes collaboration and discussion. You can start a VoiceThread discussion by uploading images, videos and documents and then sharing the link with others. Viewers can navigate through your slides and leave comments.
Additionally, using VoiceThread's "doodle" tool, you can markup or annotate the multimedia you have uploaded when leaving a typed, video, or audio comment.
Getting Started
All KU faculty, staff and students can use VoiceThread. You can log into KU’s VoiceThread instance by going to https://ku.voicethread.com and logging in with your KU Online ID and password. You can create, manage and share your VoiceThread content from the VoiceThread website. You can also use VoiceThread directly in your Blackboard course.
You can find helpful information on how to get started with using VoiceThread at the pages below:
Our Educational Technologists are available to help if you have any questions or concerns. They can be reached by emailing itedtech@ku.edu or by calling 785-864-2600.
Use Cases
Basic Online Presentations
VoiceThread provides a quick, easy way for instructors to transfer their presentations to an online format. By turning a VoiceThread’s comments off, instructors can provide a basic, lecture-style presentation to their students. VoiceThread allows presenters to create presentations one slide at a time, which means that they can create their presentations and add narration when it best suits their schedule.
Students can also use VoiceThread to create and share presentations for a course.
Flipping the Classroom
Instructional information is delivered online outside of the classroom, leaving time for discussion and “homework” during scheduled class time.
Video Assessment and Review
VoiceThread makes it easy to analyze and comment on issues within the context of a video presentation. To do this, instructors can provide in-video text feedback while the video is playing. Both the presenter and the presentation grader benefit from this tool.
Online Asynchronous Review Sessions
VoiceThread allows instructors to post questions and for students to answer those questions whenever and wherever it’s most convenient for them. Students also can post their own questions via the comment function so that the instructor can log in when she/he has time to review those questions.
Language Courses
VoiceThread allows students to practice the spoken portion of their language class online, hear other students practicing and receive feedback regarding their performance. Instructors can post words, sentences and paragraphs for the students to repeat in the comments. The instructor can hear their students speak the language online, eliminating the need for real-time oral exams, which can leave more time for in-class language exercises.
Sign Language Instruction
VoiceThread helps students learn sign language by allowing them to practice and submit, via video, for the instructor to review. Instructors also can post examples of signs and ask students to repeat them. Or, instructors can post written words or phrases and ask the students to sign the words or phrases via video comment in VoiceThread.
