Prior to this experience I had never used Voice Thread. To my surprise, Voice Thread is a very simple and easy tool to use. After exploring the program for a short amount of time I was instantly able to enter in and begin creating my own Voice Threads. Uploading pictures is very easy especially when uploading for a URL on the Internet. Once I uploaded my pictures, it was just a matter of time to record my voice/narration on each picture. Once completed, sharing the Voice Thread is just as easy. You simply click on the button that says “Share” and it gives you a direct link. Another option is to invite people to your presentation through email.
As an educator I see many possibilities of how I could use this in my classroom. One, I could easily convert my Power Points into a Voice Thread and give my students a mini version of the lecture from the day. However, I see more promise in getting students engaged. I could see using this for many things in my US History class. For history, this would be a great tool to create a narrated time line. Students would have to be able to explain the events that they put on their time line and not simply be able to copy the order out of a book. Moreover, I could use this for a primary source analysis where students have to analyze a historical artifact and discusses it. This would also be great to analyze historical pictures. Many of these same ideas would work in my science class as well. For science I could see having students describe concepts and scientific processes through a Voice Thread.
To pratice I created two VoiceThreads. The first is a very simple one picture VoiceThread that I would use to have students analyize a historical picture (Washington Crossing the Deleware). The second is a VoiceThread on the causes of the American Revolution. I was very pleased in how easy it was to create these and can see that it would not take all too much time to teach this to my students.
VoiceThreads
Washington Crossing The Deleware
Causes of the American Revolution
