After spending a little time exploring Voicethread, and contributing a few comments of my own, I immediately thought of an activity that I recently did with my Integrated Science classes where Voicethread would be an ideal application.
In an attempt to better familiarize my students with useful computer applications and integrate more technology into my curriculum, I designed a very brief research assignment. At the conclusion of our astronomy unit, I generated a list of 30 astronomy-related topics that I knew to be some of the premier issues in the field today. The assignment had the students research one of the topics from the list and then create a Powerpoint slide that included: 1) a colorful background 2) three facts about the topic 3) at least one image 4) some animation. After all the students in each class were finished, I consolidated the slides, and each student presented their individual slide to the class.
With Voicethread I could have the students do this same assignment, or one similar to it, and rather than have students make Powerpoint slides, they could find an image and narrate over it. Then we could string all of the students' threads together, which would enable them to watch the presentation anytime over the web, but it would also allow them to comment on each other's threads. This way, too, I am not forfeiting the technology aspect with the class, rather I am integrating a newer, web-based application into the students' repertoire.
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This sounds like a wonderful use of VoiceThread :-) Be sure to check with your tech person about some of the issues involved with using Web 2 tools with your students. There is a form and some steps to go through with ASD before you jump in with your students. I hope you will send me a link to your project when you get it done.... This is just the kind of integration that I hope this class creates.
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