Voicethread Assignment

This week we were assigned to get to know and use Voicethread. All of the class members were randomly allocated into small groups, and each of the groups we assigned with answering key questions through PowerPoint presentations. Then, the presentations must be uploaded to Voicethread; and each of the group members had to give comments to the slides that they created.

I was tasked as one of the group leaders. My team members were Christopher Burnett, Harold Walton, and Donald Lesslie. The question that we had to answer was: 

What theoretical frameworks or perspectives influence distance education?

The Process

I contacted my group members through emails to coordinate our plan for the assignment. We all agreed that we didn’t need to have synchronous/live meeting, and email and Google slides were enough to get the assignment done. However, we were not sure about how to share our responsibilities. We decided to search for resources to help us answer the question posed to us. I found an article written by Arinto (2013) that addressed the problem. 

In the article, the writer described three frameworks. “Three, just what we need!” That’s what I thought when I reviewed the article. I would be in charge of the template and design of the presentation, and getting it ready for Voicethread; while my team members can each address each of the frameworks. When I suggested the article and my idea to the group members, all agreed. 

The article can be accessed here: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1393

Currently, our group presentation is already uploaded to Voicethread, and we are almost done with the “adding comments” part. The article can be accessed here: https://voicethread.com/share/5874710/

Interestingly, we already received comments from other enthusiastic group members even before we’ve finished adding our comments. We are so excited by the responses.

My Experience and What I Think About Using Voicethread

Using Voicethread was very easy. The 1-2-3 steps made the whole process become so simple. I enjoyed the variety of the options for giving comments, and its share function,

However, Voicethread editing tool is only limited to rearranging the order of the slide. If only it has more content editing tools and allows live editing, like those of Google Slides, I’d really love using it as my collaboration and presentation tool. Also, if Voicethread changes their interface into a more sociable design, just like social media tools (e.g. Facebook page), it will have a better reception. Frankly, currently I am not sure if it will be my tool of choice for any of my future presentations.