This week in the exciting world of Education 6305 we had to complete an assignment called VoiceThread. VoiceThread is a tool by which you can meet, chat, discuss all on line. If you visited the website then you learned more about VoiceThread; if you didn't hear is your chance. With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. Plus there is no software to install major plus! So what is a VoiceThread. It is a collaborative multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in five ways- using voice (mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a web cam). You can share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies. So if you didn't know now you did!
Next part of the assignment we had to watch two videos. These videos were both presentations given by Sir Ken Robinson. Both of these videos had themes that related to each other with many other points but the reoccurring theme was that modern educational system world wide are failing students because we are capping their creative capacity. He goes on to explain how and why we as educators must try to make the change and switch educational directions. We must go from the "production line mentality" and we must start allowing our students to explore divergent thinking. All in all let their creative sides show and encourage all students to explore all their special interests and abilities. We must start waking them up instead of anaesthetising them with ADHD drugs. These two videos were very interesting and I must say really woke me up to the change that should and needs to be made in the educational system. Again the presentation was made by Ken Robinson I highly recommend checking him out!
After viewing the videos we had to go to this VoiceThread and respond to how you are or will make a difference in the classroom according to Ken Robinson's presentation. You could leave your response by voice, or comment the point is that you made it. This is really cool because the entire class will have responded and you get to hear each other voices instead of reading which creates a more creative aspect to learning.
be helpful at increasing student engagement and motivation while activating learning. The cool thing about VoiceThread is that teachers can use it in many educational settings with students in general
education, with students considered at risk, and with students with disabilities. Students can participate in learning activities designed within the VoiceThread environment as part of a whole class, in small groups, or independently. VoiceThread can serve as an archive for students to go back and gain reference or further knowledge for future classes or subjects. The best part is that once a student learns to interact in the VoiceThread world they can use it over and over again. Teach a student in second grade and when they are a Senior they will still be applying that same knowledge. Again a very cool tool that can be used in any setting at school or as a homework assignment and it can fit into any content area! As an educator I really see the value in this tool and look forward to using it.
To wrap up the assignment lets take a look at where VoiceThread fits into according to the NETS_T standards.
Andria
No comments:
Post a Comment