Voicethread
Evaluate Voicethread.com as an academic assignment to promote critical thinking. Your answers should be constructed as arguments. That is, give your opinion (the conclusion) and then provide reasons (premises) for your opinion. Simply saying "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" isn't enough. Tell me WHY! Answer each question with approximately 100-200 words.
1. Compared to writing traditional essays as you have in other classes, were the expectations of the Voicethread assignment easier, harder or just different? In other words, was it clear to you what the format of the assignment was and how to produce one?
In many ways the Voicethread assignment was VERY different. Compared to other writing assignments, where I would have to write several paragraphs to try and get my point across, never really being sure if I actually got there. I was able to get my point across with a simple image/video/voice argument in a very fun way. I could give ‘voice’ to my topic with my actual voice. Many times have I found that trying to put in or find a voice in a writing assignment very difficult. But with voicethread I was able to say something how I wanted it to be heard. Actual emotive language.
2. How easy was the program to use? What problems did you have? (Give examples!)
For almost all of the program, voicethread was a very simple. I could upload video, images, and stream my voice with ease. They even let you call in and leave a message to comment though the fact they only give you such a limited amount of time was a real bummer. The only problem is that trying to make anything public was a serious pain in the butt. You had to go about it in an extremely round about way and even if you had made it public it did not always work that way. I found that trying to embed it into Blogger.com worked fine… If only I wanted to see it. Even marked for public viewing I was unable to actually see it unless I logged in. So all in all if they made selecting it for public use easy, it would be a perfect way to turn in assignments.
3. Did the non-text requirements of the Voicethread program contribute to your learning in this class? Did they get in the way? Or did they have no affect at all?
Voicethread was a wonderful program. It actually made the assignments a bit more fun. But did I learn anything more about what the topics were? Not really, but that was not the point of the program. The use of the program was to explain your argument in a different way, out side of just text. The program is not 100% completed, the fact that they hide the option to public the thread was a serious pain. But all things considered it was a lot better than just writing just another paper.
1. Compared to writing traditional essays as you have in other classes, were the expectations of the Voicethread assignment easier, harder or just different? In other words, was it clear to you what the format of the assignment was and how to produce one?
In many ways the Voicethread assignment was VERY different. Compared to other writing assignments, where I would have to write several paragraphs to try and get my point across, never really being sure if I actually got there. I was able to get my point across with a simple image/video/voice argument in a very fun way. I could give ‘voice’ to my topic with my actual voice. Many times have I found that trying to put in or find a voice in a writing assignment very difficult. But with voicethread I was able to say something how I wanted it to be heard. Actual emotive language.
2. How easy was the program to use? What problems did you have? (Give examples!)
For almost all of the program, voicethread was a very simple. I could upload video, images, and stream my voice with ease. They even let you call in and leave a message to comment though the fact they only give you such a limited amount of time was a real bummer. The only problem is that trying to make anything public was a serious pain in the butt. You had to go about it in an extremely round about way and even if you had made it public it did not always work that way. I found that trying to embed it into Blogger.com worked fine… If only I wanted to see it. Even marked for public viewing I was unable to actually see it unless I logged in. So all in all if they made selecting it for public use easy, it would be a perfect way to turn in assignments.
3. Did the non-text requirements of the Voicethread program contribute to your learning in this class? Did they get in the way? Or did they have no affect at all?
Voicethread was a wonderful program. It actually made the assignments a bit more fun. But did I learn anything more about what the topics were? Not really, but that was not the point of the program. The use of the program was to explain your argument in a different way, out side of just text. The program is not 100% completed, the fact that they hide the option to public the thread was a serious pain. But all things considered it was a lot better than just writing just another paper.
