1. Using Voicethread to
present and share
students learning.
Central North Shore ICT Cluster
Alyce Gardiner
November 2008
Year 7/8 Teacher @ Northcote Intermediate School
2. Our Integrated Studies Topic for Term 3
was China and The Olympics. Rather
than just covering The Olympics I
decided to lead my class into some issues
faced in China, for example The One
Baby Policy, The Yangtze River Dam
Project, The misuse of The Great Wall of
China, Child Labour & Sweat Shops,
Pollution in China etc. I introduced
these topics in various ways, including
Journal Articles, Youtube clips,
newspaper features and information
from the internet. We discussed some of
the issues in class and I could see
students were forming personal
opinions on these issues as their
awareness increased.
3. After being introduced to Voicethread by Lynn I decided
to try it out with my highest reading group. We
brainstormed all the issues we were aware of and
students in pairs chose which issue they were most
interested in finding out more about. Students then
researched their issue in more detail. Students took
notes, outlining the facts etc. They were also encouraged
to include their personal opinions on the issue and any
possible solutions / ideas to help in each case.
5. Students were motivated to learn about the Voicethread
programme, as they had never heard of it before, and it
was quite student-friendly to use. They were able to
figure out most things with minimal assistance. Students
loaded images into the programme, added captions, could
‘draw’ arrows / details onto the photos and finally
record their information via voice-overs using a
microphone plugged into a laptop.
6. On reflection, I would use Voicethread again as a way of
students presenting their work. Voicethread can reach
a global audience if you allow your presentation to be
made public. Other people can also add comments if
they wish. As it is internet based, it is easy for students
to show their parents etc their work and possibly have
it viewed by an even larger audience.
