VoiceThread For All at Leyden

A few Leyden teachers have been effectively using VoiceThread with their students for a couple years and, with our evolution into a 1:1 district last year, word has been spreading fast and many other teachers have expressed interest in utilizing this tool.  After consulting our department chairs, we learned there was enough interest to warrant a district license.  As of today, all Leyden teachers and students have access to VoiceThread.  Since we already use Google Apps for Education, VoiceThread seamlessly integrates as a domain app that shows up in the Google More menu along with the other tools we have installed.

Since all of our students have Chromebooks, once they log into their device they are already logged into their Google Apps account and clicking on VoiceThread from the MORE menu does not require any additional authentication.  Single sign on is a beautiful thing!

So, what is VoiceThread anyway?  Basically, it's an online tool that allows you to upload many different types of media, such as images, videos, documents, and presentations into an online format that allows for group conversations.  Those you share your VoiceThreads with can leave comments via text, audio recording, webcam, and even text messages.  In addition, the doodle feature allows those making comments to draw directly on the media.  For more into, play the embedded VoiceThread below.

I'd love to hear more about how VoiceThread is being used both here at Leyden and at other schools.  Please comment on this post to share your VoiceThread enhanced activities.