Is it worth the 60 dollars

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marsha Ratzel on November 5, 2010 at 7:05am

I always buy it...and it only gets worth it more and more each year. The product improves and is easier to use and more flexible than the last year I used it. It's the best 60 I spend.

I just see a VT as a very different kind of thing. VT, to my mind's eye, is for establishing a conversation about an image or a quote..maybe it's controversial or personal or emotional. But something that involves a reader reacting to something. A wiki page is more for collaborative writing...sharing of information and not necessarily engaging with the reader...but connecting to other writers.

I know there are many strategies for using both tools and you can probably do all these things with each tool...but this is just what I see as the easiest/strongest way to integrate the tools with the natural skills of the classroom.

marsha

Permalink Reply by Marina Petrovic on November 5, 2010 at 9:36am

Hi Janice!

I've used VT for two years now, but my students grew to like Vyew virtual classroom more. You can add a slide, jpg, audio or a video and allow students to talk about it, leaving sticky notes (they can write a message on it or record a 2 min audio) to which other students can add a reply. Later on, students can embed the same classroom with all the drawings and recordings into their blogs or wikis (since it won't work on Ning, I'll add this link to my blog which is on blogger.com - simply click on a yellow sticky notes to see how they look like).

A free Vyew allows any number of students participating asynchronously, but if you want to organize synchronous sessions, it's free for up to 10 participants. I learnt that my students enjoy this asynchronous communication more, and these sticky notes are quite addictive.

Once I made an interview with an educator I admire. This could be also a good way to engage your students.

Hope this helps,
Marina

Permalink Reply by Janice Conger on November 5, 2010 at 12:18pm

Thanks Marsha, I didn't think of it as a response but I like it. This way it will be a living thing and not just a once and done.

Permalink Reply by Janice Conger on November 5, 2010 at 12:19pm

Thanks Marina, I am looking at your blog and examples now. Thanks for helping to make my decision for me. :-)

Permalink Reply by Mark Carls on November 9, 2010 at 6:28am

Thanks for the links in here and ideas. We are offering the paid version to all of our districts this year. Still learning about it, but it is nice to have the ability to make groups and share Voicethreads to just your class. It seems to be working well. Hoping to be getting the word out more to all of our teachers. Good luck and thanks for all of the comments in here.

Permalink Reply by Jason Graham on November 12, 2010 at 10:40pm

Janice

I found it great and easy to use with my grade 1 kids. They can easily upload resources. We have done presentations to parents with this tool. Embedded in our Moodle. And its great for EAL learner because they can record their voices as many time as they wish to get the correct pronunciation.I found that bandwidth was an issue when we were all uploading, but we dont have the greatest bwidth here in Indonesia! Im faciltitating a discussion at the online Global Education Conference, I also looking for new ways to use VT.

Permalink Reply by Janice Conger on November 14, 2010 at 1:24pm

Thanks for your thought Jason, I will be looking for your discussion on the Global Education Conference to hear your thoughts and uses of VT.