My final project has been a tremendous learning experience in many ways. I have used VoiceThread to create a three-minute presentation that provides the basic details of a business plan. I choose to role-play my grandfather as he opened his hardware store in 1948. My goal is to show my VoiceThread to my Business Venture students this Wednesday. Then, when we get lab time in several weeks, I will demonstrate how to build a VoiceThread. Finally, after my students research and write their actual business plan in Word for their semester project, they will create a VoiceThread presentation and show it for their final exam.
As I look back on the entire story telling/presentation process, I have come up with several categories of thoughts regarding VoiceThread. They are as follows:
Advantages to VoiceThread
▪ The sharing and comment (both verbal and written) capabilities allow for tremendous communication between people.
▪ Uploading graphics and PowerPoints is very quick and simple. PowerPoint allows for much greater flexibility and variety in slide design.
▪ Adding basic titles to the presentation and each slide is simple.
Disadvantages to VoiceThread
▪ No transitions or animation.
▪ No soundtrack except for playing sounds into the microphone.
▪ I encountered many difficulties in voice recording, some of which may be hardware or software issues vs. VoiceThread issues. At school, only the rear jack worked for recording. At home, no microphone jacks worked. At my brother’s office, sound would only record for 4-5 seconds and then cut out. The VoiceThread tutorial offered no useful assistance.
▪ I could only load complete PowerPoint presentations into VoiceThread. This meant for extra slide work until I figured out that I could create two PowerPoints, one for slides currently in progress and the other for slides done and uploaded.
Interesting aspects to learning presentation hardware and software use
▪ Windows Movie Maker does not save into our home directories at North Junior High. We can only save to the desktop, which creates security issues as 8th and 9th graders using the same computer could alter the Movie Maker file.
▪ Presentation rubric creation was much simpler than I thought it would be, thanks to online resources such as RubiStar.
▪ I learned how important pixel size is when striving for quality graphics.
▪ I enjoyed sharing my family history with my dad and uncle when they allowed me to scan my grandfather’s pictures and stationary into my VoiceThread.
▪ I learned what tags are all about and tested mine for their effectiveness.
As I look back on the entire story telling/presentation process, I have come up with several categories of thoughts regarding VoiceThread. They are as follows:
Advantages to VoiceThread
▪ The sharing and comment (both verbal and written) capabilities allow for tremendous communication between people.
▪ Uploading graphics and PowerPoints is very quick and simple. PowerPoint allows for much greater flexibility and variety in slide design.
▪ Adding basic titles to the presentation and each slide is simple.
Disadvantages to VoiceThread
▪ No transitions or animation.
▪ No soundtrack except for playing sounds into the microphone.
▪ I encountered many difficulties in voice recording, some of which may be hardware or software issues vs. VoiceThread issues. At school, only the rear jack worked for recording. At home, no microphone jacks worked. At my brother’s office, sound would only record for 4-5 seconds and then cut out. The VoiceThread tutorial offered no useful assistance.
▪ I could only load complete PowerPoint presentations into VoiceThread. This meant for extra slide work until I figured out that I could create two PowerPoints, one for slides currently in progress and the other for slides done and uploaded.
Interesting aspects to learning presentation hardware and software use
▪ Windows Movie Maker does not save into our home directories at North Junior High. We can only save to the desktop, which creates security issues as 8th and 9th graders using the same computer could alter the Movie Maker file.
▪ Presentation rubric creation was much simpler than I thought it would be, thanks to online resources such as RubiStar.
▪ I learned how important pixel size is when striving for quality graphics.
▪ I enjoyed sharing my family history with my dad and uncle when they allowed me to scan my grandfather’s pictures and stationary into my VoiceThread.
▪ I learned what tags are all about and tested mine for their effectiveness.
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