Blog Entry 3: VoiceThread Extends The Classroom With Interactive MultiMedia Albums

This article showcases Bill Ferriter, a sixth grade language arts and social studies teacher who successfully gets his students actively collaborate in curriculum content through the use of VoiceThread. To accomplish this, Mr. Ferriter first recognized that his students were spending time online outside of school. He decided to try to, “steal some of their online minutes,” by posting VoiceThreads on a variety of topics and encouraging students to comment on them voluntarily and on their own time. Receiving an outstanding number of comments on his VoiceThreads, Ferriter realized that he could, “basically extend [his] classroom.”
Ferriter discussed the pros of using VoiceThread. He first credits the immense student response to online learning being an equalizer. He believes that students are less timid to post their comments online because they have time to think about their responses beforehand. He also states that in a traditional classroom setting, one conversation goes on at a time. He makes note that some students may get bored with that particular strand of conversation and completely disengage. In an online environment, multiple conversations can take place at once allowing students to engage in the conversation they find the most engaging. To push his students’ learning and enthusiasm for technology even further, Ferriter uses VoiceThread to have students engage in free writing. He makes note of the fact that if he were to ask students to give their thoughts on a certain topic using a pencil and paper; he probably wouldn’t receive near the amount of effort.

I really enjoyed seeing a detailed depiction of how a teacher integrates the use of VoiceThread into their classroom. Not only did the students become involved in the curriculum, they were engaged OUTSIDE of the classroom. I found the article extremely inspiring. So often, teachers have a hard time getting students to engage in the content while they are AT school. It seems that motivating students to voluntarily engage in curriculum content on their own time is often close to impossible. It was exciting to read about a teacher who attained such an accomplishment seemingly effortlessly. Ultimately, I found the article to be extremely encouraging and thought-provoking for teachers looking to integrate technology into the curriculum while motivating students to engage in it.

Weir, L. (2008). Voicethread extends the classroom with interactive multimedia albums. Edutopia: What Works in Public Education. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/voicethread-interactive-multimedia-albums