The future with VoiceThread

I am going to be approaching this week's topic of "What's next?" from the perspective of a classroom teacher rather than a teacher librarian, so my take on how to introduce a tool to staff may differ from what t-l's might do.

I have already begun the process of introducing VoiceThread to my students and the teachers in my department areas. I am absolutely thrilled with it and its possibilities. I have just started a project with my students who are using it as a means to present their findings on a First Nations tribe in North America; if you are interested, you can check the project out here. My students are very receptive to it, and I am really looking forward to seeing their finished projects on Thursday. As for introducing the staff to this great collaborative tool, the process began a few weeks ago with me talking to the social studies department head one Friday after school and showing him my first voicethread. He, in turn, was quite interested in it and went home and played with it all weekend. On Monday morning he came to me bubbling over with enthusiasm for it, saying that he wanted to introduce it at the next department meeting on the following Thursday. Of course I was thrilled to have someone else interested in a web 2.0 tool, because so far I've been the only one in both of my departments to even know what these are, and to be honest, at times this has been frustrating because I have no one to bounce lesson ideas off of, or to share queries or concerns with.

The S.S. department meeting went without a hitch and the other members were excited about it, but without the opportunity or time to practice and use it, I didn't think that too many of them were going to integrate it into their teaching unless they had some encouragement and help from me.

I recently saw the opportunity to use voicethread in my Social Studies 9 class, so I recruited my department head, and we spent an afternoon together working out the logistics/details. When I booked computer lab time, I went one step further and invited him, as well as another member of our department to participate in the lab blocks. This was partly a selfish move on my part in that not only did I have a couple of extra bodies to help students set up their voicethreads, but I also figured it would cement their learning and interest in this tool. I was right, because not only is my department head now hooked, but so is the other teacher, and she has had an opportunity to see it in action without having to go through the frustrations of figuring out how to use it all on her own. She was going to go home this weekend with the intention of playing with it, and teaching her son how to use it. So I think that the S.S. deptartment is well on its way.

Further to this, once students have finished their voicethreads, I am going to divide my classes into thirds and each group will invite either the vice principal, the grade 9 counsellor or the learning resource teacher to view and comment on their voicethreads. I forewarned these 3 people already on Friday, so hopefully they will play with voicethread over the weekend, but if not, then I will help them with it once the projects are completed on Thursday. In doing this, I hope to introduce people outside of my teaching areas to voicethread. Maybe one of them, or better yet, all three will also see its potential.

As for the English department, at our last meeting I brought up the idea that we should be looking at different Web 2.0 tools which we could use in our classes. I volunteered to share what I have learned, and I am optimistic that others will have some things that they can talk about as well. It was agreed upon that at our next English department pro-d day in February we would all try to come with some technological knowledge to share. Of course I have volunteered to demonstrate voicethread.

After reading the above personal anecdotes about how I am trying to introduce staff members at my school to voicethread, it should be quite clear to you how enthralled I am with this tool, but I am not the only one. The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies lists Voicethread as one of their top 25 tools that "every Learning Professional should have in their Toolbox," and it is 23rd on their Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 page. When I checked out the Voicethread 4 Education wiki this week, I learned that Women of Web 2.0 hosted a discussion on November 25 about how voicethread is being used in the classroom. Unfortunately I missed the discussion, and it is not yet posted on their EdTechTalk page, but maybe by the time I post this, it will be there. I am REALLY looking forward to hearing this podcast!!! A helpful resource I found that outlines a step-by-step process for teachers to sign up for voicethread can be found at the Langwitches blog, and I emailed it to the S.S. department head which he will hopefully forward to the rest of the department. I think the main hurdle that some teachers will have to overcome is the intial set up, and this blog helps to simplify this process.

What's the reality of voicethread being successfully integrated into my school?

Pretty good as long as I keep introducing new members of staff to voicethread and its truly collaborative possibilities. I have begun small, but I am hoping that there will be a ripple effect that takes place amongst staff. So far the English and social studies departments have had or will have some exposure. By introducing the VP, counsellor and learning resource teacher to voicethread, they may choose to take it further and share it with other administrators, counsellors, or perhaps other department heads at our school. This may occur naturally because two of them are currently being introduced to voicethread, and I am hoping they will share their knowledge with the others. However, the biggest barrier is ensuring that teachers have enough time to try it out and play with it. I will be able to ensure that this happens in February at the English dept. pro-d, but I will have to be creative to find time for the other S.S. dept. members to get their opportunity to play. Maybe this just means that I need to continue to invite people into my classroom as I am using it with my students. It would be possible for me to offer to do a presentation at a school-based pro-d day so that staff members in all areas have a chance to see this technology in action, but we don't have one of those until May, which right now feels like a long time away. I also think the more exposure students have to voicethread, the more likely they are to use it to support their learning, and they may choose to do a science presentation using this tool which will automatically encourage teachers to at least explore it, even if they aren't using it for lessons.

This is just the beginning, and my school has a long way to go before we are Web 2.0 knowledgeable and friendly, but I have started the process of introducing both students and teachers to some of the great tools available. As a classroom teacher, it is harder to approach large groups of staff unless they are in the departments that I teach in, but I am excited about these tools, and I don't want to be the only one in the school using them. I want other people to be as excited about integrating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom as I am!