UHD / Office of the Provost / Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence / Digital Tool: Voice Thread

Digital Tool: Voice Thread

Learning Continuity Alignment:

LC5 - Maintain Active Learning

Utilize active learning approaches that leverage digital learning tools.

QM6.2:

Course tools promote learner engagement and active learning.

Overview

VoiceThread is an interactive collaboration and sharing tool for asynchronous learning, that allows students to create online presentations with images, documents, videos, and other media. Peers and instructors can add feedback through text comments, voice notes, images, video, links, and more. VoiceThread can be used across modalities to support collaboration between students and promote active learning and engagement. VoiceThread also encourages learning continuity across different contexts, or in case of disruption in attendance.

Videos

Stephanie Babb, Ph.D. | Associate Professor of Psychology
Faculty Demonstration

Strategies and Tips

Allow students to lead! Give them a learning objective and allow them to go from there, based on their interests and experiences.
Provide clear instructions for using VoiceThread, along with a rubric that specifies how students can be successful with the assignment.
Consider using VoiceThread in a variety of ways, such as a portfolio tool to showcase student work, to design innovative and engaging lectures, and to replace text-based discussions in the LMS.

Research

VoiceThread promotes learner engagement and active learning across assignments and disciplines (Ward et al., 2019).
Students who use VoiceThread discussions in place of text discussions demonstrate increased engagement with their classmates (Mejia, 2020).
Using VoiceThread in asynchronous online classes enhances the quality of the learning experience and motivation levels for all students, regardless of previous experiences (Brunvand & Byrd, 2011).
VoiceThread allowed students to meet course learning outcomes during the pandemic, as well as demonstrate more engagement, learner autonomy, and reflection when compared with other assignments (Bodis et al., 2020).

Resources

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