Using VoiceThread in Online College Composition
Monroe Community College
Beginning in Fall 2018, I began to use VoiceThread in my online College Composition courses and the result was amazing. When Online Composition courses typically hover around a 50% C or better rate, my Fall 2018 course had a 78% C or better rate. In my previous semester when I wasn't using VoiceThread, I had a 58% C or better rate—in line with the last ten years of data in our composition course, and even bleaker in our online composition courses where the C or better rate is closer to 50%.
First, I worked with our Instructional Technology staff to create a video tutorial so students would know how to use VoiceThread. Throughout the semester I and my students worked with the Instructional Technologists anytime a technical issue arose, and those were always quickly and easily resolved.
I began the course asking students to introduce themselves by finding a meme that reflected their attitudes about writing, upload it to VoiceThread, and then comment by using the text or audio feature about why they chose it. I chose this exercise for several reasons. I always use an icebreaker in my online classes because I want students to begin building social presence and a sense of community. Using VoiceThread to do this allowed me to make this icebreaker multimodal and hearing each other's voices gave them a chance to feel like they were more than names and text on a screen. The various dialects, accents, and vocal tones really helped to create a sense of individuality, as well; at the same time, students who felt uncomfortable making audio comments had the option to type their responses in the text feature. I also used memes because this was a low-stakes assignment and provided a light-hearted tone to start the course. I provided my own meme to kick it off--a picture of Michael from the hit tv show, The Office, screaming and the quote: “I don’t know what I’m writing about!”; I related this to how when I write I sometimes get stuck in my ideas and am not sure where I want to go. I wanted the students to know that writing is a process and that even those of us who are professional writers struggle with articulating our ideas. The students loved the meme, many of them saying how much they enjoy the show itself and then adding comments about their own relationship to writer’s block. Then, students began adding their own memes and we had a very lively conversation. Each student was required to comment on four other posts and to reply to comments they received, but most went above and beyond. One student replied to all his classmates’ posts. Beginning with this simple VoiceThread exercise also allowed them to get their feet wet with the technology so when we used it for formal assignments they would feel more comfortable.
I also used VoiceThread for weekly lectures. For example, when we were practicing rhetorical analysis of a persuasive essay, I uploaded slides of the essay we were analyzing and I used the audio comment feature as well as the drawing tool to point out various features of the essay I wanted them to pay attention to. Another time, I uploaded a model student essay and showed them what the student had done well and where they could have improved. I could have done this with Jing, but VoiceThread is superior in so far as students could then pause and comment at various points in my lecture to ask me questions at the exact points where they needed clarification; I would later log in and ask those questions.
One especially fun assignment asked students to each locate an electronic advertisement, snapshot it, upload it as a file, and then discuss in their audio or print comments where they could identify appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos. The students really enjoyed this exercise and they used their discussion to help them think through their drafts of their rhetorical analyses of the same ads.
In another group discussion I used VoiceThread to discuss literacy narratives by famous authors; I uploaded a quotation from an essay by Jimmy Santiago Baca and explained why the quotation spoke to me as a reader; I then asked students to locate a passage from the literacy narratives I had assigned them and to do the same. In this way the students were able to have a real conversation about the readings and the ways in which their own literacy practices were shaped.
I also used VoiceThread to facilitate Peer Response. I put students into small groups and each uploaded excerpts of their drafts. Then, they used the audio or text comment feature to give each other feedback; I liked that some of them even tried out the drawing tools, too.
Similarly, I gave student feedback on their drafts in this way. I loved that they could hear my voice as I pointed out the specific parts of their papers that were effective and the places where they also needed to strengthen their skills. The comment feature additionally allowed me to copy/paste links to the OER I use; for example, I could point out a comma splice in my audio comment and then add a text comment to point students directly to the comma splice tutorial in the Grammar Essentials section of the Excelsior Online Writing Lab.
I queried the students about whether they preferred traditional discussion formats or VoiceThread, and most of them said they liked VoiceThread better. One student explained, “I absolutely prefer VoiceThread over traditional discussions. I just like the format and how everything looks better. Much more organized and easier to use especially with so many students in our class.“ Another said, “I'm so proud of myself for participating in this English class course 101. I am learning about writing more than ever in my lifetime, and I thank you again!” Similarly, a student emailed me to say, “To my surprise, I'm really enjoying this vlass [sic]! I was sure I would be stressed out but I'm not. And I have fun listening to the responses from voicethread.” Yet another commented about one VoiceThread lecture, “I found the tutorial to be extremely helpful, I am going to review it over and over to try and improve my writing skills… I have been working hard at trying to improve my writing ,and I feel I have made some improvements. To my surprise this first semester is looking like it will be a success for me! This class was my hardest, but I didn't give up!”
https://voicethread.com/research/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-017-0195-z
https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/edtech_facpubs/81/
(there are many more)