Media Casting is the act of publishing a presentation online for others to view and comment on. Like casting a fish line, content creators attempt to catch the interest of others with their ideas expressed through a variety of media formats. As with many online tools, early media casts (aka podcasts) were one directional where we'd 'listen' to instead of read online content. Now media casting allows all of us to put our pictures, movies, and voices online and also allows other people to comment back.
One tool that does this particularly well is VoiceThread.com . Here students and teachers alike can publish a variety of media to the web for free. Individuals can create up to three VoiceThreads using a free account. They can then download or delete these to create more. Pictures, movies, and audio can all be mashed together into a presentation using their simple interface. Take a look at the below examples to get a better idea of what is possible:
Elementary kids responding to a literature prompt
http://voicethread.com/share/310153/
Middle School Student Book Reports
http://voicethread.com/share/213442/
Students discuss the book the Awakening
http://voicethread.com/share/341274/
Variable stars with voice and text comments
http://voicethread.com/share/322140/
Math movie/voice example
http://voicethread.com/share/8154/
Now it's time to try your hand at making a VoiceThread. Your first one does not need to be complicated, use pictures you already have or download a few from the Internet. Find a simple how-to handout here. Post the link to your completed voicethread in your Blog and answer the following two q's to complete this task:
-If this was your first VoiceThread, how easy or difficult was it to create?
-Give an example or two of lessons where a VoiceThread could work within your classroom?
