In my GETInsight blog post this month, I share some very candid reflections about teaching online within the parameters of web accessibility policies.  As you read the post, I encourage you to reflect on how the enforcement of policy, at all costs, can cultivate a culture of fear which can, in turn, create a chilling effect that prevents experimentation, risk-taking and innovation.  How can we navigate policy effectively and foster a culture of innovation that encourages faculty to experiment with new approaches in teaching and learning?  I am hopeful you have a story to share, a comment to make, or a reflection to leave in response to my thoughts.  Click here to read the post and feel free to leave a comment in the VoiceThread at the top of the page. 

Like each student, VoiceThread is unique.  Unlike a traditional learning environment, VoiceThread provides a student with the option to express oneself in voice, video, or text from a computer, tablet, or smartphone. In this webinar we will engage in a thoughtful discussion about why VoiceThread matters to 21st century educators and students. Topics will include designing VoiceThreads with a priority on accessibility, supporting the needs of students who rely on screen readers, empowering students with cognitive disorders, strategies for accommodating deaf students, and a glimpse into new dimensions of learning made possible through the VoiceThread mobile app.Please join me on Thursday, February 16th at 3pmEST/12pmPST for a free webinar. Click here to register.

We had a fabulous turn out of more than 200 people at last week's Supporting All Learners with VoiceThread webinar!  For those of you who missed it, you may view the archive here.  If you'd like to peruse the archives of my previous VoiceThread webinars, you'll find the links on the VoiceThread page of my blog.If you have questions about VoiceThread or would like to share your own applications of it in your teaching, join me for my live office hour next Tuesday, 2/28 at 12pm PST/3pm EST.  Register here!Stay tuned for news about next month's webinar, Saving Time with VoiceThread's Moodle Modules!

Faculty in all disciplines are warmly invited to contact me to participate in my VoiceThread webinar series.   I have a few webinar topics planned already and am actively seeking experts and innovative instructors as guest speakers: April 2012: Language-Learning Instruction with VoiceThread May 2012: Visual-Arts Instruction with VoiceThread June 2012: Creative uses of Video with VoiceThread If you are using VoiceThread in your class and would like to share your experiences with the educational community, please complete this form: goo.gl/Z0l1o.  Please share this link with your networks! Thank you.

Today, texting is the preferred communication method for most young people. It is used to get immediate answers to questions, find out what friends are up to, send grocery lists to oneself, reply to voicemails, and even end relationships.  I've seen many educators express concerns about how texting is fragmenting writing, grammar, and spelling skills but I have another question that I'm probing.  Are online classes allowing our students to hide behind text?Despite the prevalence of free to low cost, easy-to-use, web-based multimedia tools (which are commonly associated with the web 2.0 era), most online college classes only require students to participate with text based communications -- discussion forums and blogs.  The 2011 Sloan-C report, Going the Distance, reminds us all how quickly online learning is becoming part of the mainstream college experience. In 2011, 31% of all college students in the United States were enrolled in at least one online class.  After nearly a decade of solid growth, we now have populations of adults who earned their entire undergraduate and even graduate degrees online.  What I'd like to know is how many of those students were expected to consistently demonstrate the ability to present, inquire, analyze, summarize, and argue in the spoken word?  I realize there are undergraduate requirements for speech that integrate these outcomes but my point here is that speaking should be a skill that is integrated across the curriculum, much like writing is.For more than four years, I've used VoiceThread as a required part of my online classes.  I treasure VoiceThread because it enhances the tools included in the two course management systems I teach with.  It provides a visual, participatory conversation space and invites my students to leave comments in text, voice or video.  Each semester, until now, I have always allowed my students the freedom to choose which commenting method they want to use.  And each semester, I sit back and watch as most of them elect to use text.I  regularly have a small group of students who step up and embrace the voice comments and a few who use video.  I have relished giving students the option to use voice or video because I have seen it yield success for students with cognitive disorders who are challenged with writing everything.  I also frequently have some students who genuinely love to share in voice -- but the point here is that most students don't.  When I've surveyed students in the past about why they didn't use voice or video, I commonly receive comments about "feeling intimidated," or concerns that they would "sound stupid." I realize my job is to ameliorate these hesitations and create a safe, trustworthy environment for students -- and that is precisely part of my revised approach this semester.My question to you, as an educator, is "Should all online students consistently be expected to participate using voice or video?"  And if not, why?  What have we to lose?  Sharing ideas, engaging in large and small group discussions, and doing presentations are all regular components of face-to-face learning and I'd imagine the thought of removing all of these verbal activities from offline college classes would rile up some concerns.  So, why is it that we aren't focusing more on the integration of voice into a students' online learning experience?So, in response to these questions, this semester I have embarked on a little experiment.  I don't have all the results to share because we're only in week six of the semester but I've seem some really significant changes in my students' use of voice commenting.  Most noteworthy is the percentage of students who are voluntarily leaving voice or video comments.  Last semester, in the class's third VoiceThread activity 25% of my students used voice or video to leave their comments.  This semester, in the third VoiceThread activity, 75% of them voluntarily commented in voice or video.  How did that happen?Here are the changes I made this semester to increase the percentage of students who voluntarily comment in voice or video:  ONE:  In my syllabus, I clearly indicated that voice or video comments would be required in some of the VoiceThreads.  I also explained what VoiceThread is and how it has improved the learning of past students.  Finally, I made it clear that the way we would be using VoiceThread was fully secure and only students enrolled in our class would have access to the students' contributions.  This was stressed to ensure students felt safe and didn't perceive VoiceThread to be a public tool, like many of the popular web-based tools students use today.TWO: I surveyed students in week one (using Google Docs's Form option).  I had them identify which of the following methods they would use to leave their voice or video comments.  Below, I am sharing the percentage of students that responded to each method.I will use a microphone with my computer to leave voice comments.  36%I will use a webcam on my computer to leave video comments. 29%I have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and will use the free VoiceThread mobile app to leave voice or video comments.  29%I will use my phone to leave voice comments (if you check here, I will contact you and set you up with free phone commenting minutes).  7% You'll notice that the questions above do not provide the option to say, "I don't have the necessary technology."  Also, in Fall 2011, VoiceThread's release of their free mobile app, tremendously expanded access to voice and video commenting for college students -- a population with a soaring rate of smartphone adoption.  Next fall 2012 when they release their Android version, this will increase further.Additionally, VoiceThread accounts above PRO have the option to include a bucket of phone commenting minutes that can be distributed to users who need them.  This allowed me to feel confident in my efforts to require voice comments, as nobody is excluded. I was able to easily reach out to the two students who required this option and get them set up quickly with free phone commenting minutes.THREE:  I used a non-threatening, fun activity for our first use of VoiceThread.  Click here to view the activity (this is a sample copy without student comments).  Last semester, the first use of VoiceThread was a formative assessment of a long, rather complex essay students read.  And while mistakes were ok (again, it was a formative assessment), it was more nerve racking for students to hear their voice and be unsure of what they were saying.   I wanted them to proceed with confidence and embrace the sound of each others' voices, as well as their own.FOUR: I required students to comment in voice or video in the first VoiceThread.  This was my attempt at 1) demonstrating to them that they could do it so they'd have confidence in their ability and 2) putting everyone on equal footing so they would all be expected to challenge themselves which, I realized, was going to make some students feel vulnerable.FIVE:  After the third week of VoiceThread, I surveyed students to give them a chance to share with me how it was going and to understand their experiences using VoiceThread.  From this survey, I learned that:91% of students described their experience with VoiceThread as "Awesome" or "Good."95% of students agreed that, so far,  VoiceThread had added value to their online learning experience.71% said they prefer to comment in voice or video rather than text.Most students also described their experience creating their VoiceThread account and joining their class group as easy.Again, the qualitative analysis of their experiences commenting in voice and video will be conducted later.  From my perspective, I feel strongly that the use of student audio commenting in online classes is important for college students because it fosters verbal communication skills that the proliferation of mobile technologies is changing.  I don't want this to sound like a skeptical rant on mobile technologies though, as I would argue they hold an array of possibilities for making college learning more collaborative and participatory -- in the classroom, online, and via location-based learning treks.I know that my students relish the opportunity to hear and see me in my comments and many remark to me that they rarely get such personalized feedback in their face-to-face classes.  And I relish hearing and seeing them.  Hearing their voices allows me to sense their confusion, their confidence, their passion, their concern, their frustration, and their joy -- which, to me, allows me to respond appropriately and be a much more effective online instructor.What are the major obstacles that you identify for integrating voice-based participation into online classes?  And what suggestions do you have for improving these roadblocks?

By Mike Licht, CC-BY-$In my March blog post over at the GETInsight blog, I tackle some thoughts about gender and technology in a 21st century context.  One of them is unpacking the question about why, within a female dominated career, are there so few female ed tech leaders?  And even fewer who land primo speaking gigs? As technology continues to become more and more critical in education, what's at stake here?  I know, I know...nobody likes to talk about topics that may in some way suggest there are salient biases informing the way we live and work but, guess what?  There are.  And being able to see a problem is the first step in making a change.  Being able to talk about it is even more important.The post also examines the relationship between gender and mobile devices which, more an more, are being placed in the hands of toddlers to play games and stay entertained. What opportunities does this hold for unhinging the gendering of technology as a male-dominated space and how can we, as adults, play an effective role in ensuring girls use those devices to unleash curiosities and be active contributors in, rather than consumers of products that will quickly turn them into passive, adorning objects.Click here to read the blog post and please feel free to leave a reflection, comment, question in the VoiceThread at the top. P.S.  Isn't this image by Mike Licht awesome?

Do you teach with Moodle?Join me for this free webinar! Teaching with VoiceThread empowers instructors and students to communicate and learn together in a multisensory environment.  In short, it is the perfect enhancement to a course management system.  Now VoiceThread has built cutting-edge Moodle integration that will help you save valuable time!  During this one-hour webinar Michelle Pacansky-Brock will demonstrate components designed by VoiceThread for Moodle:Just one username and password with the Moodle Authentication module. Embed a VoiceThread in your Moodle class with a single click.Assign commenting or VoiceThread creation.Score each VoiceThread assignment without ever leaving the Moodle gradebookWebinar details: Friday, March 23rd - 12pm PST, 3pm ESTSeats are limited.  Register for the webinar now!Please note:  This webinar is not intended for begining VoiceThread users.  LearnVoiceThread basics in the support center. View example VoiceThreads in the Digital Library.  

Tomorrow I will be arriving in Palm Springs for the Annual CUE Conference. This will be my third year attending and this year I am honored to be an invited showcase presenter.  I find such amazing energy at CUE and am thrilled to be included in this fabulous group of dedicated educators who are committed to using technology to improve student learning!I will be presenting three sessions and I've created a Google Site that I will share with the participants.  I'm including the links below in case you find them useful.How and Why I Flipped my Classroom:  All kinds of goodies related to my 2009 art history community college flipped classroom experiment. Creating Participatory Learning Activities with VoiceThread:  A general support resource for anyone interested in learning more about VoiceThread's potential for supporting student learning.The Human Touch:  Increasing Your Online Presence with Video:  It's an old story that online success rates trail their face-to-face counterparts.  But when are we going to realize the connection between social presence and success!? Wake up folks --  you are the missing link.  I hope you find this useful.  If you'll be at CUE, please say hello!

There are now a total of six 1-hour webinar archives in the VoiceThread training library.  Keep this resource in mind for spring, summer, and fall faculty development planning.Topics to date include:How to Save Time with VoiceThread for MoodleHow and Why to Flip Your Classroom with VoiceThreadSupporting All Learners with VoiceThreadSupporting Student Success with VoiceThreadMaking Sense of Assessment with VoiceThreadIntegrating VoiceThread into the Campus-Wide Teaching Toolkit You may view each video here with an interactive transcript.Follow my blog or on Twitter @brocansky to receive invitations to future webinars -- they're all free!Loading playlist ...

VoiceThread’s College Innovator Spotlight Webinar Serieshosted by Michelle Pacansky-BrockHave you been curious about how to use VoiceThread in your foreign language or ESL classes?  Or are you looking for some new ideas?  Get together with your colleagues and join us for an hour of sharing on April 20th! This webinar will feature the teaching innovations of: David ThompsonAssociate Professor of Spanish, Luther College  David will show you how he uses VoiceThread for a digital storytelling exercise in which students narrate a photo story with the imperfect and preterit tenses in Spanish.Vicki CurtisAssociate Professor of ESL, Ohlone CollegeVicki will demonstrate how she uses VoiceThread to conducta virtual writing conference with her beginning writing ESL studentsand explain how VoiceThread has played a key role in thedevelopment of her online reading and writingupper intermediate ESL class-- a feat that many said was "impossible!" Friday, April 20th12pm PST/3pm ESTFREE!Registration will be available in early April.  To be notified via email that registration is available, please add your name to this list:  http://bit.ly/ow0NWp