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This is a very interesting article from a notable publication, (Teaching Exceptional Children) highlighting the benefits of VoiceThread technology. Within the first paragraph the following should resonate: "educators often make herculean efforts to engage students, motivate them, and differentiate instruction for students who struggle." (Pg. 28) As an interactive multimedia slide show tool, VoiceThread portends to be the answer to these challenges. The article notes that "its interface and feature set are well-suited for promoting student engagement ... as well as for helping students develop as independent learners." (Pg. 30) This Web 2.0 tool was created to promote a collaborative learning environment. Something similar to, but more powerful than simple PowerPoint presentations; the creation of an individual VoiceThread allows a combination of images, documents and video clips. VoiceThread is web based and runs on numerous browsers. Microphones are an added bonus if voice-recorded comments are desired. Otherwise students may doodle on slides, type comments or participate in learning activities "within the VoiceThread environment." (Pg. 31) The basic account is free, but a more classroom oriented format has a nominal yearly fee. This arrangement allows for unlimited VoiceThreads that can be shared with their peers, but not made public. This latter feature is an added security feature of this web tool. The article contains a number of student profiles, where VoiceThread has been put into practice. All of these highlight the opportunity of VoiceThread to assist those shy students or those who require a bit more time to formulate a response. What a great way to 'show their learning' and allow these students to participate within the classroom. A good article with a firm base of information and numerous professional references for future study.

One of the easiest ways to learn more about VoiceThread is to view the introductory VoiceThread created by the developers of this interactive, multimedia slide show tool.

A website of tutorials on many iPad Apps including: Explain everything, iMovie, VoiceThread, Google Drive, Dragon Dictation, Dropbox and many more

This article is a PDF, and for some reason Diigo wouldn't let me highlight as I read. So here I am posting some of the main points: -Web 2.0 technology can be seen as "an ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of static websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving Web applications to end users. This includes applications such as wikis, blogs, podcasts, and social networking. -Example: A wiki is a Web 2.0 application that can be defined as a collaborative Web space where users can add and edit content to be published on the Internet. -Students do not have to be passive recipients of information but can become equal partners in the learning process as they collaborate and create knowledge in a social manner -mention of TPCK - content, pedagogy, and technology. There are also concrete examples of TPCK being implemented with students! Good to read (starting on Pg 228)! The examples revolve around the students creating their own Digital Flexbook, which are free, nonlinear, highly customizable and easy-to-use nature of open source textbooks. -Creation process happened along five distinct phases: awareness, analysis, collection, design, and reflection. Each of these phases was unique to the process but did not occur in isolation.