VoiceThread
VoiceThread is a collaborative digital media platform that allows users to create a presentation from multiple media, including images, documents, and videos. A community-based platform, users can leave comments in 5 ways: voice (with a mic), text, audio file, or video. Additionally, one popular feature allows users to can doodle while commenting (drawing annotation overlays the multimedia presentation).
Many uses of VoiceThead overlap with HapYak. These include:
- Annotation a video clip you make yourself or find on YouTube to help students identify key points.
- Insert questions throughout a video to help promote understanding and to keep them engaged for the duration of the video.
- Have students collaborate on annotating a video with text, related links, or drawings.
- Segment a long video into chapters so that students can jump to particular sections they want to review or skip content they are familiar with.
Additional potential uses unique to VoiceThread include:
- Students can annotate presentations on their mobile devices (e.g., iPads, smartphones, etc.)
Pros
- The ability to pause a video to ask a question.
- Embeds within a webpage
- Accepts myriad file formats such as pdfs
- Compatible with mobile devices
Cons
- Requires Adobe Flash
- Can distort formatting in commonly uploaded file types such as PowerPoint.
