Here’s a chance for you to try using a tool called Voicethread, which I think has a lot of other uses.  You can find more information about it, and use it yourself, at the site.

For now, I’m giving you a chance to listen to me, and make your own voices heard, specifically about the readings for this unit and how they relate to your experiences and our discussions.

Voicethread allows you to add comments (just click the “comment” button) using your voice (you can use the microphone in your computer, or even your telephone–just click the telephone button, and enter your phone number), or even your voice and video using your webcam, or just text if you prefer (click “type”).  There’s even a pen tool to draw right on the images I’ve posted, in case you want to draw attention to a specific point or otherwise annotate them.

You will need to register before you can comment, but that’s quick, easy, and free.

Technically, it’s all pretty easy–but if you need help, you can visit the Voicethread help pages (I had a problem initially where it wasn’t recognizing my Mac’s camera so the window for the video was just black.  Apparently this is pretty common, and the solution is simple, and it’s explained on those help pages).

So view this…and add comments in whatever form makes the most sense to you (you’ll see a comment or two already there from a previous class, to get you going). And we can think, too, about how this kind of tool affects (if it does) teaching and learning.