Research Category: Higher Ed

While online modalities of critique are essential when in-person design instruction is interrupted or not possible, these modalities are valuable beyond remote use and are uniquely capable of enhancing traditional design courses. This paper presents strategic uses of VoiceThread for providing online feedback to in-person design students. Shared experiences suggest that the asynchronous application is suitable for facilitating meaningful critiques when instruction is limited by time and challenged by geographical constraints. The application makes discourse more !uid and allows a global pool of industry professionals to participate in the critiquing process. These enhancements optimize and diversify the feedback that students receive about their work and should become a mainstay of traditional studio instruction.

The Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester (UofR) launched a program in the fall of 2020 for students interested in earning an MS in optics. The program is referred to as the hybrid optics master’s education (HOME). The HOME system of coursework allows working individuals to take classes remotely either synchronously with in-person MS students or asynchronously guided by the professor on VoiceThread. Courses are structured to be inclusive to the online learner through group projects and discussion with other in-person/online students and one-on-one interaction with the professor and teaching assistant.

The findings of this study show that a majority of students had a positive experience using VoiceThread in their intermediate level online Spanish courses. Most students reported an increased level of comfort with their use of communicative skills in Spanish after using the tool in their classes, and a majority of participants considered that using it helped their Spanish proficiency. In addition, a majority of participants considered that interacting with their peers in Spanish through the VoiceThread assignments made the online class experience better.

Among many consequences of the pandemic was an abrupt switch to virtual instruction coupled with feelings of isolation around mandated lockdowns. This situation pushed us to humanize our mathematics classes in ways we had not done previously. Our takeaway from this experience is that community building must be done intentionally and actively. The authors partnered with each other to explore tools for student engagement and fostering a sense of belonging.

We share our creative approach for humanizing mathematics classrooms through three tools: icebreakers for student engagement, Discord for community building, and VoiceThread for peer collaboration. Each author used different combinations of these tools to construct community-centered classroom environments. In this note, we build upon research on active learning and equitable mathematics instruction to share the benefits of each tool.

Our attempts to humanize our mathematics classrooms will have lasting effects on how we teach. We will no longer take for granted that our students feel a sense of belonging, but instead, recognize that we must deliberately cultivate an inclusive classroom community. All three tools can be applied in virtual, hybrid, and face-to-face teaching modalities.

This research examines the effectiveness of using the VoiceThread (VT) application (both web and mobile-based) for the development of oral English skills of Russian university students. The study involved 44 full-time bachelor students in non-linguistic departments. The results were evaluated by online questionnaire using SurveyMonkey. The survey indicated that the majority of students agreed that mobile VoiceThread developed their oral language skills (M = 4.75) and they enjoyed using it for language learning (M = 4.13). The novelty of the research lies in a more integral assessment of the entire set of oral linguistic skills as a result of their development using a specific mobile learning platform widely used throughout the world. The results can be used in practice to implement mobile learning platforms for teaching oral language skills to students with basic knowledge of a foreign language.

Giving individual feedback in teaching speaking is very important to improve learners’ fluency and accuracy. This research talks about how speaking becomes more authentic if learners are motivated, involved in negotiation of meaning, and participating in genuine interaction. This research also talks about the need for individualized feedback. Voicethreads promote multiple learning styles. Due to all these, use Voicethreads in the ESL classroom can help learners create a greater level of success in school.

The following pages outline an internet-enhanced language learning activity designed for students of 3rd semester (intermediate) French at the University of Arizona. The fourth and final module of this course—French 201—is entitled, Penser vert (“Think green”), and is centered around cross-cultural discussions of consumption, recycling, and how to live in an environmentally conscious manner. Embedded within discussions around ecological living in various cultural contexts, the chapter integrates a review of all verb tenses, including the past, present, future, conditional, and subjunctive tenses. The proposed activity adapts the chapter’s culminating assignment—a narrated slide show presentation given in class—to the Web 2.0 platform, VoiceThread. The entire pedagogical sequence involves 1) exploration of VoiceThread, 2) creation of a VoiceThread, 3) interaction with others’ VoiceThreads, and 4) an evaluation survey in which they will be asked about their experiences with the activities and with this particular tool.

As ESL and TESOL programs moved to an online or remote teaching mode rather rapidly during the first half of 2020, many of the practical elements of face-to-face teaching needed to be reconciled in the new mode. Likewise, in a TESOL teacher training unit at Macquarie University, Australia, highly practical elements of the unit needed to be changed to an online mode in line with the new restrictions. In order to address these challenges, online microteaching activities were implemented, employing the principles of Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) and learner autonomy. Responding to the students’ needs, a series of asynchronous tasks were created using VoiceThread, a multimodal asynchronous interactive platform, and enabling tasks facilitated by a combination of videos, interactive H5P tasks and forums. We have found that the new approach not only met the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs), including the practical application of teaching methodologies, but also had further advantages. The additional strengths of the approach include increased feedback literacy, and information and communication technology (ICT) skills for students, developing autonomy as learners and teachers, and developing a community and fostering engagement. The present task design is applicable to English for specific purposes (ESP) and general English teaching contexts in both fully online and face-to-face delivery modes.

My testimony presents a description of an in-class flip lesson plan that uses VoiceThread videos, and which was applied in two different courses of the Academic English Program at the University of Los Andes. First, I provide a general overview of the teaching context. Next, I describe the pre- and in-class activities. Then I present my insights and perceptions about the teaching interaction dynamics and learning culture, which shifted from teacher-centered to student-centered and thus generated a radical change in my students’ attitude and behavior. Subsequently, I explain some aspects to be considered for future practices. Finally, I provide an overall conclusion.

This design case discusses key steps taken to establish a virtual makerspace for students enrolled in an online graduate course on informal learning. Two key design decisions are elaborated around (a) the selection of appropriate projects and packaged materials that distance education students can receive by mail to participate in making, and (b) the choice of an online platform for distance education students to document their design processes for assessment purposes and peer interaction and learning. This design case is relevant to a variety of online communities who may wish to engage in maker activities as well as isolated face-to-face communities or individuals who may not have local mentors to support informal making and could, therefore, benefit from online connectivity to an expert or peer support. To promote replication of the design, materials and community tools to support making among geographically dispersed makers are detailed.