Using Voicethread as a Debate Tool

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• So, Neil Young is 2.0, how does this happen?

Its a process
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• problems
• creativity
• collaboration
• communication
• technology

What does all this mean for education?
What does all this mean for education?
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The scholarly community is coming to the
Web2.0 technology party!!
FEAR not
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transform

• participate

distribute
Greenhow, C., Robelia, B., Hughes, J. E.
(2009). Web 2.0 and Classroom Research What Path
Should We Take Now? Educational Researcher, 38,
264-269. http//www.aera.net/publications/Default.
aspx?menu_id38id7886
connect
live
remix
transform
create
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Conditions for Web 2.0 learning
Zhang, 2009
?social and collaborative ?sustained and
incremental ?Intensive and long-term

• Zhang, J. (2009). Toward a creative social web
  for learners and teachers. Educational
  Researcher, 38, 274-279.

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Democracy
Scholarship
Access

• Intersections History and new media (2009).
  Perspectives on History 47(5). Available online
  at http//www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2
  009/0905/index.cfm

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associative
evaluative
manifest
Werner, W. (2002). Reading visual texts. Theory
and Research in Social Education , 30(3),
401-428.
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• Voicethread is about
• the visual

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But its not just visual audio makes the
voicethread
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http//ed.voicethread.com http//mttabor.ed.voicet
hread.com/
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Using Voicethread as a Debate Tool

• A different forum for debate
• Was President Truman justified in using atomic
  warfare against Japan in 1945?

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Literature

• No research, but several descriptive articles.
• designed to help students think through their
  ideas and share them with fellow students,
  collaboratively analyzing and commenting on
  primary sources using voice, text, or graphics
  (Schrum Schrum, 2009, p. 24).
• No shortage of literature on images, digital
  media, and Web 2.0 in social studies.
• Social Education articles on wikis, blogs,
  podcasts.

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• How does Voicethread compare to traditional
  classroom debate in terms of student achievement?
• What is the pedagogy of a Voicethread debate?

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• Follows recent line of research documenting
  student digital media creation
• Moviemaking
• iMovie and Windows Movie Maker are easy software
  to usebut can present difficulties
• Hofer and Swan (2006)
• Digital Documentaries
• Manfra and Hammond (2008)

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Two site, quasi-experimental design

• Traditional, whole-class debate as control
• Voicethread as an experimental intervention
• Intervention at two sites
• 1 site used whole-class Voicethread intervention
  
• 1 site used 11 Voicethread intervention
• Debate intervention involved using Voicethread as
  a medium for the debate (whole class or 11)
• Purposeful sampling similar demographics.
• All other aspects of the student work were held
  constant
• Preparation for debate, Materials, Time spent,
  Assessments

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Experimental constants

• Taught at conclusion of World War II unit.
• All students given identical directions,
  scaffolded resource sheet to use for their
  argument.
• During debate prep, students divided into three
  teams pro, con, judges.

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• the intervention

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Data Collection

• Data consisted of pre- and post-tests,
  observations, interviews, and student products.
• Analyzed using descriptive statistics and open
  coding.

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Student Achievement Findings

• At both sites no significant effect on the
  pre-test, post-test.
• Control class slightly higher on post-tests at
  both sites.

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Student Achievement Findings

• Middle Grades student achievement
• No significant effect on the pre-test between the
  two middle grades classes, t(37) 0.22, p lt .05
• No significant effect on the post-test between
  the two middle grades class t(37) 0.39, p lt .05.

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Student Achievement Findings

• High School student achievement
• No significant effect on the pre-test between the
  two high school classes, t(42) 0.43, p lt .05
• No significant effect on the post-test between
  the two high school class t(38) 1.09, p lt .05.

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Was Truman justified in his actions?
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Pedagogy Findings

• Traditional debate
• Preparation
• One person speaking at a time
• Argumentation and/or persuasive talk
• Listening
• Creative thinking (particularly for the retort)
• Kinesthetic performance element
• Highly structured (rule-bound)
• Pedagogy of Voicethread is somewhat different

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Pedagogy findings

• Voicethread visual tangible pedagogy
• Involves the central (figuratively and literally)
  use of an image.
• Requires one-way communication (summarize,
  reflect, analyze)
• Suggests dialog or multiple voices/iterations
• Linear-going forward or backward, flat, Life on
  the Screen
• Permanent-performance oriented

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Impact on debate??

• Control class more successful for a few reasons
• Hardware issues impeded activity.
• As a result, Voicethread stifled creativity, as
  students more or less had to follow the
  prescribed script.
• Structure of Voicethreadactually encouraged
  inside the box thinking.

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Discussion

• Well documented that every school has a
  connection to the Internet.
• But reality is that Internet filters play a large
  role in determining access.
• Efforts need to be made by filtering companies
  and instructional technology specialists to
  separate Web 2.0 sites from objectionable
  material.
• Lose the fear.

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Practical Tips and Considerations

• Worth mentioning how helpful and supportive
  Voicethread is.
• Have images uploaded for studentsor notbut
  either way, its easy to do.

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Why did we insert images in shell?

• For no other reason than instructional time.
• If students uploaded their own images, it would
  have taken at least another day.
• Not realistic with end-of-course tests.

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Large-scale Web 2.0 study?

• Everybody would use the same content, same
  activity (to the extent possible), and unpack the
  pedagogy of
• What are some ways we can do this? Different
  teachers across countryhave students work on
  common project?? (this will play to Voicethreads
  strengths)