Tag: VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a web 2.0 tool that allows you to humanize interactions in an online environment. Instructors and students can share a wide variety of media (images, PDFs, slides, video, and more) and share text, audio, and video comments on that media quickly and easily. VoiceThread transforms stale, text-based discussions by infusing your content and conversations with human presence, just as if students were all sitting in the classroom together, but without scheduling a specific time to meet.

There are two new features available in VoiceThread assignments! Read on for more information about the new features that were recently introduced.

Prerequisites

If your course has a number of VoiceThread assignments, you might want to ensure that students complete those assignments in order. You can already set open and close dates, but this isn't always the best option, especially for self-paced courses. Now you can ensure that a previous assignment was completed before a student can even view the next one. It's a great way to keep students on the right track even if you have multiple assignments open at once.

Just click the "Select a prior assignment" button on the last page of the setup process and choose the assignment(s) students must complete first.

Reconnecting Assignments

Have you ever built an assignment in your course and then wished you could re-link it in a different place? You're in luck! There is a new feature that empowers you to re-link an assignment so you aren't stuck with that one-time setup.

When you go into the Assignment Builder, you'll have a 4th option labeled "Reconnect Previous Assignment". When you select this option, you'll see a list of all assignments you've already built in this course, and you can choose the one you want to use. This will move the assignment from the old link in your course to the new location. The old link will no longer take students to this assignment.

Want more information?

Other recently introduced VoiceThread features
VoiceThread Instructor Support
Add VoiceThread to your Course
How to use new VoiceThread assignments
Submitting new VoiceThread assignments – Students
VoiceThread FAQ

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call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

VoiceThread is a web 2.0 tool that allows you to humanize interactions in an online environment. Instructors and students can share a wide variety of media (images, PDFs, slides, video, and more) and share text, audio, and video comments on that media quickly and easily. VoiceThread transforms stale, text-based discussions by infusing your content and conversations with human presence, just as if students were all sitting in the classroom together, but without scheduling a specific time to meet.

There are some great new features available in VoiceThread assignments! Read on for more information about the new features that were recently introduced.

Separate Close and Due Dates + Late Submissions

When building an assignment, you can now set a due date and a close date. This enables you to continue making the assignment available to students even after the due date passes. It will only become unavailable after the close date.

Additionally, students can submit after the due date has passed, and their submissions will be marked as "Late" on your grading page so you can decide whether to deduct any credit for missing the due date.

Replying To Comments after Submitting

After students submit a commenting assignment, you might want them to go back and reply to classmates to keep the conversation going. Now they can use the threaded reply option to continue the conversation even if they've submitted and received a grade. The image below illustrates how a student can make a reply comment even after submitting successfully.

Slide Requirements

Create and comment assignments can require students to add a specific number of slides before they can submit. Set this requirement in the same place you set a required number of comments.

Point Value Grading

Instructors can make VoiceThread assignments worth a specific number of points instead of using percentage grading. You can set the points possible in the "Assessment" section when you are creating the assignment. Previously you had to grade based on a percentage scale.

When it's time to grade, just enter the number of points you want to give each student. No more need to convert to percentages first!

Want more information?

VoiceThread Instructor Support
Add VoiceThread to your Course
How to use new VoiceThread assignments
Submitting new VoiceThread assignments – Students
VoiceThread FAQ

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Brightspace Known Issues
Continuous Delivery release notes
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

As you know, hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. Hopefully there won't be another hurricane, tropical storm, or weather related event that causes an interruption this semester. However, it's a good idea to be ready just in case. ICYMI, read my Brightspace Tip #245: Are You Ready? blog post which has information to help with instructional continuity.

Additionally, have you considered using VoiceThreads in your courses? With VoiceThreads you can have discussions asynchronously using voice. VoiceThread is an interactive tool that allows instructors and students to share a wide variety of media (images, PDFs, slides, video, and more) and to share text, audio, and video comments on that media quickly and easily.

Our "Be Ready for Mother Nature with VoiceThreads" training focused on how you can use VoiceThreads for unplanned events. You don’t have to lose precious class time when you incorporate VoiceThreads. In case you missed our Be Ready for Mother Nature with VoiceThreads training session or if you attended the training session and want to recap what was covered, you can review these resources:

• Workshop Recording [41:52] *
• VoiceThread Resources
  • VoiceThread FAQs
  • VoiceThread Workshops
  • VoiceThread Blog
  • VoiceThread YouTube Channel
• Sample VoiceThreads
  • Photographs That Changed the World
  • Visual Thinking
  • Digital Library
• Formative Assessments
  • Using VoiceThread for Assessments
• Free eBook
  • How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread

*NOTE: The workshop recording refers to the old way of setting up VoiceThreads in Brightspace. There has been a recent change in how you setup VoiceThreads in Brightspace. You can find more information about the change in my Brightspace Tip #258: VoiceThread Integration Changes blog post. The other information in the workshop recording is correct.

Want more information?

Using VoiceThread for Teaching and Learning

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay

Our VoiceThread integration was updated to move away from LTI 1.1 and move to LTI 1.3 with Deep Linking. What does this mean for us? We have some new features with the update to LTI 1.3 that should make using VoiceThread easier. The new features include:

• No longer need to manually enter a URL to create a VoiceThread assignment.
• Automatic copying of VoiceThread assignments and content between courses.
• Complete roster sync, which supports adds and drops seamlessly.
• Increased security and support for future VoiceThread features.

There was no VoiceThread down time at all for this update. All existing activities continue to work as they always have without any interruption or loss of content. Here are some things that resulted from the update:

• Changes in workflow: The process for adding VoiceThread activities to a course is very similar. The only difference is that now you will select “VoiceThread” from your “Existing Activities” menu without needing to enter a URL manually.
• Content retention: No work or assignment links were lost as part of this transition. Old links will continue to work even as you build new links going forward using the updated integration.

VoiceThread’s plan is that LTI 1.1 will be deprecated in the next year or two. You should begin to use the updated process of creating VoiceThreads by selecting “VoiceThread” from the “Existing Activities” menu.

Follow these steps to do it.

To create a VoiceThread:

1. Get into the course you want to create the VoiceThread.
2. In the NavBar, Click on Content.
3. Go to the Module where you want to add VoiceThread, click on Existing Activities and then select VoiceThread from the shortcut menu.
4. Choose the type of VoiceThread you want to create in the VoiceThread Setup window.
5. Follow the prompts to select/setup the VoiceThread for your assignment.

NOTE: Follow this link to the instructor support page for your next steps in setting up your VoiceThread.

Want more information?

VoiceThread Instructor Support
Add VoiceThread to your Course
How to use new VoiceThread assignments
Submitting new VoiceThread assignments – Students
VoiceThread FAQ

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Brightspace Known Issues
Continuous Delivery release notes
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

VoiceThread (VT) transitioned to new VoiceThread assignments on yesterday (June 30th). The new VoiceThread assignments are a major overhaul and redesign of the entire experience. VoiceThread has added lots of new features, tightened the integration with our learning management system, and streamlined workflows to better guide everyone through the assignments process.

What do you get in this automatic update to new Assignments feature? First and foremost, none of your past assignments will break! You and your students will start seeing the upgraded interfaces described in the videos below, but no work will be lost, and everyone can continue completing and grading existing assignments without interruption. Just keep in mind that old assignments will retain old features and policies. To take advantage of all new policies and features, instructors will need to build a new assignment. Once you update, the new assignments you create will use all new features.

Updates to Assignment Setup - For Instructors

Updates to Student Submission

Updates to Grading - For Instructors

Want more information?

How to use new VT assignments
Submitting new VT assignments - Students

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

ICYMI, VoiceThread (VT) announced their transition plan to move to new VoiceThread assignments. The new VoiceThread assignments are a major overhaul and redesign of the entire experience. VoiceThread has added lots of new features, tightened the integration with our learning management system, and streamlined workflows to better guide everyone through the assignments process.

October 2020 through June 2021 is the official transition period for the new VT assignments. During this time institutions and instructors can adopt the new assignments. All courses and institutions that have not yet adopted new assignments will be automatically upgraded at 11:59pm Eastern Time on June 30, 2021.

Instructors can transition to the new VT assignments now. What happens when you update? First and foremost, none of your past assignments will break! You and your students will start seeing the upgraded interfaces described in the videos below, but no work will be lost, and everyone can continue completing and grading existing assignments without interruption. Just keep in mind that old assignments will retain old features and policies. To take advantage of all new policies and features, instructors will need to build a new assignment. Once you update, the new assignments you create will use all new features.

Updates to Assignment Setup - For Instructors

Updates to Student Submission

Updates to Grading - For Instructors

If you are ready to transition to new assignments before the automatic upgrade that will occur on June 30th, you should enable the option to start using the new features for the course on your course's VT Home Page. You have to enable the option for each course that you want to start using the new assignment feature. Watch this video for instructions.

Want more information?

Transition plan for new VT assignments
How to transition
Enable new VT assignments feature video [8:09]
How to use new VT assignments
Submitting new VT assignments - Students

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

VoiceThread (VT) announced their transition plan to move to new VoiceThread assignments. The new VoiceThread assignments are a major overhaul and redesign of the entire experience. VoiceThread has added lots of new features, tightened the integration with our learning management system, and streamlined workflows to better guide everyone through the assignments process.

October 2020 through June 2021 is the official transition period for the new VT assignments. During this time institutions and instructors can adopt the new assignments. On June 30, 2021, all courses and institutions that have not yet adopted new assignments will be upgraded automatically.

Instructors can transition to the new VT assignments now. What happens when you update? First and foremost, none of your past assignments will break! You and your students will start seeing the upgraded interfaces described in the videos below, but no work will be lost, and everyone can continue completing and grading existing assignments without interruption. Just keep in mind that old assignments will retain old features and policies. To take advantage of all new policies and features, instructors will need to build a new assignment. Once you update, the new assignments you create will use all new features.

Updates to Assignment Setup - For Instructors

Updates to Student Submission

Updates to Grading - For Instructors

If you are ready to transition to new assignments before the automatic upgrade that will occur on June 30th, you should enable the option to start using the new features for the course on your course's VT Home Page. You have to enable the option for each course that you want to start using the new assignment feature. Watch this video for instructions.

Want more information?

Transition plan for new VT assignments
How to transition
Enable new VT assignments feature video [8:09]
How to use new VT assignments
Submitting new VT assignments - Students

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

VoiceThread (VT) announced their transition plan to move to new VoiceThread assignments. The new VoiceThread assignments are a major overhaul and redesign of the entire experience. VoiceThread has added lots of new features, tightened the integration with our learning management system, and streamlined workflows to better guide everyone through the assignments process.

October 2020 through June 2021 is the official transition period for the new VT assignments. During this time institutions and instructors can adopt the new assignments. On June 30, 2021, all courses and institutions that have not yet adopted new assignments will be upgraded automatically.

Instructors can transition to the new VT assignments now. What happens when you update? First and foremost, none of your past assignments will break! You and your students will start seeing the upgraded interfaces described in the video below, but no work will be lost, and everyone can continue completing and grading existing assignments without interruption. Just keep in mind that old assignments will retain old features and policies. To take advantage of all new policies and features, instructors will need to build a new assignment. Once you update, the new assignments you create will use all new features.

Updates to Assignment Setup - For Instructors

Updates to Student Submission

Updates to Grading - For Instructors

If you are ready to transition to new assignments before the automatic upgrade that will occur on June 30th, you should enable the option to start using the new features for the course on your course's VT Home Page. You have to enable the option for each course that you want to start using the new assignment feature. Watch this video for instructions on how to enable new VT assignments feature.

Want more information?

Transition plan for new VT assignments
How to transition
Enable new VT assignments feature video [8:09]
How to use new VT assignments
Submitting new VT assignments - Students

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Last week's "Be Ready for Mother Nature with VoiceThreads" training focused on how you can use VoiceThreads for unplanned events. You don’t have to lose precious class time if you incorporate VoiceThreads.

In case you missed the training session or if you attended the training session and want to recap what was covered, you can review these resources:

• Workshop Recording [41:52]
• VoiceThread Resources
  • VoiceThread FAQs
  • VoiceThread Workshops
  • VoiceThread Blog
  • VoiceThread YouTube Channel
• Sample VoiceThreads
  • Photographs That Changed the World
  • Visual Thinking
  • VoiceThread at Gallaudet University (school for the deaf and hearing impaired)
  • VoiceThread examples from North Carolina Central University
  • Digital Library
• Formative Assessments
  • Using VoiceThread for Assessments
• Free eBook
  • How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread

Our Brightspace training continues next month. In the next training session you will learn how to setup your Grade Book and how to use the Brightspace Grades Tool to post students grades online. Please visit our events page for workshop details and to RSVP for upcoming Brightspace training sessions.

Want more information?

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.