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A great tool for collaborating with individuals or groups asynchronously, through audio, video, text & digital upload

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This is a guest post by 3rd Grade Teacher and VoiceThreader, Traci Blazosky.

Every year, my students celebrate Major League Baseball (MLB) day. This day happens in my classroom on opening day for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The entire day is devoted to baseball related activities that all align with the Common Core. For ELA, we read a poem by Ernest L. Thayer, titled Casey at the Bat and complete a comprehension activity. In math, students complete a MLB stadium number challenge in which they solve problems involving the four operations and translate information from a chart. To test their geography skills, students are challenged to use a map of the US to locate and label the American League and National League ballparks.

My favorite activity of the day, though, is the MLB Franchise collaborative project. For this project, students must demonstrate creative thinking as they plan, design, and work to establish a new MLB franchise. The geography activity is important for this project, as it helps guide their planning. Seeing where there are no ballparks is key when pitching their idea to the MLB Commissioner. Working in small groups, students use laptops to research where they may want to locate their ballpark. They take into account the area and characteristics/features of the state. From this point, colors and mascots are chosen based on their research. Students then divide tasks, and begin the process of creating their logo. Discussion on promotions to draw a crowd take place, and then the final step is to write a persuasive letter to the MLB Commissioner in hopes of becoming the next new franchise.

When the planning and creating process is complete, it's time to publish. Voicethread has been my go-to tool for sharing my students' projects for the last seven years. What better way to publish work for an audience and enable students to hear feedback from others than by using Voicethread? The students uploaded their images with ease, and began recording. The process was quick and easy. Now, they wait in eager anticipation to see who the winner will be.

Voicethread allows my students to share their voice and grow as fluent readers. Recording has brought many of my most passive students out of their shell, and has boosted their self- confidence when reading for an audience.

Please check out our Voicethread below, and vote for your favorite team!
About the Author:
Traci Blazosky is a third grade teacher at Clarion Area School District. She is also an adjunct instructor for the Instructional Media graduate program at Wilkes University of PA. She is a STAR Discovery Educator, and was named a Discovery Educator Guru in "Creative Construction with Multimedia." In 2013 she received the Academy of Arts and Sciences BAMMY Award for Elementary Classroom Teacher, and in 2009 received the PAECT Teacher of the Year award. Traci has a passion for technology and education, and loves exploring new technology for meaningful use in the classroom. You can find her on Twitter at: @kti_traci.

Any teacher who asks students to read materials understands the important of reading comprehension. Whether you are an elementary school teacher who teaches reading, a foreign language teacher who works to build fluency, or a history teacher who wants students to learn about WWII from their textbook, comprehension is vital to the process.

As Daniel Willingham points out in his NY Times Op-Ed, comprehension isn't simply about decoding; it's also about vocabulary and context. Typically, teachers who are looking to assess reading comprehension ask students to read a passage, then have them answer questions about the text. Many of these assessments are pre-packaged activities in workbooks or practice tests. VoiceThread can allow educators to construct their own assessments that include these additional components.

The good news is that creating this type of rich assessment is easy with VoiceThread. Here's how you can do it:

1. Find a passage you want students to read. Go through the passage, noting the vocabulary or context issues students may find confusing.

2. Find images that can serve to explain the tricky words or unclear context involved in the passage.

3. Create a slide with the passage you want students to read. This can be done by pasting the passage into a PPT or Keynote presentation, a Word document or simply taking a screenshot of the text and saving the image.

4. Upload the document or slide you created to your VoiceThread, along with the images for the vocabulary words and context cues they will need for background information.

5. Record your instructions for the students, asking them the comprehension, vocabulary and context questions.

6. Students can then record their answers right on each slide. (If you don't want students to hear each others' answers, simply turn on Comment Moderation.)

This type of assignment can not only build knowledge for your students, but it can also help give you a clearer picture about their true ability to comprehend the passages. VoiceThread empowers teachers to use visuals and a more human interaction that workbooks fail to provide. Reading comprehension assessments don't need to be stuck in a text-only environment, and neither do your students. Give VoiceThread a try and let us know the difference it can make!

This is a guest post written by a team of teachers and VoiceThreaders at the South Burlington School District.

Our students have a lot to say. Imagine all of the opinions swirling around our topic of Bioethics in a tenth grade general science class! How could we hear from each of the 85 learners in our 4 sections of Biology, and allow them to share thoughts with students in other sections? VoiceThread provided the obvious answer.

We offered them choice between compelling topics and provided suggested resource materials, so the focus could remain on accurate content rather than research skills. Students joined self-selected groups. The teacher had already presented information about DNA and Genetic testing. Rather than a traditional test, we decided to allow students to give voice to their ideas as they explored challenging topics in the realm of bioethics, using the scientific information they had learned in class. VoiceThread allowed them to follow a formula: state the dilemma, explain the science behind it, define the 'pros' of the issue, and give clarity about the 'cons' of the issue. Ask colleagues: What do YOU think?

Finding a compelling image was fairly easy. Creating a brief script with a group of 4 students was a bit more challenging. We wanted them to be able to record their voices in a fairly casual way; to be accurate but not too scripted. After two class periods of reading, further research, and composition of a statement, we were ready to record. Finding a quiet place for small groups became a challenge, but hallways, closets, and empty classrooms provided some answers.

Instead of the boring class presentations where student after student rises to explain their work, we had students simply review their colleagues' VoiceThreads, and post comments explaining their opinion on the controversial topic. For the students who hate to stand up in front of a group to share their projects, this was a gift, indeed. Every student could hear what every 'expert' had to say on the topic, then hear their classmates' opinions, and then add their own voice. By the way, we insisted on using their voice, because strings of typed comments are simply tiring and uninspiring.

The exciting next step was to share the Threads among the four biology classes. Now students could hear how 'experts' in other classes approached a topic, and to do a brief tally of how other students reacted to each topic. Students were able to chime in on conversations among learners who weren't even in their own class! It was safe, yet exciting, to be part of a conversation where colleagues were expressing very personal beliefs. In fact, even on a snow day students were making comments on Threads! That's pretty clear evidence that the project was a success.

Simultaneously, our students all have Personal Learning Plans, which include a statement of their core values. The final step of the project was for students to consider the ways in which their core values helped them make decisions around bioethics. In a couple of cases students actually modified or added to their values, recognizing their earlier lists were too superficial to be truly meaningful:

"My core values and VoiceThread really helped me express my ideas and helped me make decisions in the bioethics dilemmas because I felt like in order for science and biology to be successful we have to persevere and improve in our research, and improving and success are two of my core values. When replying to other teams' dilemmas I needed to reevaluate (or add) to my core values list and I also had to restate my ideas on even my own project because other peoples comments changed my mind and persuaded me."

Another student added:

"My core values helped me make decisions in bioethical dilemmas because they helped me clearly choose a side in most of the decisions I was faced with. ..Voicethread helped my critical thinking process because it helped me learn about new things, and gave me an opinion on both sides of a problem. For example, when I listened to golden rice, I heard arguments for both sides of the dilemma. This made me think about my viewpoints, which lead to further thinking and better decision making. Also, VoiceThread helped me do better work because everyone had an equal voice, and once it was uploaded I could go back to it and listen at anytime of day. These are the reasons technology helped my critical thinking, and why my core values helped me make decisions in bioethical dilemmas."

VoiceThread not only allowed students to participate equally in learning science and forming opinions but in extending that learning to real life. It allows learning to happen any time, any place, any path, at any pace.

About the Authors:
Rich Wise is a Science teacher who has been teaching science for 40 years and is retiring in June.
Heidi Western is an ELL teacher who began working with English Learners in South Burlington in 1999. She works within science classes to broaden all students' academic language skills and supports the ELLs in a science literacy lab.
Lauren Parren is the Tech Integration Coach. Lauren joined the SBHS staff 3 years ago, coming full circle after doing her student teaching there over 40 years ago. She works with teachers to explore the intersection of technology and pedagogy to create meaningful learning opportunities.

Students with Dyslexia are one of the most underserved student populations in our schools. When we discuss Universal Design and accessibility for students, we typically forget about students who struggle with text. The International Dyslexia Association has spent time working to help these students and recently shared a Structured Literacy approach that works well with VoiceThread.

Here are some tips for using VoiceThread within a Structured Literacy framework:
Phonology
"Phonological awareness includes rhyming, counting words in spoken sentence, and clapping syllables in spoken words."
How VoiceThread can help: Teachers can upload slides with sentences and ask students to record themselves reading each syllable and clapping to emphasize the breaks in the sounds. Sound-Symbol Association
"Sound-symbol association must be taught and mastered in two directions: visual to auditory (reading) and auditory to visual (spelling)."

How VoiceThread can help: Teachers can upload slides with single words or small lists and ask the students to sound out the words using their microphones or webcams. Teachers can upload images instead of text and ask students record text comments spelling the words from the list.
Syllable Instruction
"Syllable division rules heighten the reader's awareness of where a long, unfamiliar word may be divided for great accuracy in reading the word."

How VoiceThread can help: Teachers can upload slides with words written in text form on a PPT slide. The students can then use the Doodle tool to draw lines between the syllables in the words.
Morphology
"The Structured Literacy curriculum includes the study of base words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes."
How VoiceThread can help: Teachers can upload slides with text showing words that contain prefixes and suffixes. Students can use audio comments and the Doodle tool to explain which parts of the word are suffixes, prefixes and the root word. Syntax
"This includes grammar, sentence variation, and the mechanics of language."
How VoiceThread can help: Teachers can upload slides with text and ask the students to record audio or text comments restructuring the sentences using the grammar rules they have learned. Semantics
"The curriculum (from the beginning) must include instruction in the comprehension of written language."
How VoiceThread can help: Teachers can upload short written passages on PPT slides and ask the students to record answers to reading comprehension questions about the text.
While there are many ways to help dyslexic students become more proficient in reading, nothing beats a differentiated approach using visuals, audio and text together.

Online courses have many advantages, but they often lack that human connection we find in traditional, face-to-face courses. Why is this the case? Many online courses are designed to distribute information in ways that are limited by the tools used. We use platforms that allow instructors to upload documents and create text-based tests but we are missing the human element. In a face-to-face class, we can see and hear each other but this social interaction usually disappears once we teach online.

This is actually one of the main complaints students have about online courses. Students feel a sense of isolation and disconnectedness and this has a major impact on learning. When we communicate solely with text, we miss out on all of the non-verbal communication that happens in natural conversation. Tone of voice, cadence and facial expressions are all part of how we naturally communicate, but text doesn't allow us to absorb this layer of communication.

Experienced online educators have become aware of this and they seek out ways to see and hear from their students. Some educators might try live Skype sessions or webinar-style class meetings. While these platforms do reintroduce that non-verbal element, they also come with logistical issues. Many students take online courses because of the flexible schedule but you still need to schedule a live meeting. Students may have jobs, other courses or extracurricular activities when the live meeting takes place. Technical problems can prevent students or teachers from joining the meetings too. In a live meeting, only one person can speak at a time.

With VoiceThread, we can recapture that missing social presence and engage with our students in a natural way while eliminating the problems with live meetings. Because VoiceThread is asynchronous, every student has a chance to ask and answer questions. Not only do they have a voice, they also have the opportunity to reflect on what they see and hear, then record their comments, and revise them which increases the quality of the interaction.

VoiceThread not only empowers teachers to overcome the obstacles of time and location, but it also brings humanity back into your course. Teaching and learning are fundamentally human activities and our courses should be a reflection of these human elements.

This is a guest post by educator and VoiceThreader, Samantha Stelz.

Is VoiceThread a tool that can be used in the primary grades? Is VoiceThread easy to learn for students who are not as familiar with technology?

The answer to those questions is...yes! VoiceThread is an excellent 21st century learning tool that students can use in a variety of ways across grade levels. When talking with other teachers from different counties and states across the US about how I utilize VoiceThread and other technology programs in the classroom, they often cannot believe that my students are 'only' second graders. As a second grade teacher, some believe that such a program might be too difficult to facilitate at the primary grade level. On the contrary, our kiddos are much faster at adapting to and learning these tools than we are-even if we do not want to admit it. Technology is a large part of this generation. Going forward, teachers must embrace technology programs such as VoiceThread and similar programs to prepare students for the future.

One of my favorite ways of using VoiceThread is for shared learning discussions when students share their ideas with each other. Recently, I utilized VoiceThread in place of a "marker talk" (a marker talk is where students share their thoughts and ideas with others by letting their marker do the talking). The lesson was centered on exploring and discussing infographics.

We've done marker talks before, but in the past, I often needed to remind students to read everyone's response. The students were engaged during the marker talk, but not as much as they could be. With VoiceThread, my students were enthusiastically asking me if they could listen/read/ watch everyone's response, because they were so engaged and interested in seeing what their peers had to say. On VoiceThread, students were also able to comment to each other's responses to give each other feedback and to tell their peer if they agreed/disagreed with their peer and why.

The reason I stated "listen/read/watch" is for the fact that VoiceThread allows for different forms of responses which gives the students choices. Students may videotape themselves giving their response, they may type out a response, or they may record their voice in response. By giving students these choices, they are already more engaged and more focused while learning. These options also allow for differentiation in meeting students' individual needs.

VoiceThread is as easy for teachers as pressing two buttons: "create" and "upload." You can easily upload and share your files with your students in a slide-show format. For the infographic lesson, I uploaded five different infographics that I wanted the students to discuss. I facilitated the lesson by posing the students with questions that they could discuss with one another about the infographics.

Similar to interpreting a piece of art, my students had to make their own meaning of the infographics and share their ideas with their peers. These questions included topics on: purpose, audience, text features, images, color scheme, power of colors, text, fonts used, and whether or not he/she thought the infographic was effective in meeting its' purpose. By using VoiceThread for this lesson, my students were highly engaged and motivated in sharing and learning, the students took ownership over the discussion, and we were able to have a very comprehensive conversation.

I highly recommend using VoiceThread-no matter what the grade, subject, or the location of your school. Our kiddos get so much out of these learning experiences, and it is greatly preparing them for our tech-driven future.

About the author:

Samantha Stelz is a second grade teacher at Mays Chapel Elementary School, one of the BCPS Lighthouse Schools. She teaches because she is passionate about fostering creativity, innovation, and most importantly, motivation. You can follow her on Twitter at: @MsStelz.

No More Flash

We've reached the finish line! VoiceThread is officially Flash free, and the new HTML5 version has been released to everyone. It's been a long journey, and we're very excited to have moved on to this phase. The HTML5 version of VoiceThread offers:

Options to speed up or slow down comments as you're watching or listening.

More responsiveness with less software to install and run.

Greater security since you no longer need to have Flash installed on your computer or web browser.

Expanded Conversation Channel

Open up the conversation channel on the left side of your VoiceThread to see more information about comments, including the commenter's full name, the date and time stamp, the duration, and the type of comment, all at a glance.

Mobile Accessibility

We've streamlined VoiceThread Universal to be more mobile friendly and to launch seamlessly from the standard VoiceThread mobile app. We've also eliminated all Flash from these pages. This makes it easier for blind users and others who utilize screen readers to interact with VoiceThread.

New Infrastructure

Security and infrastructure are always ongoing efforts, but we've made some great strides this year. All infrastructure has been upgraded to be faster, leaner, and more secure. We've also taken all steps required to defend against known vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown.

You already can interact with and comment on video extensively in VoiceThread, and now we're developing even more integration. Soon you'll be able to insert your comments into your videos so that you can see where each comment was recorded on that video's timeline. Nothing about how comments are recorded will change; you'll just have more information at your fingertips about where the comment was made.

New Assignments and Courses

We've been telling you about courses and assignments for a while now, and we're proud to say that things are going very well! Soon we will have "New Assignments" available for LTI-integrated institutions to try out. Some of these new features will include:

Greater variety of assignment types and more collaborative options between students

More grading options

Enhancement of existing assignment types based on your feedback

Streamlined workflows for both instructors and students

Tighter mobile integration

This will be the first step on our way to offering self-contained courses within VoiceThread, as well. Soon you'll be able to run a course in VoiceThread that is both simpler and more flexible than the groups you use now.

Accessibility Goals

We're always working toward greater accessibility of VoiceThread. The specific goal this semester is WCAG 2.0 AA compliance. This includes many small details to ensure that VoiceThread is accessible to all users.

Educators around the world like to share their work and now VoiceThread has a way to let everyone know what you've been working on too! Our public Browse page is a great place to see VoiceThreads from different subjects for both K12 and Higher Ed courses. On the Browse page, you will see different ThreadBoxes for each subject.

You can search for a ThreadBox about your subject and see what others have shared, then you can share your own!

You will be able to search a list of the VoiceThreads you've already created or simply paste the link for the VoiceThread you would like to add.

It is always helpful to see what other educators in your field are creating, so don't be shy! Share your work with others and connect with our global community.

This is a guest post by professor of Law & Ethics and VoiceThreader, Matthew Phillips.

Today was the first day of classes for my university, but it was also a snow day. I drove into work anyway, in part because I'm just that stubborn and in part because I wanted to be ready for my classes, which were having their first meetings tomorrow (what was to be the second day of school). By the time I got to campus, it was clear that we would be experiencing a delay (at best) for the second day of classes too.

I've used VoiceThread as a just-in-time snow day solution before, but this was a bit more complex because it would be covering my first meeting with students. There was also the possibility that only some of my classes would be canceled, so the virtual session would need to match up well with the in-class experience that students would have in afternoon classes.

Here are some of the highlights of my approach to this VoiceThread project :

Invest in the introduction: I wanted students to have a clear introduction to me as an instructor, so I taped an introduction with my iPhone (and a good mic with extension cable ). I did some quick editing in Camtasia before uploading to VoiceThread, but I could have easily uploaded the file directly to VoiceThread after trimming with the iPhone's native tools.

Tell students why this is good for them: I'm sure students would prefer not to have any snow day work, but that would create an awkward beginning to the semester. I tried to outline exactly why I created this virtual class session (so that they'd understand the course framework before they needed to master next week's readings), and to be upfront about the fact that I like snow days too, but their learning outcomes drove me to take this extra step.

Adjust for the medium: VoiceThread is great for sessions like my introductory class-lecture with supporting slides-but it's still different than being in person with students. I usually try to inspire students a little about the power of openness and curiosity with regard to my discipline, and I also usually push a little when talking about participation and use of electronic devices in class. I dropped those parts of my introduction because I'd rather do those things when I can see their reactions and adjust tone and content accordingly.

Invite comments specifically and provide instructions: I know some students won't have used VoiceThread before my class, so I specifically invite comments, and I use a text-based comment to mention that the option exists, because I don't necessarily want a dozen students adding video comments in this context (though that's a great VoiceThread feature!).

Be careful about lighting and angles: It's not hard to get the camera-even a laptop webcam-aimed properly and to get lighting to work to your advantage. I put my computer on a stack of books so that the camera is at my eye level (avoiding the "up-the-nose" angle that's so common with webcams. I also turn my desk lamp so that it's shining at my face from just beside the computer so that my face is not dark and doesn't have bad shadows. Those may seem like shallow issues, but they communicate your investment to students: I need them to know I took this seriously so that they will too.

Good luck! Stay safe, warm, and on track with your syllabus in the new year.
About the Author:
Matthew Phillips is the John Hendley Fellow and an associate teaching professor of law & ethics at the Wake Forest University School of Business and the director of Wake Forest's BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism. Phillips has won teaching awards from Wake Forest and from the international Academy of Legal Studies in Business. You can find him on twitter at @mtppilot and you can find his school at @wakeforestbiz.

The concept of "flipping" the classroom has been around for a number of years but it hasn't been widely adopted as a professional development strategy. Why is this the case? In a traditional face-to-face course, students are required to attend classes at a certain time in a specific classroom so their schedules are predictable. Professional development workshops for faculty are typically not as predictable. Scheduling workshops for teachers can be a difficult task because of after school activities, department meetings, office hours and a host of other obstacles.

VoiceThread can help trainers at all levels overcome these obstacles. Over the last few years, we have worked with a number of Instructional Designers and Learning Support staff to create and deliver flipped workshops. In the past, trainers may have been able to cobble together tutorials and documents to share with teachers, but VoiceThread makes organizing materials and follow-up discussions easier. Instead of compiling half a dozen links to YouTube videos, webpages and in-house materials, you can upload all of your content to one place. You can narrate over slides, share screencast videos and have an open Q&A all on a single VoiceThread.

Because VoiceThread is asynchronous and web-based, there is no need to schedule, reserve meeting space and deal with all of the logistics that go along with professional development. Many teachers want professional development, but those obstacles can get in the way. A teacher may have time to learn at 10pm on a Thursday, or early in the morning on the weekends, and VoiceThread allows these teachers to enjoy the benefits of PD without having to upend their schedules.

As teachers work through the material, they can easily record their questions at any time of day. The facilitator of the VoiceThread workshop can then review the questions on their time and respond. If the answers are complex, the facilitator can upload a new slide explaining the answer in greater visual detail to that same VoiceThread. You can eliminate the back and forth of text-based emails and maintain a record of the questions where everyone can hear them.

There will always be a time and place for meeting with someone face-to-face to work through issues, but VoiceThread gives you the freedom to decide when that is necessary and when it's not.

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This is a guest post by 3rd Grade Teacher and VoiceThreader, Traci Blazosky. Every year, my students celebrate Major League Baseball (MLB) day. This day happens in my classroom on opening day for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The entire day is devoted to baseball related activities that all align with the Common Core.

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A bunch of us did a joint collaborative presentation at the #SocMedHE Conference in December 2016 and as a group worked together using Google Hangouts, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Forms and Twitter to meet up online and work collaboratively to create the abstract and associated conference presentation

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'With a little help from my followers' Facilitating the #lthechat - #SocMedHE16

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Presented at the Social Media for Learning in Higher Education Conference #SocMedHE16 at Sheffield Hallam University. Abstract: https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/socmed...

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Funnily enough here's a padlet that a group us ( including students ) made at the Social Media in HE Conference (#SocMedHE) - about tools that would be useful for students to become empowered learners ... (Thanks for the reminder Chris I had forgotten ! )

Think we must have been late starting though as we only had about 40mins to do ours !
I use Padlet quite a lot for loads of different scenarios !

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I wrote a report about that

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Useful tips if you are thinking of trying Periscope

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Broadcasting is so in right now.

Apps like Snapchat let you publish videos in real-time for the world to see, for instance, and then there's social networks like Facebook, which have added live-streaming tools for its users. Because these types of streaming features are in high demand, it's easy to see why standalone products are popping up specifically for streaming our moments exactly as they happen. Twitter-owned Periscope is one such example.

It debuted a few years ago, contended with a similar app called Meerkat, but eventually became the go-to broadcasting app for people wanting to live-steam video. One year after its public debut, Periscope revealed its users have created 200 million streams and watched 110 years of video daily. With that in mind, here's some tips and tricks to help you jump in on Periscope and master broadcasting in no time.

Twitter bought Periscope in February 2015 - before the app even launched.

It is a free live-streaming app that allows you to live-stream video through your iPhone or Android. You can make your videos public or private. It is basically your own broadcasting station, because you can go live anytime and anywhere. And anyone who joins your video can interact with it by "liking" (clicking hearts on the screen) or getting involved via commenting. You and your follows can also share live broadcasts on Twitter.

Once the broadcast is over, others can replay it (if you've enabled this option under your settings). Your broadcasts are automatically saved to your phone as well, where you can then treat them like any other video (publish them online, send through email, re-watch, etc). Also, although Periscope doesn't yet have a website where you can explore live and finished broadcasts, it does have an Apple TV app with such options.

For more information about how to actually start broadcasts (also dubbed scopes), check out Pocket-lint's guide.

Pocket-lint also has this round-up of the best Periscopers to follow.

Now that we've covered the basics of Periscope, let's get into how you can really use and leverage this app...
Starting a broadcast
Tap the Camera icon (under People tab in iOS; at the bottom of the app in Android), enter a title that describes your broadcast, manage your options like location settings, private/public broadcasts, limited chats, tweeting a live stream, then tap Start Broadcast.
Ending a broadcast
To end a broadcast, swipe the screen down during a broadcast and tap Stop Broadcast.
Searching for broadcasts
Under the World Tab, select the search icon to find any public broadcasts by title. You can also search for broadcasts by city, state, or country.
Setting broadcasts to public or private
By default, Periscope sets all broadcasts to public so that they are visible on everyone's global feed. However, before you start broadcasting, you can tap the lock icon to start a private broadcast. You'll then be asked which followed you'd like to share the broadcast with, but keep in mind you will only be able to invite users you are following and who follow you.
Liking a broadcast
If you like what you're seeing in a broadcast, just tap the screen to like the stream/give the broadcaster a heart. Keep in mind hearts are only available in public broadcasts and replays, and hearts in private broadcasts are not counted toward your overall heart count.
Screen-shotting a broadcast
If someone takes a screenshot with their device while you're broadcasting, a camera icon will appear on the screen alongside any hearts.
Switching between cameras
To switch between a front-facing camera and a rear-facing camera during your broadcast, double tap the screen. You can also swipe down to switch the camera with the camera icon.
Going between landscape and portrait mode
You can broadcast either in portrait mode or landscape. Simply rotate your device.
Zooming in during a broadcast
Simply pinch to zoom on your device's screen.
Sharing your location
Before you start a broadcast, you will see the option to share your location and make your broadcast discoverable on the Global Map. This will also allow users who search for your location to discover you. To turn your location on or off, use the Compass icon on the Broadcast Tab.
Limiting comments
You can allow everyone in your broadcast to comment, or you can limit comments to only users that you follow. This setting can be enabled or disabled before each broadcast by tapping the chat icon on the broadcast screen.
Hiding chat
Both broadcasters and viewers can hide chat during a broadcast by tapping Hide Chat (swipe right in iOS, or swipe up in Android). When you hide chat during a live broadcast, you won't be able to see any comments, though all comments will still be viewable in replay and will need to be hidden again if you want to watch the chat without seeing comments. You can do so by tapping the Chat Hidden in chat bar.
Opting out of comment moderation
Periscope lets users report and vote on comments that they consider to be spam or abuse during a broadcast. Broadcasters can opt out of having their broadcasts moderated and viewers can opt out of participating by adjusting settings in the app: Profile > Settings > Comment Moderation.
Entering Cinema mode
You can enter a Cinema mode on the web player by pressing H. This will toggle the display of hearts, comments, titles, and app links, providing you with an unobstructed viewing experience.
Sharing broadcasts
You can share a live broadcast you're watching with your friends by swiping right in iOS or up on Android and then tapping Share. The shared broadcast will appear friend's home feed.
Tweeting broadcasts
Before starting a public broadcast, tap the Twitter icon to tweet your broadcast. Your tweet will contain a URL to your broadcast on Periscope's website, where anyone can watch the broadcast while it is live. To see an example, check out: https://twitter.com/periscopetv
Using tags
Periscope serves up Suggested Tags to make discovering content easier. Simply click on a tag to view live and replay videos related to that topic. To broadcast about a topic and use tags, tap the Broadcast button in the topic's search results and add the relevant hashtags to your title.
Transition to another device with Handoff
You can start watching a broadcast on one device and transition to another while watching, thanks to Apple's Handoff feature. So, when you're using the web view to watch a broadcast on your desktop, you're able to quickly switch to watching on your iOS device (or vice versa). Just be sure the devices are running iOS 8+ or OS X, have Bluetooth turned on, and are logged in to the same iCloud account.
Letting your broadcasts expire
Periscope allows you to control whether you keep broadcasts indefinitely. Otherwise, they automatically expire after 24 hours. If you would still like your broadcasts to expire after 24 hours, go to Settings and select Auto Delete After 24hr. When Auto-Delete is enabled, you will still be presented with the option to save each broadcast to your camera roll after it ends.
Saving broadcasts to your camera roll
To automatically save your broadcasts to your phone's camera roll, go to the People Tab, then tap the Profile icon in the top right corner, and rom your Profile page tap Settings. You can then turn on Auto-Save to Camera Roll. To save an individual broadcast after it has ended, you can tap Save to Camera Roll/Gallery after ending a broadcast and download the video.
Replaying broadcasts
To access to your replays, open Broadcasts from your Profile Tab. You can replay any video that hasn't expired or been deleted.
Deleting replays
If you would like your broadcasts to expire after 24 hours, go to Settings and select Auto Delete After 24hr. You can also delete your individual broadcasts beyond 24 hours by tapping the Delete Broadcast button immediately after your broadcast has ended, or you can open Broadcasts from your Profile, swipe left on the video, and click Delete/Remove Replay.
Understanding broadcast stats
As a broadcaster, you'll see some stats during and after your broadcast. Live Viewers is t he total number of viewers that watched your broadcast live. Replay Viewers is t he total number of viewers that have watched your broadcast as a replay. Time Watched is t he total amount of time that all viewers watched your broadcast. And Duration is the total length of your broadcast.
Finding people to follow
When you follow someone, you will be invited to join their public broadcasts via push notifications (if they are enabled), and their broadcasts will appear in your Watch Tab. You can also chat in their limited broadcasts.

To find someone to follow, tap the People Tab and browse the list of suggested users to follow, or you can then tap the magnifying glass icon, enter a name into the search bar, then tap the "+" icon for whoever you want to follow. To unfollow someone, go to the user's profile and tap "unfollow" or uncheck them from your follower list. And that's it.
Watching via web profiles
Web profiles show live and recent broadcasts with heart counts. People using a Mac or PC can view broadcasts by visiting a user's web profile page. Profiles are located at periscope.tv/username.
Viewing broadcasts on TV
Periscope is available on the new Apple TV (4th generation). Go to the App Store, download and open the Periscope app, and you can start browsing a collection of live broadcasts from around the world with no account signup required. You can even send hearts to the broadcaster by tapping the Touch surface on the Siri Remote as well as read comments from other people.

This FAQ page has more details about how to use Periscope for Apple TV.
Discovering what's trending
Periscope has a Trending section in the People Tab that highlights recently popular broadcasters.
Navigating the map
The Map is under the Globe tab. It allow you to access live and replay broadcasts from around the world. When you zoom to a new place on the map, Periscope will load live and replay broadcasts from the region. A broadcast will only show up on the map if the broadcaster is sharing their location. Red dots are live broadcasts, and blue dots are replays.
Pressing to use Force Touch
iPhone 6S and 6S Plus owners can press down on the Periscope app to search people, go to a random location in the world and view a live broadcast, start a private broadcast that only your mutual followers see, or start a public broadcast.
Reporting inappropriate content
If you see inappropriate content on Periscope, swipe left to access the info panel, scroll to the bottom, and tap the Report Broadcast button.
Blocking and unblocking users
When you block a user on Periscope, he or she will not be able to follow you or view any of your content. The same goes for you. To block a user, tap the the user you would like to block. From there, while on their profile, tap the gear icon/menu icon and select Block User. To unblock, tap Blocked in your Profile, select the user, and tap Blocked to bring up the option to Unblock User. Tap this option.

Users will not receive a notification that you have blocked/unblocked them.
Changing usernames
When you sign up for Periscope, you must choose a unique username. You change this username at any time by select your Profile icon, going to Edit, and choosing the second entry (@) to edit your current username. Be sure to hit the Done button to save your changes. Keep in mind you will only be able to change your username twice in a 30-day period.
Changing display names
Your display name is the name located directly under the photo on the profile page. Unlike your username, your display name is not unique to only your account. You can change your display name by selecting your Profile icon, going to Edit, and choosing the first field to edit your display name. Again, be sure to hit the Done button to save your changes.
Switching between multiple Twitter accounts
You can have multiple Periscope accounts if you have multiple Twitter accounts. This FAQ page has more details about how that works.
Getting a blue verification badge
If you are verified on Twitter, your verification badge will carry over to your Periscope attached to your verified Twitter account. Periscope does not award verification badges to accounts yet. Verification is handled by Twitter and is closed to the public.
Editing your profile
To edit your Periscope bio, click the Profile icon in the top right corner on the People Tab, tap the Edit icon on the top right, and you will then see options to edit your photo, display name, and edit your bio inline. .
Managing push notifications
If enabled, you will receive a push when someone starts following you, someone you follow starts a broadcast, someone you follow invites you to a private broadcast, someone you follow shares another person's live broadcast. This FAQ page has details on how to manage push notifications.
Deleting your account
To delete your Periscope account, you must email help@periscope.tv with subject line "Delete Account". In the email, include your Periscope username and the email address or phone number associated with your account.

Periscope has this handy Help Center with more useful tips and tricks.

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Broadcasting is so in right now. Apps like Snapchat let you publish videos in real-time for the world to see, for instance, and then there's social networks like Facebook, which have added live-streaming tools for its users.

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THis is a webconferencing tool that is real easy to use - you can share screens etc I love it .. in fact I will be zooming with @chasing_ling this evening so watch this space !

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Modernize workflows with Zoom's trusted collaboration tools: including video meetings, team chat, VoIP phone, webinars, whiteboard, contact center, and events.

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Sway from Microsoft is a new tool designed for making presentations that can be viewed on the web from any device. It's designed to be collaborative, and it's a great way for students to tell compelling stories.

Here's a Sway that a bunch of us made in 90 minutes at last December's Social Media in HE conference (#SocMedHE).

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Students as Co-Creators: Integrating Research and Learning

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No views out of the window from today's Perispcope broadcast but this was the view that greeted me this morning on the way the SALT HQ.

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I often use the above tools for video conferencing, in conjunction with Google docs for real time collaboration

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Moodle is a VLE accessible from a range of devices and enables collaborative discussion using Wikis, blogs and Forums as well as providing access to tutors’ learning materials and research links.

Office 365 is Microsoft’s online productivity software bundle.  Software included are Word (Word Processor) and PowerPoint (Presenter) which allow the creation and edit of documents and presentations which can be shared or displayed across devices. Used in conjunction with OneNote enables collaborative synchronous editing.

Groups are a feature of the Office 365 package that enable quick and fairly simple assembly of groups/teams with included email, calendar, OneNote and forum space. This would be useful for longer term group work rather than a one off classroom activity.

Skype for Business Microsoft’s online communication software.  It enables online grouped communication, presentation, polling and document sharing.  Skype provides out of classroom communication for group work, distance learners and flipped learning exercises.

Browsers.  Mobile devices are equipped with internet browsers that enable students to access the WWW via the Wi-Fi network to quickly research topics or answer questions.

Clickview is a video repository that holds recent public broadcast programmes and user created content for educational purposes.  Accessible online (subscribers) it provides a ready resource for research and instruction.

Wordwall is a classroom activity media with online content enabling learning games, quizzes and polling. Wordwall can be used for revision of learnt topics, promoting discussion and identifying formative learning objectives.

QR codes are monochrome printed blocks that can be read by software enabled portable devices with cameras.  The blocks redirect browsers to web pages. QR codes can be created for free and printed on labels to attach to objects; the technology encourages exploration and research.

Social Media software such as Twitter and even SMS (text messaging) are ubiquitous among users and owners of mobile devices, students will develop their own communities and communicate amongst each other using such media and continue collaborative learning outside the classroom.

SMS messaging is simple and allows students & staff to communicate easily. Software such as Celly and Remind provide free services to receive and send messages without sharing phone numbers. Remind can send timed pre-written messages and records when and if these have been read.

Twitter is an online free messaging service that could be used to support group work. It enables quick access to group messaging (Via hastags #) as Twitter is simple to use and access and probably familiar to most students.

Google Docs. Are a free alternative to MS Word with an option for Speech to Text and synchronous sharing and editing of online documents. Free with a Google account.

Google hangouts is similar to Skype with text only or text plus voice/video communication across devices using the internet. Free with a Google account.

OneDrive, googledrive, Dropbox are all free file depositories and sharing spaces for storage and distribution of files including documents, sound and video. Useful for teamwork. OneDrive is included in Office 365 and accessible to staff and students.

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Share Links to the Tools that you use for Online Collaboration

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Share Links to the Tools that you use for Online Collaboration

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Welcome !

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Here's the link to the Periscope broadcast Deb and I made this morning reporting live from SALT HQ in Swansea University.

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Digital System Models and System Response

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Debbie Baff (@debbaff) and I broadcasted on Periscope on Day 4 of #BYOD4L. We show you around our staff training room at Swansea Academy of Learning and Teaching (SALT) and brief discuss how we collaborate. Share how you collaborate with mobile tech on our Padlet https://padlet.com/Debbaff/collaborating.

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If I contribute to this does it count as collaborating? obviously i'll find something more useful to post.

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If I contribute to this does it count as collaborating? obviously i'll find something more useful to post.

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Oh, Its Mike Swanson here.. I havn't signed up for padlets.

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Just like this one ! A collaborative document that we can all see in real time - although it does wizz around the screen a bit when we are all using it !
https://padlet.com

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The mother of all collaborative tools.

You need to get some response quickly? Create a Doc, get a public link and share by email with your colleagues. Works with spreadsheets, presentations, documents, and drawings. Try this one?

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Imagine this scenario. Your head of teaching wants to get students engaged inside and outside the classroom. What tools would you use? Write as much or as little as you like, but we have to return a report by the end of the week.  Using Mobile Technologies to Improve Student Engagement