Faculty Spotlight: Carmin Karasic

Getting to Know Your Classmates Through VoiceThread
Emerging Technologies, Spring 2009

Introduction
Carmin is an adjunct instructor in the online Technology in Education program who was faced with the challenge of creating a community of learners at a distance. To give her course a personal touch, Carmin had students introduce one another through a collaborative multimedia tool called VoiceThread. This tool, which uses images, video and audio, allows for an experience of bringing the online students to life.

Timeline
In the Summer of 2008, Carmin was discussing tools with a colleague when the conversation turned to a new multimedia tool called VoiceThread. She was able to create her first VoiceThread for free in just a few minutes! She then incorporated the tool into her online course for the Fall 2008 semester.

Equipment

• VoiceThread (free)
• Microphone (~$30)
• WebCam [optional] (~30)

Process
Carmin set up a VoiceThread for the introductions for her course, and created a short video explaining the project to the students. She asked the students to view sample VoiceThreads and a "How-to" demo created by her teaching assistant, Jason Kries. Students visited the course VoiceThread, and added their own introductions. Students were encouraged to add a photograph and a video introduction. Those who could not record a video were allowed to add a brief audio clip, or even a text narrative for their introductions. The students were then able to view each other's introductions, all in one place!

Outcome
Carmin's VoiceThread project helped students get to know one another, creating a personal connection from the beginning. View Carmin's VoiceThread introductions: http://voicethread.com/share/327335

Carmin's Next Steps...
VoiceThread worked out so well that Carmin is now using it for an online debate - she created a page for students to post three "Pro" and three "Con" arguments. Students post audio comments, followed by their cited evidence as text. While Carmin has used online debates for many years, she found this one to be the most exciting yet - allowing students to experience the emotion, passion, and personality found in a live debate!

You Can Create a VoiceThread Too!

• A one minute video on setting up a VoiceThread: http://voicethread.com/?#c28.b8381.i61448
• How to Leave Comments on a VoiceThread, developed by Jason Kries: http://coderedsupport.com/demos/voicethread.htm
• Contact eLearning and Instructional Support at elis@lesley.edu for a special one-on-one training session
  

The Open Education Movement

On March 26, 2009, MacLearning.org and Apple sponsored a free conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge Mass. The focus of the AcademiX Conference was on how digital learning environments are shaping the ways in which we teach and learn in today's world.

The opening session was presented by Dr. Vijay Kumar of MIT, titled " 'Open': The New Deal for Education," where he discussed the concept of the open education movement. The idea of "open education" is that educational content should be made free and open for all to use and benefit from.

The importance of this movement is that it releases the knowledge taught in Universities and Colleges to advance education worldwide. The work being done by exemplary teachers in the classroom can be shared with the world, and also provide a model for others to follow. And with having the courses available for students to review, it can give them a glimpse of the type of education they will receive if they choose to attend that specific school.

Dr. Kumar used the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) project as an example of this movement, a site where the full materials from MIT's courses are freely available to the public, the number currently at over 1,800 courses having been submitted on a completely voluntary basis by the MIT faculty. While there is the concern of having one's course materials freely available for anyone to view, Dr. Kumar made the point that simply because anyone has the ability to view the course content, it is not the same as getting an education from MIT. The OCW project and the content it contains serves as a model for other faculty and a supplement for the students or any self-learner. It is the task of the faculty to guide their students and to help them think critically about the content from these courses.

While MIT was the first school to take part in this movement, more and more schools are now following in their example. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of over 200 higher education institutions and organizations participating in this movement. Interested in learning more? Their website provides much more information and also gives visitors access to view some of the great educational materials being provided by participating schools from around the world.

Some additional related links about this topic:

• MIT Faculty Adopt Open Access for Scholarly Articles, by David Nagel for Campus Technology, March 23 2009
• Opening Up Education - The Remix, by Toru Iiyoshi and M.S. Vijay Kumar, March 17 2009
• Open Content and the Emerging Global Meta-University, by Charles M. Vest (EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 3 [May/June 2006]: 18-30)