2019 VoiceThread Roadmap

“Conversation is a catalyst for innovation” – John Seely Brown High quality conversations and higher order thinking have a chicken-and-egg relationship, where the important fact isn’t which came first but rather that you won’t find one without the other. VoiceThread is a broadly accessible sandbox for perfecting the skills required for world class conversations and the higher order thinking that drives them. We are excited to share some recent platform developments as well as what’s next for your bigger and better VoiceThread conversations. … Continued

VoiceThread Roadmap for Summer 2018

What’s New Interactive Video Commenting Now you can insert your comments into a video exactly where you want them. Comments will appear in the video’s timeline as a small blue nib, allowing you to see where others have inserted them as well. The best part is that you don’t have to learn anything new. It just works.  Pause While Recording While you’re recording audio or video in VoiceThread, you might need a quick break. … Continued

Interactive Video Commenting

What separates good interaction from transformational interaction? Authentic engagement between people – student to teacher and peer to peer, not student to computer. We’re always working to make those interpersonal interactions easier in a VoiceThread. Now you can insert your comments into a video exactly where you want them. Comments will appear in the video’s timeline as a small blue nib, allowing you to see where others have inserted them as well. … Continued

VoiceThread Roadmap for 2018

What’s new in 2018?  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. … Continued

VoiceThread Roadmap for Fall 2017

What’s New in 2017 Say Goodbye to Flash!  Our transition away from Flash has been an ongoing project over the last four years. Not unlike re-building a plane in flight, it required keeping in mind that VoiceThreaders all over the world were counting on us to keep the conversations going no matter what. It’s been a long road, but now you don’t need any Flash whatsoever to use VoiceThread. … Continued

New Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

We’ve updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to make our commitment to data privacy and ownership more visible and our policies clearer. * Note that if your institution has a custom SLA in place with VoiceThread, these updates do not apply to you.  What’s new? Privacy Shield: We’re excited to be certified under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, and have updated our Privacy Policy to reflect this. … Continued

VoiceThread Roadmap for 2017

We’re committed to making VoiceThreading easier, more versatile, and more powerful. We want to share with you how far we’ve come in the past 6 months and where we’re headed in the new year. New Features in 2016 Retrieving Deleted Work  When you delete a VoiceThread, it goes into your Trash. If you need to retrieve a VoiceThread that has been deleted recently, just go back and restore it from the trash. … Continued

Student Assessment in VoiceThread

VoiceThread’s flexible and dynamic recording features allow you to better assess student learning in all subjects. We’ve already introduced several features to help with this: Comment Moderation Specific timestamps on comments Gradebook integration in your learning management system Control over whether users can delete their own comments Selecting which types of comments are possible Searching slides for commenters Our latest step is a minor change in what it means to allow someone else to view your VoiceThread. … Continued

VoiceThread Roadmap for 2016

With every decision and update, we’re committed to making VoiceThreading easier, more versatile, and more powerful. We want to share with you how far we’ve come and where we’re headed in the second half of 2016. What’s new? Threaded Commenting  Make your VoiceThread conversations, presentations, and assessments even richer and more interactive with: Private replies for two-way conversations Direct replies for simple feedback Threaded commenting for more advanced conversations The New VoiceThread  We redesigned VoiceThread top to bottom. … Continued

Why is VoiceThread using Flash? Why not HTML5?

It’s not uncommon for us to get the question: “why haven’t you switched to HTML 5 from Flash?” The short answer is that we already are well into a transition away from Flash, and we will continue that transition as quickly as it is safe to do so. Since 2014 over 50% of the VoiceThread platform has moved away from Flash, and that percentage will continue to grow a soon as other frameworks like HTML5 begin to offer the rich feature set that VoiceThread users require. … Continued

Roadmap for 2015-16

With every decision and update, we’re committed to making VoiceThreading easier, more versatile, and more powerful. We want to share with you how far we’ve come and where we’re headed in 2015-16.  School Year in Review  New VoiceThread  We redesigned VoiceThread, top to bottom. It’s simpler, faster, and more deeply integrated. We included dozens of new features and a streamlined interface. *Released in August of 2014, and everyone will be using the New VoiceThread by August 1, 2015. … Continued

Beat the next snow day

When Matthew Phillips, a business instructor from Wake Forest University, learned one morning that his evening class would be canceled, he turned to VoiceThread as a “just-in-time solution” to hold class anyway. Even though he’d never done it before, he quickly created a VoiceThread, tweeted the link to his students, and then actively participated with them that evening. “Since Wake Forest University has a campus license,” explained Mr. Phillips, “we didn’t really have any problems. … Continued

VT Update: Comment Moderation

If you have an Ed.VoiceThread license and have opted to allow anyone to view it in the past, you know that Comment Moderation was enabled for you automatically. After receiving your feedback about the needs of students and teachers, we have updated that policy. Now, Comment Moderation will not be enabled automatically if you choose to allow anyone to view and comment. There is only one time that Comment Moderation will be enabled automatically, and that is if you opt to publish your VoiceThread to the Browse page. … Continued

iOS App Updates - Version 2.0

This update to the VoiceThread iOS Mobile App includes exciting new features and enhancements. VoiceThreading on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch has never been better! Watch the video above and leave a comment to tell us what you think! Simplified navigation Tabs have been reorganized and reduced to allow simpler navigation to the parts of VoiceThread you use most often. Secure sharing with Groups Share your VoiceThreads securely with any of your existing Groups. … Continued

Google Apps and LTI Integration

Organizations that integrate with VoiceThread experience as much as 5 times the use and spend 1/5th the resources on support and training as organizations that do not integrate. Simply put, seamless integration is the key to effective use of technology in education. Our integration toolset is now more advanced than ever. Earlier this year, we introduced support for the LTI standard, which enables remarkably fast, simple, and robust integration across a wide variety of learning management systems, including Blackboard, Sakai, ANGEL, Desire2Learn, Canvas, and Moodle. … Continued

New Developments and Account Changes

VoiceThread has one of the most diverse populations of users of any communications tool in the world. Voice? Text? Video? All of these options are available within the same conversation, each person choosing for themselves the best method to participate. This diversity is by design. We want people to participate in the way that works best for them. With that goal in mind, we have added some new features that expand the way you use and experience VoiceThread conversations. … Continued