Enhanced Voicethread Experience

The College of Charleston will open the new VoiceThread experience in May of 2024!  This is the biggest update in VoiceThread history, featuring a more intuitive design that is fully accessible and usable, ensuring an enhanced user experience for everyone.  Additional highlights include a simpler-to-use conversation structure.  Also, the new VoiceThread improves the ability to zoom, pan, and jump navigation.  Several exciting upgrades are highlighted below, along with a variety of tutorials.

Commenting in a VoiceThread — Select a slide and use the new comment button, now located on the left side of the page. You can type and record audio or video as part of your comment.  To add a comment to a conversation, just click the button on the lower left. You will then choose a comment type.  A choice between text, audio, video, and upload will be available unless settings are adjusted to eliminate any of these choices.  To see the new commenting features in action, watch this video.

One Conversation/Viewing Comments: Comments are aligned in a single timeline called ‘One conversation’, making it easier to follow discussions. You can also zoom in and pan on images while commenting to point out specific details​ (One Conversation Video)​​ One Conversation vs. multi-conversation tutorial:  https://voicethread.com/howto/one-conversation-vs-multi-conversation/

Enhanced Accessibility Features:  Ensure that you explore accessibility options, such as adjusting for dark mode or utilizing closed captions for a better user experience​ https://voicethread.com/blog/new-voicethread-simpler-more-accessible-and-more-powerful-2023-09-07/

Additional Enhancements

Bulk Actions for Comment Management: The introduction of bulk actions like deleting all comments or revealing moderated comments at once, streamlining the management process. /https://voicethread.com/howto/deleting-a-comment-2/

Zoom & Pan – You can now zoom in and move around in an image during your comment, and everything you do will playback for your audience, just like they were sitting right next to you. –Zoom and Pan

Multi-slide (M/5) Comments: This feature allows users to jump navigation –Open the new slide gallery and keep it open during your comment! This allows you to jump from slide 1 to slide 40 in a single click rather than flipping through them one by one. https://voicethread.cmail20.com/t/y-l-pkrjiul-iholktlc-u/ 

Assignment and Grading: For educators, the platform allows for the creation of assignments and the grading of student work directly within VoiceThread. Make sure to familiarize yourself with these options to leverage VoiceThread effectively in educational settings. https://voicethread.com/howto/using-new-assignments/

Questions? Reach out to TLT@cofc.edu