Thomas' Work Space

1. Voicethread (free version)
2. University-environment
   1. For Multimedia authoring:
      1. MS-PowerPoint
      2. not yet contenders
         1. MS-Community Clips (screen capture recording, to be installed)
            1. benefit: single purpose, record yourself talking while flipping through the images on your computer
            2. cost: new tool to learn, and no long term perspective
         2. Sanako Student Recorder: not a contender, it has subtitling options, but cannot author multimedia presentations (teachers used to with the Sanako authoring tool, but this is not longer supported).
   2. As LMS: Moodle.

1. Student
   1. Authoring:
      1. (PowerPoint ties:) Image upload is easy in Voicethread (including batches): , but PowerPoints Insert / Photo album is as fast (if you have digital photos).
      2. Image narration:

   2. Assignment submission: Voicethread (free) has no support for assignments, only for sharing. Students have to find a way to submit their Voicethread,

      1. either by email or invitation to pre-created contacts:
      2. or, – with higher initial setup cost, but greater reusability benefit – by invitation to a pre-created contact: ,
   3. Sharing/peer-editing/grading:
      1. (Moodle would win where it has peer-grading options. YMMV:) Sharing within the class is possible, but sharing with "anyone" is a privacy (possibly FERPA) issue, and sharing with a handmade class list  (no import) is tedious.
2. Teacher: grading
   1. Managing submissions
      1. (LMS wins?:) Voicethread (free) does not allow an export that could be uploaded to the LMS. Student can email links or invitations like these:  . It is up to you managing them, and completion of assignment and grading for the class. This is no LMS gradebook.
      2. (Voicethread wins:) PowerPoint can be saved as a slideshow that starts on click (save as .ppsx) (including with narration). But opening and listening, without the need for saving to a local file,  remains easier in Voicethread.
   2. (Voicethread wins:) Providing feedback is possible, including oral – but is this insert recording? And providing editing access is not the default:
   3. Record-keeping:
      1. (Moodle wins:) Voicethread: Uh.. oh..?! I see no retention story, especially not in the free version. With Moodle, you can leave all that to the institutional support.
3. Student: receiving feedback
   1. (A tie:) Voicethread’s audio feedback versus Moodle/PowerPoints gradebook access.
4. Learning curve:
5. Voicethread has the advantage of being a specialized tool (relatively few options, still relatively simple interface – few distractions).
6. Other tools have the advantage of greater familiarity in the long run and reusability. Of course it depends also where you are working: stable positions get greater benefit from embarking on the institutional environment.

Summary: PowerPoint/Moodle remains the solution for the pedagogical task at hand that the LRC currently supports. Fortunately

1. a narration of a picture presentation using PowerPoint and
2. its submission by the student and grading by the teacher on the basis of a  Moodle single file upload assignment are not too difficult.