Student Instructions for VoiceThread: Public Domain - use as you wish!

I am currently serving as an online teaching mentor in @One's online teaching certification program.  Today I spent an hour with a mentee who is refining his online class.  One of the things we talked about was the importance of "clear instructions" when teaching online.  Clear instructions make or break a class.  And taking the extra time to be clear upfront saves you a lot of time in the end, and keeps your students focused on important things -- like learning!

He is integrating VoiceThread into his class but didn't have instructions prepared for his students explaining how to use it.  So I copied my instructions into a PDF and sent them off to him.  Then I started thinking about how many other instructors (and student) could benefit from those instructions.  I once had a professor tell me, "If I could just have all the 'how to' instructions provided for me, I'd be so much more comfortable with using new tools."

So, I pasted the instructions into a document, added a Creative Commons 0 license which "dedicates" (I love that word) it into the public domain.  That means you are free to use them -- one piece, half, the entire thing -- without asking my permission or feeling like you're "taking my stuff."  Ahhh, doesn't that feel good? :)

I have the instructions shared on the Educator Guides tab of my blog and you can grab them from the link below too.  I encourage them to be shared in conjunction with the "How to Participate" guide (which I require attribution for if you use it).

Download the VoiceThread Student Instructions.

Download the How to Participate in a VoiceThread guide. 

What content of your own could you dedicate to the public domain that other educators could benefit from?   If you find this resource helpful, I hope you'll consider giving back and promoting a culture of sharing.

A Sample VoiceThread Rubric

I understand how helpful samples are when experimenting with using new technologies for learning.  Even after you have a clear picture of how you want to use a new tool in your class, you will soon ask, "Hmmm...and how am I going to grade the activity?" 

Rubrics can be very helpful to instructors and students.  When you develop a rubric for an assignment, it forces you to make important decisions about the criteria you will use to assign credit.  It's helpful to make a brief list of the criteria categories (keep them simple and few for quick grading -- if there is such a thing) and then distribute a maximum number of points to each criteria category.  Then ask yourself to identify what qualifies for "partial" and "full" points in each criteria category. 

Share each rubric with your students before the activity begins so they have an opportunity to review what your expectations are.  Include a note on the rubric to your students that clearly states you will be using the rubric to grade their activities/assignments.  You'll find that this will dramatically reduce the "grade negotiation" sessions in your life and students will appreciate understanding exactly what you expect of them.

In an effort to help, I'm sharing a simple VoiceThread rubric that may be a resource for you or someone you know.  I've shared it under a CC0 public domain mark which releases it into the public domain (i.e. you don't need to attribute me if you use it in your own class).


Click here to download the VoiceThread Rubric.