VoiceThread as a Way to Create Community Among Online Learners Peggy Delmas, Leadership and Teacher Education, University of South Alabama A sense of community has been identified as one of the factors contributing to greater student satisfaction and persistence in online programs (Park & Choi, 2009). VoiceThread is a web-based platform that allows users to upload images, documents, or videos into a slideshow, to add video, audio, or text comments, and also to invite other users to comment on the slideshow. This presentation examines the use of VoiceThread as a way to encourage a sense of community among online learners. Specifically, the presentation will focus on the experiences of graduate students using VoiceThread in blended and fully online courses. Resources will be provided for attendees interested in incorporating VoiceThread into their classes.

1. VoiceThread as a Way to Create
Community in Online Learning
South Alabama Conference on Teaching &
Learning
Dr. Peggy Delmas
May 12, 2015

2. Blended & fully online learning
As of 2012:
 the proportion of all students taking at least one online course was at
an all-time high of 32%
 69.1% of chief academic officers believed that online learning was
critical to the long term strategy of their institutions
 62.4% of higher education institutions offered fully online programs
(Allen & Seaman, 2013)
 Barriers to persistence in distance education include:
 Auditory learning style (Harrell & Bower, 2011)
 Decreased engagement (Morris, Finnigan, & Wu, 2005; Ivankova
& Stick, 2007)
 Isolation (Bunn, 2004; McInnerney & Roberts, 2004)

3. COI framework
Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010
a model for
understanding
interactions and
social integration
in online
environments

4. Community
 the connections among students and between
students and instructors that can lead to increased
learning (Young & Bruce, 2011)
 the essence of distance learning (Palloff & Pratt,
1999)
 elements of community:
 people
 shared purpose
 guidelines
 technology
 collaborative learning
 reflective practice
 social presence (Palloff & Pratt, 1999, 2003, 2005)

5. VoiceThread
Higher Ed Single Instructor License $99/yr. Instructor + 50 student accts.
K-12 Single Educator License $79/yr. or $15/mo. Instructor + 50 student accts.

6. VT applications – Student introductions

7. VT applications – Student introductions

8. Student response to VT
“After the conference, I went home to continue working on my
VoiceThread activity. This activity was a wonderful way for the
classmates to get to know each other before the first evening of
class.” – D.
“I can remember as an undergraduate and graduate student that the
first class meeting was always a little awkward. Walking into a room
of strangers usually resulted in a quiet room and fleeting glances.
Tonight was different. Thanks to Dr. D.’s assignment of building the
voice thread before class, I walked into a room of laughter, familiar
faces, and friends.” – L.
“I truly enjoyed reviewing and commenting on all the voice threads.
It was nice to see and hear the thoughts, accomplishments, desires,
and families of all the cohorts. It made a difference in how I will
interact with everyone. I have a lot in common with most of the
cohort that we can discuss, and this will help in building/establishing
genuine relationships.” - T

9. Research on Use of VT
 Easy to use (Borup, Graham, & Velasquez, 2010; Ching
& Hsu, 2013)
 Access issue- internet, microphone/telephone/mobile
phone, microphone required (Smith, 2012)
 Allows sharing of voice (Borup, Graham, & Velasquez,
2010); Helps understand nuance through voice
(Pacansky-Brock, 2010)
 Not embedded in course LMS (Ching & Hsu, 2013)
 Helps make collaboration more engaging by emulating
f2f interaction (Ching & Hsu, 2013)
 Assessment can be time consuming – no tracking
mechanism for student contributions (Ching & Hsu, 2013)
 Creates wait time for students to formulate thoughts
(Brunvand & Byrd, 2011)

10. Research on Use of VT
 Helps mitigate shyness (Orlando & Orlando, 2010)
 Fosters social presence (Orlando & Orlando, 2010;
Pacansky-Brock, 2010)
 Does not help students to get to know classmates
(Borup, Graham, & Velasquez, 2010)
 Enhances sense of community (Kidd, 2013; Kidd &
Beaudry, 2013; Orlando & Orlando, 2010; Pacansky-
Brock, 2010)
 Does not significantly increase online social community
(Millard, 2010; Taylor & Huang, 2011)
 Increases teaching presence (Taylor & Huang, 2011)
 Increases student connection with instructor (Borup,
Graham, & Velasquez, 2010; Kidd & Beaudry, 2013)

11. Questionnaire Research (n = 28)
 Gender
 Female = 64.3%
 Male = 35.7%
 Used VT in a blended class
– 46.5%
 Used VT in a fully online
class – 67.9%
 Most Recent College
Status
 Master’s degree program
= 58.6%
 Doctoral degree program
= 41.4%
 Race/Ethnicity
 Black/African American =
35.7%
 White/Caucasian = 57.1%
 Other = 7.1%

12. VT helps to create a sense of community
among online learners
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
strongly
disagree
somewhat
disagree
somewhat agree strongly agree
44.8%
55.2

13. VT helps me feel more connected to my
classmates
Somewhat agree
Strongly agree
42.9%
57.1%

14. VT helps me feel more connected to my
instructor
Somewhat disagree
Somewhat agree
Strongly agree
3.6
50%
46.4%

15. VT helps me to get to know my classmates
better
Somewhat disagree
Somewhat agree
Strongly agree
3.6
%
60.7%
35.7%

16. VT helps me to get to know my instructor
better
Somewhat disagree
Somewhat agree
Strongly agree
3.7
%
51.9
%
44.4%

17. I would want to use VT in a future class
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Strongly
disagree
Somewhat
disagree
Somewhat
agree
Strongly agree
7.1%
53.6%
39.3
%

18. Resources
 www.voicethread.com
 http://www.teachingwithoutwalls.com/p/voicethread.h
tml

19. References
 Allen, I.E. & Seaman, J. (2013). Changing courses: Ten years of tracking online
education in the United States. Babson Park, MA: Babson Survey Research Group
and Quahog Research Group. Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED541571.pdf
 Borup, J., Graham, C.R. & Velasquez, A. (2010). The Use of Asynchronous Video
Communication to Improve Instructor Immediacy and Social Presence in an Online
Course. In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information
Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 337-344).
Chesapeake, VA: Association for t he Advancement of Computing in Education
(AACE). Retrieved May 8, 2015 from http://www.editlib.org/p/33358
 Brunvand, S., & Byrd, S. (2011). Using VoiceThread to promote learning engagement
and success for all students. Teaching Exceptional Children, 43(4), 28-37.
 Bunn, J. (2004) Student persistence in a LIS distance education program.
Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 35:3, 253-269, DOI:
10.1080/00048623.2004.10755275
 Ching, Y.-H., & Hsu, Y.-C. (2013). Collaborative learning using VoiceThread in an
online graduate course. Knowledge Management & E-Learning, 5(3), 298-314.
 Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2010). The first decade of the community
of inquiry framework: A retrospective. Internet and Higher Education, 13, 5-9.

20. References
 Harrell, I.L., & Bower, B.L. (2011). Student characteristics that predict student
persistence in community college online courses. American Journal of Distance
Education, 25(3), 178- 191.
 Ivankova, N. V., & Stick, S. L. (2007). Students’ persistence in a distributed doctoral
program in educational leadership in higher education: A mixed methods study.
Research in Higher Education, 48(1), 93-135. doi:10.1007/s11162-006-9025-4
 Kidd, J. (2013). Evaluating VoiceThread for Online Content Delivery and Student
Interaction: Effects on Classroom Community. In R. McBride & M. Searson
(Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education
International Conference 2013 (pp. 2158-2162). Chesapeake, VA: Association for
the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved May 8, 2015
from http://www.editlib.org/p/48425.
 Kidd, J. & Beaudry, J. (2013). Understanding Students’ Online Communication
Preferences and the Affordances of VoiceThread for Formative Assessment in Online
Teaching. In R. McBride & M. Searson (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information
Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2013 (pp. 2163-2170).
Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
(AACE). Retrieved May 8, 2015 from http://www.editlib.org/p/48426.
 McInnerney, J. M., & Roberts, T. S. (2004). Online learning: Social interaction and the
creation of a sense of community. Educational Technology & Society, 7 (3), 73-
81.

21. References
 Millard, M. (2010). Analysis of interaction in an asynchronous CMC environment.
Proceedings of Web Science Conference 2010. Retrieved from
http://journal.webscience.org/391/2/websci10_submission_106.pdf
 Morris, L. V., Finnegan, C., & Wu, S. (2005). Tracking student behavior, persistence,
and achievement in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 8(3), 221-
231.
 Orlando, J., & Orlando, L. (2010). Using VoiceThread to improve educational
outcomes. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching
and Learning. Madison, WI: The Board of the University of Wisconsin
System. Retrieved from
http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/28642_1
0.pdf
 Pacansky-Brock, M. (2010). VoiceThread: Enhanced community, increased social
presence and improved visual learning. Retrieved from
http://olc.onlinelearningconsortium.org/effective_practices/voicethread-
enhanced- community-increased-social-presence-and-improved-visual-lea
 Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace:
Effective strategies for the online classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

22. References
 Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (2003). The virtual student: A profile and guide to working with
online learners. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
 Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
 Smith, J. (2012). Facilitating Enhanced Self, Peer and Instructor-Centered
Performance Assessment with VoiceThread. In P. Resta (Ed.), Proceedings of
Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference
2012 (pp. 3075-3080). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of
Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved May 8, 2015
from http://www.editlib.org/p/40061.
 Taylor, L. & Huang, H.W. (2011). Student Engagement in Online Multimedia
Communication. In M. Koehler & P. Mishra (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for
Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011 (pp.
786-788). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in
Education (AACE). Retrieved May 8, 2015 fromhttp://www.editlib.org/p/36372.)
 Young, S. & Bruce, M.A. (2011). Classroom community and student engagement in
online courses. Journal of Online Teaching, 7(2), 219-230.