Voicethread in Blackboard

Introduction

Voicethread can be used directly in Blackboard for the purpose of adding individual voice threads, a course (group) or to be used as part of an assignment. Through the Voicethread LTI integration in Blackboard, instructors can quickly access and share their voice threads all within the Blackboard environment.

Adding Voicethread to your Course for the First Time

If you have not yet connected your Voicethread account to Blackboard, you will need to do that for the first time.

    1. Navigate to the Content area for your course and click on the Build Content menu.

  1. Select VoiceThread.

  1. You will be taken to a new tab. If you have an existing personal Voicethread account with a UMB email address, you will be asked to verify your account via email. Click the VERIFY BY EMAIL button.

2. You will then need to verify the account via email. Launch Outlook and respond to the Voicethread email.

3. When complete, you will be taken to the main Voicethread in Blackboard page showing a total of four icons.

Understanding Blackboard Voicethread Links

You connect to Voicethread in Blackboard by adding a link in the Course Content area. When creating a link, you will have a choice as to what link you wish to create. We will go over each of the different types of links below.

Course View

Display the collection of VoiceThreads that have been shared with your course. Anything that has not yet been explicitly shared with your course will not appear here. This is a good option when you want students to find and comment on each other’s work or if you want to allow students to review all course materials prior to an exam. To learn more about this feature, view the Voicethread Support page.

Individual VT

Display any VoiceThread that you have created. When students click on the link, they’ll see just this one VoiceThread. This is the more traditional way to show a voicethread and likely the practice you are currently doing in Voicethread.

VT Home

This is the least likely link you will create because it will display all voicethreads you have created in a single view. Having said that, this option is useful if you want to create a simple portal into VoiceThread without directing students to any specific content. To learn more about this feature, view the Voicethread Support page.

Assignment Builder

Create a graded assignment for students to complete. You can require them to create a VoiceThread of their own to submit, to comment on a VoiceThread you’ve created, or simply to watch a VoiceThread start to finish. More information on how to use this feature is found on the Voicethread Assignment Builder page.

Creating a Voicethread Link

    1. Navigate to the Content area for your course and click on the Build Content menu.

    2. Select VoiceThread.

3. The Voicethread Main page will appear. In this example, we will select Individual VT because it is the most likely option you will select.

4. The Individual VT page will appear. All Voicethreads that you have created on your account (not shared in a group or from the IDEA Team) will appear. Please see this support page on how to make shared voicethreads from the IDEA team yours. Select the Voicethread you wish to share with the class

Helpful videos

The following videos will be helpful to you showing you how to complete certain tasks using Voicethread in Blackboard.