If I’m understanding correctly, your point is that a VoiceThread (maybe, particularly a VoiceThread based on a template) undercuts the main advantages of working on a “real” project (things like planning, structuring, authenticity, social negotiation of meaning, context – PBL attributes that build knowledge into transferable structures).

Maybe a good question to consider… Are there conditions in which a mini-project (like a VoiceThread) is a valuable educational tool? Would student motivation be sufficient to make it valuable (even without the other advantages of PBL)?
(I’m not trying to start an argument here… I’m just looking for common ground to build on. Wesley obviously considers the VoiceThread valuable… I’m just looking for conditions in which Gary might agree.)

Thanks for the link to your article… I think I’ve read it before, but I’m sure a re-read would be valuable at this point.

I think Voicethread lends itself very well to the arbitrary time constraints and superficial attempts “project-based learning.” Therefore, I don’t have a suggestion as an alternative.

I have on many occasions urged the teaching of writing and filmmaking as legitimate educational activities and alternatives to the school simulacrum, “digital storytelling.”

However, filmmaking and writing suffer from the pesky attributes of being hard, thoughtful, time-consuming and situated on a cultural continuum unlike the tricks we ask kids to do too often in school.

You might enjoy an article I recently published, “What Makes a Good Project?” It’s part 1 of 2. http://stager.org/articles/goodproject.html

Now, if you want to talk about the bell schedule and school restructuring…

Gary, if you are following this thread, could you provide a project example to contrast with the VoiceThread technology Wes is advocating? I’m sure it’ll be instructive for me – and hopefully of interest to others monitoring the thread.

Have a great day, Kent

I’d encourage you to take a look at Heekya (http://heekya.com/preview.php) a social storytelling platform that is redefining digital storytelling.

Heekya is a Washington,DC-based startup that is revolutionizing the way people create, share, and discover stories. The name Heekya, which is derived from the Swahili word for “story”, demonstrates our fundamental belief that first, everybody has a story, and second, that a story can intersect along many points.

We started Heekya because we believe that storytelling is broken online: although it exists in different silos (photo sharing, video sharing, blogging), there is no comprehensive tool that captures storytelling at its core — a base need and expression of humanity. For thousands of years, storytelling has been at the core of our human existence, and most recently, the storytelling channels and medium have been controlled and dominated by large companies and corporations. Heekya is unlocking that platform so anyone, anywhere, can share their story — and change the world.

Heekya offers a simple, fun and easy solution to organize and add all of your digital media (videos, photos, blogs, music and audio) through importing, uploading, embedding, and searching. Heekya features an easy to use What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) drag and drop story editor. Our users can then share their stories through e-mail and instant message, or publish their stories to any of their online identities — a personal blog like WordPress or Blogger, a social network like Facebook or Myspace, or a personal website created at Weebly. Users can then copy and re-tell stories from seperate vantage points — much like the way they happened in real life. Lastly, Heekya then unlocks the potential to discover interesting stories that take place around you — by people, maps, and themes.

I certainly support and advocate for educators being active voters, sharing input into curricular decisions, and taking an active role in their local school reform agenda. We are all leaders in our own contexts and spheres, it’s just a question of whether we recognize that or not and what we do / how we act as a result that varies widely.

I hear some of your frustration about our largely authoritarian public school system. In your articles and blog posts, you do a good job of highlighting some of the most egregious examples of authoritarian behavior by public school officials and board members. I am certainly frustrated by those examples as well, and I hear about new ones almost every week. I agree we need to work to change our educational system.

You are misrepresenting my ideas and the focus of this post, however, when you paraphrase what I’ve said as “Teachers are helpless victims with no control over their circumstances.” That is absolutely NOT what I believe, nor the philosophy which is espoused in this post which recommends educators look at VoiceThread as yet another way to teach with templates and more effectively teach / lead / invite to learning those students under their care in the classroom.

In order to justify the use of the most simplistic tools, they must make further intellectual and creative compromises.

How do helpless adults help children?

Your view represents the greatest indictment of public education one can imagine.