Documenting NECC 2009 with the New VoiceThread Mobile Application

It took something really exciting to get me to blog about it…

On Sunday, June 28, from 8:30-11:30 a.m., I am presenting a pre-conference workshop at NECC in Washington, DC on “Using VoiceThread and a Camera to Track Student Learning.” The 19 participants are in for a treat as I will be sharing the new VoiceThread Mobile Application. I have been talking (begging for) with Ben Papell and Steve Muth, co-founders of VoiceThread, about a mobile VoiceThread application and knew they have had something in development for quite awhile. I spoke with Ben Papell, co-founder of VoiceThread, earlier this evening and he provided me with the details on the brand new application, permission to blog about it and the okay to share with my pre-conference attendees. Although it is still in “Alpha,” and there are a few bugs, the new application has some amazing possibilities and allows VoiceThread users the ability to create Threads on-the-fly with a cell phone camera. My conversation with Ben and my initial testing of the application has me really excited about sharing and using it. This is something I have been looking forward to and think that I will make more Threads this way than with my computer.

VT Presentation, originally uploaded by klmontgomery.

My family and I are leaving tomorrow night and driving to Washington, DC. I have embedded a Thread below that I started with my iPhone to track our trip before, during and after NECC. I am planning to upload all the photos and comments from my iPhone throughout our trip starting tomorrow night. I have made the Thread public, if you'd like to add a comment, please do. Of course, all comments are moderated:-)


My 2009 NECC Trip



In order to use the VoiceThread Mobile App you must have a VoiceThread account, a camera phone and a data plan that allows you to e-mail photos from your phone. The application is very simple to use. Send a photo from your cell phone via e-mail to the VoiceThread mobile e-mail address. The e-mail account you are sending from needs to be the same as the e-mail associated with your VoiceThread account. When the photo is received, you immediately receive an e-mail from VoiceThread that tells you, “Just reply to this email and we'll use the media you attached to create or add to a VoiceThread.” But that’s not all. You can also do some really neat things by adding some text to your reply message, like:

• Include your 10-digit US/CA phone number, e.g. 5555555555, and VoiceThread will call you for comments.

• Include "share" and VoiceThread will make it public and send you an email with a link that you can send to all your friends.

• Attach more files and VoiceThread will add those too.

• Add a title to your Thread by typing title:anythingyouwant, e.g. title:My 2009 NECC Trip" And if your title matches one of your current Threads, VoiceThread will just add your media to it.

• Add a text comment by typing comment:anythingyouwant, e.g. comment:Can you believe I ate that?"

• Here's an example of a reply e-mail that calls you for a comment, sends you a sharing link, and gives your Thread a title:
5555555555 share title:I can't believe how beautiful Washington DC is!"

That's it!

Once you have created a Thread, you can continue to add more photos from your cell phone by putting the title of the Thread in the subject line. The first photo you send becomes the first photo in the Thread, so if you embed a Thread, the last photo displayed will be the most recent addition. Photos can also be added from a computer like any other Thread. With my new iPhone, I am able to send multiple photos with the initial e-mail, thus creating mobile Threads with more than just one photo. At this point, only photos can be sent, but VoiceThread is still working on the entire mobile feature set and it is literally changing hour-by-hour. You won’t see the mobile application, yet, which is why I haven’t shared the e-mail address used to create a Thread from a cell phone. Those participating in my pre-con workshop will have an opportunity to try it. Be sure to stay tuned.

By the way, if you are interested in participating in the pre-conference workshop, you can still register onsite. There are 11 seats available. Attendees receive $25 worth of exports & are entered in a drawing for a school ($200 value) account.

Looking for a Few (Thousand) Good Photos

I have created a group on Flickr for sharing photos that students and teachers can use in VoiceThread and other applications.

How great would it be to have 1000’s of pictures in a group pool, search able by tag, that you felt confident you and your students have permission to share, remix and publish? That’s the goal.

Search by Creative Commons and the Creative Commons search on Flickr are terrific tools for finding Creative Commons licensed photos, but this group takes it a step further by having members give users kind of "carte blanche" to use their photos for educational purposes. Plus the group administrators are able to make sure all photos are G-rated. Group members will still expect attribution when their photos are used and users should make sure they give credit where credit is due.

If you have a Flick account and would like to share your "some rights reserved" photos, please join us on Creative Commons Licensed Photos for VoiceThread.

What Is Your School Planning For Earth Day?

The results of the latest Film on the Fly Pi Day challenge sponsored by KOCE-TV are in and the top three videos are:
Tied for First Place
1. "The Labyrinth: A Pi Day Cell Phone Film" by David Cosand and the Cosand Offspring


1. "Why We Need Pi" by Wesley Fryer and Children


Third Place
3. Pizza Pi During The Recession by yours truly.


Does your school plan activities surrounding Earth Day? Why not add the creation of cell phone videos to the events for 2009? The next Film on the Fly will be a two-day challenge, Monday-Tuesday, April 20-21 so the videos can be shared for Earth Day on April 22. Having the challenge during the week will provide a great opportunity for teachers and students to make videos at school. Start paving the way now with your administrators to allow students to bring and use their cell phones at school for the challenge days. Some persuasive arguments to use might include:

“Using cell phones and participating in FOTF may be the “motivating” factor to engage otherwise disengaged students who love using their cell phones,”
“FOTF is an opportunity for students to learn how to use their cell phones appropriately and professionally,”
“FOTF will provide a “real-life” opportunity to teach about copyright, content creation, protection of privacy and ethical use,”
“Participating in FOTF draws on student-based technology resources in a transformative fashion,”
“75-90% of our students own and are already “engaged” with using their cell phones in their everyday lives,”
“It is not about the “tool,” but the “engagement” and “motivation,”
“There is no cost to participate.”

FOTF is considering having the videos uploaded to TeacherTube, as well as YouTube, so they might be more easily viewed at school. If your school blocks TeacherTube, now is the time to get it on the white list for April.

If the obstacles are too great to participate at school, consider FOTF as a way to extend the school day by making use of spare time after school. Make it an optional or extra credit assignment which illustrates an authentic and engaging use of a technology with which students are already familiar.

Take the Earth Day FOTF Challenge with your students.

Pizza Pi

Okay, so my second Film On The Fly idea isn't quite so creative as my first and deviates from the prompt - a little. The Pi Day prompt was:

"Show how Pi determines the circumference or diameter of a pizza, carousel, Ferris Wheel or any circle near you."

On Thursday, I received the hint that circles would be requested for inclusion in the Film On The Fly Pi Day cell phone movies. I thought about all manner of circle by my house and decided that since the Pi Day challenge was on Saturday, I'd us the circles associated with my daughter's basketball game. Circles on the court, the ball, the lights, etc. But when I received the prompt we had already left the game - I did take some cell phone video - and were trying to decide where to have lunch.

The idea of pizza was in the story prompt and the diameter or circumference were to be shown, but I decided that during a recession it's a good idea to know which size pizza is the best value. I decided to show how pi can be used to calculate area and thus get the price per square inch for a 3-topping small, medium and large pizza.



You can view all the FOTF Pi Day videos on YouTube (search for "FOTFPI") or by joining the Film On The Fly Ning. If you join the the FOTF Ning you will also be able to rate the videos created for the Pi Day Challenge.

I want to thank the owners of Racanelli's in St. Peters, Missouri for letting me take cell phone video of the different sizes of pizza pans.

Now it's time to have cold pizza for breakfast!