http://beyondwebct.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/session-nine%e2%80%94presentation-tools/ Integrating Social Networking Tools Into Language & Culture Courses Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:55:37 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://beyondwebct.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/session-nine%e2%80%94presentation-tools/#comment-86 orsitto Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:27:41 +0000 http://beyondwebct.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/session-nine%e2%80%94presentation-tools/#comment-86 I just want to comment vey briefly on my usage of <a href="www.voicethread.com" rel="nofollow">voicethread </a>in my ILCS 237 “Italy Today”, an advanced class (all conducted in Italian) on Italian culture (examined through contemporary Italian literature, cinema and music). I have decided to make <a href="www.voicethread.com" rel="nofollow">voicethread </a>as an integral part of the course only in mid October, and I have to say that all the students were pretty excited about it. In fact, this new application opened a whole lot of unexplored possibilities to them and also allowed them to “avoid” the classic presentations in class, which are usually very stressful to some who are not used to speak in public (especially in a foreign language!). The results very marvelous. Some students worked in couple, some others independently. All of them though, displayed an incredible and unexpected amount of creativity (certainly also because of VT). Some students preferred to give a more traditional presentation, commenting the pictures they did upload previously, while others create fake TV news to present their topic. The montage of their work was extremely accurate, integrating clips from <a href="www.youtube.com" rel="nofollow">youtube</a>, pictures they took from <a href="www.google.com" rel="nofollow">google</a>, real clips from the Italian Tv news and several short clips of the student (pretending to be anchormen) to connect all together. I have to say that all the presentation have exceeded my expectations and that I look forward to make <a href="www.voicethread.com" rel="nofollow">voicethread </a>a stable part of my future courses. I just want to comment vey briefly on my usage of voicethread in my ILCS 237 “Italy Today”, an advanced class (all conducted in Italian) on Italian culture (examined through contemporary Italian literature, cinema and music). I have decided to make voicethread as an integral part of the course only in mid October, and I have to say that all the students were pretty excited about it. In fact, this new application opened a whole lot of unexplored possibilities to them and also allowed them to “avoid” the classic presentations in class, which are usually very stressful to some who are not used to speak in public (especially in a foreign language!). The results very marvelous. Some students worked in couple, some others independently. All of them though, displayed an incredible and unexpected amount of creativity (certainly also because of VT). Some students preferred to give a more traditional presentation, commenting the pictures they did upload previously, while others create fake TV news to present their topic. The montage of their work was extremely accurate, integrating clips from youtube, pictures they took from google, real clips from the Italian Tv news and several short clips of the student (pretending to be anchormen) to connect all together. I have to say that all the presentation have exceeded my expectations and that I look forward to make voicethread a stable part of my future courses.

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