I’ve started playing with VoiceThread and love it! One class is investigating early animal domestication and are starting to comment on a thread called The Ancient 14.

Background the Students Had

14 large, herbivorous mammals were domesticated in ancient times. Of these 14, 12 are native to the areas in and around the Fertile Crescent. This amazing stroke of geographic luck meant that Neolithic man (and woman!) had a huge advantage in animal-powered farming. Only two, the llama and the reindeer, aren’t native to the Fertile Crescent and surrounding area.

The Assignment

I asked the students to choose one of the more obscure animals on the list then find two basic facts (when and where domesticated, for example) and one interesting fact (llamas don’t go into heat!).

Finally, the students either recorded their comment or typed a response. With just a 1/2 hour of student work I have a nice little slide show annotated with details.

We’ll add to the VoiceThread in the coming week to detail all the animals.

Embedding VoiceThreads

VoiceThreads, like YouTube videos, can be embedded in web pages.

Why not embed the VoiceThread in this blog? you might ask. WordPress.com, my blogging host, doesn’t allow much Flash embedding due to security concerns. If enough users request it and the WordPress.com gods deem it worthy, the feature may come along in the future. Until then, please follow the link to my class’ earliest VoiceThread attempts.

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