There are dozens of new features and enhancements in the new VoiceThread. First, though, what’s not changing: the fundamental value delivered in each of the 24 million VoiceThread discussions people have already built — the ability to capture and convey wonderfully complex human presence across space and time. Put more succinctly, human presence in a comment.
Feeling a sense of human presence in our learning, work and social lives is really, really important. The research makes this very clear and has informed all our planning and development. So… what’s this “New VoiceThread” all about? Accessibility, simplicity, new features and the future.
Full rollout of new VT
A rollout date has not been selected. However, if a date has not been chosen by BCM, we will be automatically transitioned over to that new version on June 30.
Accessibility Updates
- Dark mode: For people who need or prefer a dark background
- New in-line hinting workflow for new commenters
- Bonus: Ability to edit captioning chunk timings and create new ones
- Bonus: Overhaul of the “Manager” for license admins to have full screen reader and keyboard accessibility
Content Management
- Delete, edit and share VoiceThreads in bulk
- New button in comment dialogs providing a method to copy a link to a specific comment
- New activity feed that includes more than just comments
- Drag-and-drop to share VoiceThreads with groups, courses or ThreadBoxes
- Updated course interface and sections to better organize content within a course
- Course-level analytics
- Add tracks/sections/channels to ThreadBoxes to help organize larger conferences
- Bonus: Drag-and-drop to delete VoiceThreads
Assignments
- Customize when and how students can see the Student Gallery in Create Assignments
- Require students to comment on a classmate’s submission for a grade in a Create
Assignment
- Bonus: Group assignments
- Bonus: Rubric grading
- Bonus: Support for “submitted” status with an LMS gradebook integration
Mobile
- Full mobile browser support, so a separate VoiceThread app is not required at all
- Ability to grade assignments on mobile devices
View the New VoiceThread Interface workshop. (video)
View a Side by Side Comparison (video)
View The New Voice Thread webpage
View the VT Blog: New VoiceThread: simpler, more accessible, and more powerful
