Absolutely right. It's quick, simple, accessible, and anonymous, provided that students and teachers are careful to not record confidential information. There is no login required, so neither students nor teachers are tasked with signing up or registering a throw-away email address in order to do so. The design is refreshing, too (look at that cute little robot!) and simple enough that even those without opposable thumbs can use it.
My cat has started blogging recently, so this will be welcome news to her.
Beyond the obvious, this tool has incredibly valuable uses for students and teachers. Here are a couple that recently came to mind:
- Vocaroo is useful for formative reading assessments. Such assessments are key to consider at the beginning of the year, when teachers are getting to know their students and their strengths for the first time. Hitherto, our ability to assess our students' oral reading has been severely impacted by the fact that there are only so many hours and minutes in the school day. But for assessments that require little more than the student reading a given passage out loud, students can use Vocaroo at any time and share the resulting clip with the assessing teacher to review privately and at a convenient time. While coding and reviewing these clips is still a bit time-consuming, it's much less taxing than arranging a quiet time for reading assessment for thirty young folks who have busy schedules of their own.
- Vocaroo is useful as a method of collecting small homework assignments. True, we could ask students to read chapters four and five and then write a paragraph about what they've read, but chances are excellent that the substance of their response (and their opinion of the assignment) will be moreso if the teacher asks instead that they record thirty quality seconds of summary of and response to the reading. I don't propose that aural clips should subsume the role of regular written assignments, of course -- we need to require that our kids write and write often. But let's not forget those standards of learning that deal with speaking, which is just as important a skill as putting pen to paper. In this way, Vocaroo can be a solution to teaching students how to speak clearly, consistently, and fluently about ideas they have interacted with.
Vocaroo is terrific for these reasons and more as a way of generating quick, continuous takes of sound.
Another tool that our audio-tool presenters spoke of was Audacity, a free, lightweight recording suite that allows for more substantial files and some basic sound editing. One saliently useful aspect of a tool like Audacity is that it can generate responses to more substantial summative assessments. Many students might enjoy this type of assessment, but it's especially valuable to students who have a writing disability. Aural assessment, rather than written, can give such students a way to interact with concepts and ideas in a way that is substantially more comfortable to them. Rather than sweating the mechanics of crafting prose, these students can get at the heart of the matter and generate ideas more fluently. This, again, is also valuable for assessing and critiquing students' speaking skills in a fashion that won't put shy or socially anxious teens in public-speaking situations of great distress.
We have the tools, folks -- let's use them to help our kids become adults who can share their ideas fluently, critically, and soundly.
As Jim Burke says, English class really neglects Speaking as a core skill - maybe because it cannot be tested on Standardized exams. I wonder how we would give feedback to audio assessments. Perhaps implicitly, by paying more attention to supporting weaker readers? But how do we do this - surely not by making them practice reading aloud in class, since this would embarrass them and possibly slow the pace of the class? Should we only require them to continue recording their own reading?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think the quality of student performance in English class often ties to their connection to the book. I totally agree with you that Vocaroo provides a brilliant solution to the limits of outside-class assessment. But again, student learning comes back to teaching. If we bring literature to life for students then I think talking about it and reading it with the correct intonations/pronunciations - will follow.
Vocaroo might be most useful in helping teachers distinguish between students still struggling with decoding, more than with students in median levels who would probably improve most if we gave them a reason to be passionate about discussing literature.
Thanks, Mr. Lemoyne!
BAD ROBOT! I was also fascinated by the ease of us of Vocaroo and other podcast tools (google voice). As a language instructor, I saw several uses for oral presentations and activities that would serve well in a foreign language classroom. The advantages were less apparent to me for uses in other disciplines, but you bring up a great point. I remember my English experience having little to no emphasis put on speaking skills and oral communication. Something that I feel is diminishing more and more with the increased use of technology. While the use of technology does not, and should not, ignore certain aspects of learning, it has been my experience that more of a focus has been placed on writing and reading comprehension. A balanced and varied approach to teaching is what I believe to be the most effective strategy. Vocaroo and other podcasts allow teachers to implement the speaking aspect- the most forgotten if you will. Thanks for the post Mr. Lemoyne! Let me know when your friend makes his/her next post. I'll be sure to check it out!
ReplyDeleteMr. Wilson