it’s been EXACTLY 3 years since i last chanced upon voicethread (VT), and now there arises a chance that i can possibly work more closely with the tool and conduct a research around it.
but before proceeding further, it’s important to me to (re)explore VT on it’s features and functionalities so as to inform the guide that we need to provide students, especially the potential pitfalls.
1. unicode / simplified chinese character support
back then, unicode is not supported within the commenting feature. now it’s working, comments can be keyed in in Chinese
2. import doc type
this is an extension of the unicode support problem. in terms of document file types, DOC, DOCX, PDF are ok. but when chinese characters are typed within, the level of compatibility is different. microsoft word doc gives on average 1 MISSING chinese character for every 6 characters; word docX gives on average 1 for every 2. VT is not to be blamed here, it is micro$oft’s propietary doc format specification causing the problem. when PDF import is used, it gives perfect rendition. so now we all know who’s truly supporting a more open standard. my experimentation goes here.
3a. no. of VTs for free accts
in a zero budget project, we’ll be asking students to create their own VT accts. however, each FREE acct can only produce three (3) VTs. this could pose a serious limitation if students are expected to produce numerous assignments over time.
3b. no. of VTs for
if more than 3 VTs’ to be created, the K-12 Class subscription will allow up to 100 students to be enrolled, enabling them to create up to 50 VTs each. the subscription stands at USD60/year.
that’s all for now, will add more discoveries as i go along (: