the voice board


Screenshot of the Community of Voices Voice Board in LearningTimes

The Voice Board was offered both as a venue for discussion of issues, and as an example of the type of technology under review, albeit in asynchronous mode. Although an asynchronous tool, Wimba voice boards allow for a great deal of interaction from course participants, and offer an alternative to the majority of voice based asynchronous tools that reinforce the more traditional paradigm of teacher-led instruction (providing narrations to Powerpoint presentations for example.)

Like the listserv, discussion on the voice board was healthy and vibrant early, but became a trickle as I became more time-committed to other parts of my project. It was again the case that if I didn't have the time and energy to keep the discussion flowing and introduce new issues, then it marked time. This was disappointing, but I know from experience as an online teacher that if you want ongoing discussions then it must be someone's job to shepherd them along and I was simply too stretched for time. Still, I believe I did in some small way establish a nascent Community of Practice via these boards (a Community of Voices) and the other venues for discussion offered within LearningTimes.

I am very grateful to both LearningTimes and Wimba for affording me access to this wonderful tool.

You might like to explore another intriguing use of Wimba voice boards. HERE you can see how they can be used to audioblog a conference.

 

 

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