Library

Assignment Guide

If you need technical support, contact the LATTE team at ctl@brandeis.edu or the Voice Thread team. Be sure to use Chrome or Firefox browsers or VoiceThread may not display properly. 

1. Create an initial VoiceThread activity in your LATTE course to connect it to VoiceThread. Don’t worry about the name or settings; we will delete it later. Click Save and display.

   
   

2. You will then be directed to a page where you can choose an activity type. Select Assignment Builder.

   
   

3. You will then be brought to a page where you can select what kind of assignment you want your students to complete: Create, Comment, Watch, Reconnect Previous Assignment. For this example, we will select Create Assignment, click Continue.

   
   

4. You can edit your assignment's set up options to your liking, click Continue. For a more detailed explanation of the setup options, please see below.

   

5. You can then add assignment instructions, a URL, dates, submission settings, assessment and student message. When you are done, click Publish.

   

6. At this point, you will be redirected to your course page, if you want to look at your assignment, scroll down to where you initially created the activity and click on the assignment.

Additional Features in the Assignment Builder

Commenting

• Number of comments required: Enter a positive number and choose “minimum” or “exact” to require students to post comments on the VoiceThread. Students can see the requirement while they work on the assignment, and they will not be able to submit until the requirement is met.
• Commenting types: Select which types of comments (microphone, webcam, telephone, upload and/or text) students can post.
• Enable threaded commenting: Allows participants to start threaded conversations.
• Enable comment moderation: Allows the VoiceThread creator to preview all comments before revealing them to others. You can also choose never to reveal them. Learn more about Comment Moderation.

Playback

• Start playing when opened: If checked, the comments on your VoiceThread will begin playing automatically when opened.
• When final comment on a slide has played, automatically advance to the next slide after __ seconds: If checked, the VoiceThread will play through all of the comments on a slide and then move to the next slide automatically. The number of seconds is the “pause” time before the slide advances.

Permissions

• Allow download: Allow students to download the central media from one another’s VoiceThreads or your initial VoiceThread.
• Allow students to make a copy: Allow students to make a copy of one another’s VoiceThreads or your initial VoiceThread.

Student Gallery ("Create" Assignments only)

• If you want students to view one another’s VoiceThreads after they are submitted, check this box. This will give them a “Student Gallery” button in their interface to see just the VoiceThreads their classmates have submitted for this assignment.

Setting Up an Assignment Where Students Are Required to Comment on a VT Video or Submission from their Peers

1. Create an initial VoiceThread activity in your LATTE course to connect it to VoiceThread. Don’t worry about the name or settings; we will delete it later. Click Save and display.

2. You will then be directed to a page where you can choose an activity type. Select “Assignment Builder.”

3. You will then be brought to a page where you can select what kind of assignment you want your students to complete: Create, Comment, Watch, Reconnect Previous Assignment. For this example, we will select the Comment, click continue.

   

4. From here, you should be able to see all of the existing VoiceThreads you currently have access to, select the VoiceThread you would like your students to comment on and click the little circle on the particular VoiceThread. Additionally, you can also create a new VoiceThread from scratch. When you are satisfied with your selection, click Continue.

   

5. From here, you will be brought to a page with the VoiceThread you selected. If you are interested in adding more material or slides to your current VoiceThread, you can click the “add media” button on the right hand side of the screen. When you are satisfied with your VoiceThread, simply click continue.

   

6. On the next page, you will be brought into your VoiceThread. You can simply click continue to the instruction page, or you can add in comments for your own preference. In this image, a comment is added to explain the directions of the assignment. Then click Continue.

   

7. The next page will allow you to build the assignment features such as comment types, comment settings, etc. Once you are done, click Continue.

   

8. The last page is where you will give the assignment instructions, dates and assessment type. Once you have selected your settings, click Publish.

   

How to Grade a VoiceThread Assignment

Note: The RABB GPS School does not grade assignments in VoiceThread. Please talk to a learning designer.

1. For this example, we will be grading a VoiceThread Assignment that requires students to comment on a VoiceThread that the instructor posted. First, you will scroll down to a VoiceThread assignment that needs to be graded and click on it. You will be able to see the assignment you created along with who has started the assignment and who has been graded.

   
   

2. When a student has submitted their assignment, you will see that under their names in the ungraded category. To look at the students submission, click on the dropdown button right next to their name.

   

3. From here you will be taken to the VoiceThread and will see the student comments on the left hand side. If you click on their name, you will see what the student commented. On the right side of the screen you will see an area where you can assign a grade and save it.

   

4. Lastly, if you go back to your voice thread, you will see that the students comment has now moved from the ungraded to the graded category.

   

How to Restore Previous Assignments

In a case where you have a new course created for you and you are interested in using a previous VoiceThread assignment you made in the past, there is a way you can restore it without having to start from scratch.

1. Create an initial VoiceThread activity in your LATTE course to connect it to VoiceThread. Don’t worry about the name or settings; we will delete it later. Click Save and Display.

   

2. You will then be directed to a page where you can choose an activity type. Select “Assignment Builder.”

   

3. You will then be brought to a page where you can select what kind of assignment you want your students to complete. Click Reconnect Previous Assignment.

   

4. You will then be routed to a page where you can view all of the VoiceThreads you created and published or unpublished. Additionally, you can click on the i symbol at the bottom right of each of your VoiceThreads to get some basic information and also preview the assignment in a new tab. Here you can see the general information about your assignment, preview your assignment and make changes to it if necessary. If this is the assignment you would like, simply close the tab.

   
   
   

5. Once you determine which assignment you want to restore, select the assignment and click Publish at the bottom of the page.

   

6. You will then be routed back to your course home page. From here, scroll down to the VoiceThread you created and click on it.

   

7. Here, you can see the general information about your assignment, preview your assignment and make changes to it if necessary. For this example, we are going to click on Assignment Content.

   

8. From here you will see your original VoiceThread along with any comments that were made when you first created it. You can add new comments yourself or delete comments that either you or your students made previously. Additionally, you will be able to click on the three dots on the top right corner of your VoiceThread and see additional information: Show assignment details, Open in a new tab, and Edit assignment. Click Edit Assignment.

   

9. Now you will be able to edit the assignment to your liking. Once you are satisfied with your selection, click Publish.

   

10. You will be routed back to the screen where you started editing to begin with. At this point your assignment is up to date!