In searching, I was pleasantly surprised to find a resource that not only stirred some general enthusiasm from within me, but I think would do the same for any student as well; it's called VoiceThread. It's a tool that allows people to collaboratively comment on or discuss a piece of media. Participants reflect on what they see or hear by responding through the use of a telephone, web cam, microphone, text, or uploading of files.
It's an extremely interactive, creative, and user friendly tool, which I think could have a really valuable place in the classroom. I would definitely consider using this as a way for students to introduce themselves before a course. There is often little time at the start of a semester for students to get to know their fellow peers in a personal way and this could be an effective strategy that would allow for that critical step to still be integrated, but in a format that was more efficient. I also see this technology used in supplementing classroom presentations because it allows students to record what they want to say, just how they want to say it, which alleviates a lot of pressure. I could also use VoiceThread as a way to facilitate initial discussion about a piece of literature. For example, students could read excerpts of poetry off of VoiceThread and then respond with their comments, which we could pull up the next day in class and use as a spring board for conversation. VoiceThread gives students the unique opportunity to think over their thoughts before communicating them, as well as the freedom to edit or delete their thoughts all together if they feel unsatisfied.
For more in depth information about VoiceThread watch this great video. Just click on the link that says "What's a VoiceThread anyways?"
http://voicethread.com/#home
And if the spirit moves you to see a small example that I created, here is where you can go for that:
https://voicethread.com/#u797284.b958204.i5105132
