Annotated Resources

Annotated Resources provide students with the opportunity to reflect on readings and presentations. The readings and presentations as primary documents can be annotated, in multimedia resources, by adding text, voice or video comments. Voicethread (refer to Resources/Technology) allows annotation in documents and presentations by lecturers and students.

Rationale

Annotated Resources coupled with multimedia gives students the opportunity to enhance their course knowledge.

Learners/Context

Annotated Resources can supplement student learning through an asynchronous approach. These annotated resources can be uploaded to Blackboard for student self-directed or online learning. Annotated Resources support students in self-managing their learning process and in the scaffolding process to autonomous learning experiences.

Alignment

Annotated Resources give students the opportunity to scaffold towards autonomous lifelong learning.

Instructions/Processes

Prior to Semester

Choose the document to be annotated
Check the copyright on the document
Open Voicethread and create an account. You can use your RMIT email to sign up
Create a new Voicethread artefact
Give it a name that students will recognise, e.g. course code
Add notations by selecting a slide and then clicking on Comment to make a comment; but keep these short
Add other options: a live conference, audio recording, video recording

To record audio or video, the browser will request access to your mic or camera. Click the green Allow button. A 5 second countdown begins after which Voicethread will automatically begin recording
Use the coloured pencils at the bottom of the page to circle or highlight the part of the resource you are focusing on. By default this pencil tool will fade away
You cannot edit the audio or video recording. You simply have to cancel and not save it. So keep your individual comments short, 30 seconds to one minute. Better to add multiple comments
Drag and drop the comments to change their order

Share the Voicethread (VT)

Close the VT and then click on the Share option
Ensure that you set up the right access permissions so people can view your VT

Copy the link and add it as a resource into Blackboard

EXTENSION:

Peer Review: Ask students to create a Voicethread slide which they annotate either individually or as a group.

Use Voicethread as an online icebreaker by asking students to introduce themselves with just one slide. And upload it into BlackBoard

ALTERNATIVES:

Use Google Docs for text files:

Name the Google Doc

Add comments to annotate
Set the Sharing settings so that others can View, not Edit

Mobile Devices – Explain everything interactive whiteboard which is uploaded into your mobile device.

Conditions/Critical Success Factors

It is essential that the uploaded primary document or presentation:

belongs to you and there are no copyright issues
is copyright free
has a Creative Commons license
or is in the public domain (for example due to its age).

When in doubt, check with your the RMIT Copyright Management Services
Knowledge of Voicethread
Knowledge of Google Docs
Knowledge of Explain Everything

Resources/ Technology

RMIT Creative Commons: (http://search.creativecommons.org)
Voicethread (VT) allows annotation on documents and presentations: https://voicethread.com/
10 Tips for Learning in Voicethread:
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/10-tips-for-using-voicethread-for-learning/
Introducing Voicethread - University of Queensland
http://www.uq.edu.au/tediteach/social-media-tools/docs/tipsheet-voicethread.pdf
Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/document/)
Explain Everything (https://docs.google.com/document/)

Related Category:

Online learning

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Annotated Resources