With the likelihood of less access to fast internet than I had previously anticipated, especially in Tanzania, (because I thought that I would have this capability via my iPhone and the international plan, when wireless wasn’t available- see post about International Phone Issues) I decided to upgrade my WordPress subscription to include the ability to directly import audio and video. So, I am re-posting my original VoiceThread as an embedded video for anyone who wants to learn more about the poor water situation in Masindi and what Busoga Trust America is doing about it. I created it for my Infectious Disease pharmacotherapy class and you can see how they have interacted with the VoiceThread on the pages where they’ve left comments. This is an example of what you can do, if desired, when I post VoiceThreads from Africa. If you want to skip this, just use the arrow keys to move ahead in the video. If you want to test the comment feature, feel free to try your hand at adding a comment on whatever slide you’d like.

Uh oh.  Guess what I just realized when I previewed this post. Once I make the VoiceThread (VT) into a “movie” or “video” for posting, others can no longer INTERACT with it, which make sense of course.  What I like about the way the VT looks in the blog when it is a “movie” is that you see the image with an arrow to click- which is why I wanted to embed it as a video. But, I also like the idea of having viewers “interact” with the slideshow by adding their thoughts about what they see and hear me describe to enrich the presentation and to provide a learning opportunity for the viewers.  Educators know that learning occurs at a deeper level and information is retained longer when the participant is actively engaged in the learning process, which is an educational principle known as “active learning”.  So, what I think I will do from Africa is to post some images on the blog with commentary as is usual for blogs, especially when I don’t have time to create the VT.  But, when I do create a VT, I will post just the link so that the readers/viewers can interact.