Voxopop

While perusing some Live Binders, I noticed this link for Voxopop. I've never heard of it before, so I clicked on it. What I'm reading sounds cool, but I haven't set up an account (yet).

Hmm. I'm having trouble figuring out how to describe this site because it seems to incorporate a lot of different things. To me, Voxopop seems like a mixture between a chat room and a podcast...

 The way I understand it, you sign in and create a discussion called a "talkgroup." Your students could be your contributors, and you can make your "talkgroup" public to all, private to all, or open to only a select group of people. Everyone contributes something to the conversation with their voice. Obviously, students would need to have access to computers that have microphones in order to do this!



I'm also thinking of the voicemail feature on my cell phone. Would Voxopop be like using internet-based voicemail, where you could leave messages in the talkgroup, even when no one is there, and it would record the messages for later playback? OR is it like an internet calling system (like Skype), where others would only hear your message if they were logged in and listening to the system when you speak it? I'm confused. I'm going to have to learn more about this Voxopop and report back.

But there could be some cool uses for this tool. For one thing, if you're out of school because of weather, students who had internet access could still have school, and you wouldn't lose that glorious April snow day! :) On a similar note, you could also use this to begin pushing for "eSchool Days." With the budget for education as tight as it is right now, schools are doing everything in their power to cut down on expenses. Some schools have been changing schedules in an effort to conserve money. For instance, some schools are only going to school 4 days a week, and they're doing so between the hours of 7:30 am and 4:00 or 4:30 pm. Part of the rationalization on this is that the buses don't have to run on that extra day. Well, if gas is that big of a deal, then why not have "eSchool Days" and maybe use this Voxopop tool to help with that? Kids could stay home and log into a computer at a specified time. Maybe they could use Voxopop or some other education-friendly service to conduct live discussions over materials from the comfort and privacy of their own homes. You know, I read about this Mountain Brook school that did just that (minus the Voxopop). You can read about the story in more detail here, but the point is, they saved some moo-lah by conducing class from home.  What if Voxopop would help schools like mine copy Mountain Brook's idea? Just food for thought.

...On a side note, I now am a member of 259209523059 different educational websites. I actually have to keep a folder in my teaching e-mail system that's labeled "Website Registrations," just so I don't forget everything I've signed up for and what my usernames are! It's a little sad! But I try to explore everything I discuss on this blog in as great of detail as possible. I want to know if it's something I can use in my class! ....On another side note, please know that I don't use ALL of these technological tools in my classroom. That would definitely be overkill. I don't want anyone to think that technology will do the teaching for you. Technology is just a tool with which to reach and/or communicate with our students. We still have to be teachers and do work! Besides, technology might lose its appeal with both my students AND me if I used it with every single thing in my classroom. Anyway. Just wanted to clear that up. :) I'll try Voxopop and hopefully remember to get back to you with more details....