Thursday 11 December 2008

a Dutch audio learning innovation that blew my mind: Vociz

(no longer) Try out Vociz!

This is one great invention coming from Erwin De Vries, put to my attention by the ever great blogger Willem Karssenberg, aka trendmatcher (in Dutch). Erwin teaches German at the Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium in Groningen. He has developed a Voicemailboard which allows everyone with flash enabled computers to post mp3-messages in a really easy fashion (= no installation, just push record, play back to ensure and send to yourself and the voicerecord keeper to add it to all of the recordings).

Although the layout of this embeded feature is in Dutch, I heard that Erwin has offered Vociz to students in Denmark and Greece also. So if you are interested, do not hesitate and contact him.

Yes, you do have voicethread, but just give this application a try. It is really incredibly user-friendly and immediate. You can feel it is developed by a teacher. It enables students to exchange audio comments asynchronously without the hassle of downloading, installing, registering. Really great.

Just imagine a couple of students that need to do some language exercises (oral exercises). Then you simply implement this in their learning environment and off they go. I should send this to the Basque learning innovator Antoine Bidegain in France... he is always looking for easy access language tools.

At this moment Vociz is still in Dutch, but you can try it out by recording something right now (please do, the ease will astound you I am sure).

How to use it:
  • click on Vociz embed;
  • (it might be that a java pop-up appears);
  • click on the upper tab 'recorder';
  • start recording with a microphone;
  • fill in your email address;
  • click the 'vociz it!' button.
But be aware, you only have 30 seconds!

I was thrilled by this :-)

3 comments:

  1. Denmark, you say? Have you got any more info; is something already in progress, or is he looking for people to try it out?
    (I do actually read dutch to some level, but still...)

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  2. This looks great, I can think of many, many applications. Including adding it to a corporate blog (or WBT) for visitors to add quick comments. It would add a more personal touch, and be a plus for those auditory learners.

    Thanks

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  3. Dear Ignatia,

    Rather late but we have translated the site in Englisch now. The Vociz itself will be translated in Enhlish as well.

    Erwin

    ReplyDelete