I used voicethread a few weeks ago to give a gemara reading assessment. I found that there were some really nice things that I noticed and some that were not.
The pros were that they could do this on their own time at home, the computer savvy kids really enjoyed it and that I could listen to it whenever I wanted to. The cons were that some kids don't have webcams or microphones. I had to lend them out mics from the computer lab. Also, some kids messed it up and thought they posted when they didn't so they had to do it over again. Also, since they were on mics mostly and not cameras there was no real way to make sure they were not cheating in any way. I tried to scare them about it and told them that I could tell if they were using an Artscroll gemara or made a script to read for explaining the gemara.
I would definitely try it again but it isn't perfect for the way I used it. I think for a presentation it would be great but I haven't used it for that yet. As usual some kids liked it and some complained that they would rather have taken a more conventional type of test.
Dov Hochbaum
Yeshivat Noam
Paramus, NJ
