Asynchronous+Collaboration+Tools+and+Gadgets


 * Asynchronous collaboration tools and gadgets** refers to online collaboarative tools which incorporate an audio component. Projects include reading books aloud to create audio books to share, (Librivox), creating personalized speaking avatars (Voki), and making a picture talk (Blabberize). Listed below are descriptons of these tools and ideas for ways they can be used in the classroom.


 * Shared open-source books: Librivox.org
 * Collaborative Voice Tool: Voki
 * Do humorous collaborations through voice: Blabberize

LibriVox's name is loosely derived from Latin. Libri meaning "book" and Vox meaning "voice". LibriVox:" BookVoice. This site is completely free and its purpose is to record as many public domain works of literature as possible.
 * LibriVox **
 * "acoustical liberation of books in the public domain" **
 * What is LibriVox?**

How it works is that anyone can sign up to read a chapter from a book--or a book in its entirety--to share with the public. All you need to do is have some sort of recording software (i.e. Audacity) to record yourself reading aloud. If you want to help the cause of the website (which is to make as many audio books available to the public from the public domain as possible), all you need to do is //collaborate// with others via the forum on the website and record yourself reading the book of your choosing.
 * How does it work?**

1. First of all, it's a great resource for all students. Since most public domain books were published prior to 1923, they are classics. This website would be a great way to expose students to a variety of classic children's literature. If you visit Project Gutenberg [] you can find a list of children's literature to read. Many of the free ebooks that are found on Project Gutenberg's website can also be found on LibriVox in audio form. Both strong and struggling readers can read along with LibriVox audio to aid in the enjoyment of works from the public domain!
 * How can LibriVox be used in the classroom?**

2. It would be interesting to get students involved in this project by having them contribute. One class could read a whole book to share with the world! I wonder if this would be possible? I imagine to keep it "safe" you could create one class login and the teacher could upload and post all of the student Audacity recordings. This would help keep individual students anonymous.

3. This website not only contains //books// but also //poetry//! Students could choose a famous poet (who was publised prior to 1923) and read a his or her poem and post it on LibriVox.

media type="custom" key="6639535" One teacher had her students create "Photosynthesis Raps" and Blabberized them to share with the class on the class wiki (a wiki spaces wiki!). Check it out: http://5daled2010.wikispaces.com/Photosynthesis+Raps
 * Blabberize**
 * How can Blabberize be used in the classroom?**

Voki

Voki is a free service that allows you to [|create] personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages. Voki is brought to you by the folks at [|Oddcast], a New York based company that has been creating innovative user-generated media technologies for years. Since 1999, Oddcast has powered some of the web's most groundbreaking and successful campaigns including Careerbuilder's Babymaker.

2. Voki is a great way to create short little speeches or commericals for class. I have used it during my campaign unit to create campaign commericals. Only problem is that students need to send it to you from their email account so if they don't have one it can be difficult for them to complete the assignment properly.

3. This could be used in several courses. In English it could be used to introduce a book. It could also be used in the blackboard/angel announcements.

one way to use the voki media type="custom" key="6645429"