VoiceThread LTI and Canvas

I believe it was sometime earlier this summer that the University turned on the connection (LTI) between VoiceThread and Canvas. This new connection provided new VoiceThread features in Canvas and easier access to VoiceThread from Canvas. VoiceThread has published some useful information for faculty on how the LTI works.

My initial impressions are that the implementation is somewhat unintuitive, mostly due to VT’s unique UX design approach.

My colleague, Chris Gamrat, soon discovered that the LTI is not compatible with group assignments. The tool is apparently designed for submitting individual work or projects created in VoiceThread. This is a problem for our College because we stress group work heavily, regardless of whether the course is being delivered online or in residence.

My work around still uses the VT LTI, but not the way you normally create an assignment in Canvas.

Please read these directions for creating a VT assignment in Canvas.

I do not use the VoiceThread LTI “Assignment Builder” option to build group assignments (again, because this really isn’t a option).

Screencast: How to build group VoiceThread assignments in Canvas (13:47)

What I do in the class that I support that requires group VT assignments is to:

1. Use the External Tool to create a link to the VT Home
   1. The assignment cannot be ungraded or you will lose the ability to select the VoiceThread LTI (i.e. Points: 0; Assignment Group: Ungraded; Display Grade as: Complete/Incomplete)
   2. Use the description text box to add basic instructions like “Use area to work in your group to create, edit, and comment on your collaborative VoiceThread.”
   3. Provide instructions on how groups can provide editing access to all memeber of a group (i.e. “For group VoiceThreads, you will need to have someone create a VoiceThread and then grant the other members of your group editing rights to that VoiceThread. How to grant editing access to other individuals in your group – https://voicethread.com/howto/sharing-with-an-individual/”)
2. From there, students work in groups to create, edit, and comment on their collaborative VT
3. Once students have finished working on their project, they can submit a share link to a new Canvas Assignment that has been configured as a group assignment
   1. Provide instruction on sharing a VoiceThread URL (i.e. “Useful guide: How to share your VoiceThread – https://voicethread.com/howto/getting-a-share-link-2/”)
   2. Recommended: allow students to submit a document along with their share link (i.e. “The MS PowerPoint document, with transcripts on each slide, that was used to create your VoiceThread” this is useful for accessibility reasons)
   3. Recommended: communicate your grading rubric
   4. Adjust the Canvas Assignment settings (i.e. Points; Submission Type: Website URL, File Uploads; Group Assignment: This is a Group Assignment; Assign: Due [date])
   5. Optional: Creating useful “external” links from the Canvas Modules view
      1. https://voicethread.com/howto/category/creating-web-application/
      2. https://voicethread.com/howto/sharing-with-an-individual/
      3. https://voicethread.com/howto/getting-a-share-link-2/
4. The faculty can then use the SpeedGrader to grade the submissions as they would most other assignments
   1. Comments and feedback related to assessment will need to be left in the comments field in the right column of the SpeedGrader

Have I forgotten anything? Do you have another way to use the VoiceThread LTI and Group Assignments? Please leave your comments below.

See also my related post “Using VoiceThread” from 9/7/16