The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2020 - 27

Figure 3: Interactions in VoiceThread
and was required to post a video or audio commentary lasting
at least 10 minutes. Other students then had to reply to the lead
discussion with at least one video, audio, or written comment.
A big shift occurred in those courses. Students prepared
for the discussions, often reading from several pages of notes.
They replied to multiple posts by classmates and logged into a
single VoiceThread discussion on multiple days to contribute
more. In one course, a student created her own VoiceThread
discussion, unprompted, after watching a video she found
independently, and most of her classmates replied.

Instead of making teaching goals fit technology,
instructors should make technology fit course
learning objectives.

Students engaged with the readings in different ways, posing
new questions, enhancing their posts with references to other
materials, and discussing their own experiences as interpreters.
The attitude among students was one of gratitude and respect,
even when opinions diverged. A majority of students wrote
that the readings and discussions were their favorite part of the
course and where they learned the most.
While there are many advantages to using a multimedia
application like VoiceThread, it's important to mention the
few downsides. It sometimes failed when students were
recording their responses, leading to frustration and repeated
attempts. Also, when students went to VoiceThread without
going through Blackboard Learn12, the LMS used in the course,

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grading integration didn't work. Perhaps most importantly,
reviewing all the students' posts takes much more time than
skimming through discussion forum entries. That said, the
discussions generated by the students didn't require full
monitoring. Depending on the group, instructors could skim
the posts or "audit" by randomly listening to some.
Another helpful use of VoiceThread for online interpreting
classes in particular was for source videos created by students.
In a course on simultaneous interpreting, students used
VoiceThread to create weekly speeches in English that were
then used as source videos for their classmates' interpreting
practice. Students needed to use another device or program
to record their interpreted rendition, but it was easy to use
VoiceThread to create videos as source material-something
that's not easily accomplished in other programs because of the
video upload time.

MAKING TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR INSTRUCTORS
AND LEARNERS
Effective online teaching must adapt content delivery to
specific learning environments and the changing needs of
students. In an asynchronous environment, students don't
sit down in front of their computers at set times and for
fixed durations every week, like they do in a traditional
classroom. Nor do they gather at the same time with peers
to have discussions. This is why instructors, instead of
making teaching goals fit technology, should make technology
fit course learning objectives, including building online
communities of connected learners, teaching students to do
independent research, and giving them the tools to reflect on
their translation and interpreting practice.

American Translators Association

27
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The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2020

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