If you plan to use the Assignment Builder option in your course, two steps that will make your assignment set-up easier are:

1. Make sure a grade item exists in your D2L gradebook that you can link to this topic in your content.

2. If you want students to watch or respond to a VoiceThread, create that in your VT account so you can copy it into any course, rather than creating it while you're in the midst of putting the topic in your course.  

Once you've gotten those items ready, the steps in this tutorial show how to embed a link in D2L and how student submission appear for grading. 


To link VoiceThread Assignments to individual grade items in your gradebook, you'll need to establish a new LTI link for each VoiceThread link. Watch a video tutorial of those instructions or read steps 1-4.  

  1. In the content module of your course, click on the "add Existing Activities" button and select "External Learning Tools." (If you just want to create a placeholder without the grade item connection, you can choose VoiceThread from this menu.--then you don't ned to read this article at all.)  
  2. To generate a VoiceThread Assignment using the Assignment Builder option, you will need to scroll to the bottom of the list and choose "Create New LTI Link."
  3. A pop-up with two fields will allow you to name the topic (i.e. VoiceThread Discussion Module 3) and add the link: https://greenville.voicethread.com/ltione/ 
  4. Click "Create and Insert," and the link will be in your content module with the topic name you entered. 


The first time you click on the link your just embedded in the content module, you'll see these options:

  


This example will show you the steps to establish a "Submit a Comment" assignment. 



You'll choose the VT you created and establish the settings and assignment details on this screen, in addition to attaching it to agrade item. 


 

Select the VT you want to use, and decide if you need to make any last edits, preview it, or make a copy of it (this means you can edit it specifically for this class/section, but the one in your VT home will be unchanged).


Type in any assignment description you'd like the students to see again before they watch your VT. You can also require a minimum number of comments, and students will be prompted to complete any that they haven't added before being able to submit it. You can't differentiate if they need to be original comments or responses to classmates in this requirements, but it can be a helpful reminder. 


Determine what you want to happen when you click the "Create Assignment" button by checking or unchecking these boxes. 

-And share with class posts it within the group taht all your students in a section belong to. 

-Moderate comments allows only YOU to see all comments. Students can only see what they create and anything you comment to them. You can make their comments visible to one another individually with this setting on, but you cannot "bulk" edit their comments for visibility once you create the assignment. 

-Allow students to resubmit assignment gives them multiple attempts to get the assignment submitted. 


Attach the VT to a grade item in your gradebook. 


When you visit the link from now on, you'll see this screen where you can track student submissions and provide comments and a score that will transfer to your gradebook.

 


Additional Items to Remember in Feedback & Grading of VoiceThread Assignments:

Your playback settings on each VoiceThread can make a big difference to how you and the students interact with the content. View this article to understand all the options. 


In this image, you can see the different icons along the bottom of the student's comment. The trash can allows you to delete a comment, the closed eye indicates that it is moderated (only you and the students can see his/her comment), the padlock allows you to privately message back to the student so that no one else can see your feedback to her, and the other two change the text size. 



This image shows a student comment in a VoiceThread that is not moderated--all students can see one another's comments. The icon with the line and arrow allows threaded commenting so a student or instructor may directly respond to someone else's comment and have a meaningful exchange. The padlock again limits the visibility of the instructor's feedback comments to only that student. 


The grade you are entering in the VoiceThread integration is a percentage grade. Your gradebook item will reflect the accurate amount of points equalling that percentage if your assignment is anything other than 100 points.