Hello everybody,
Beginning January 1, 2009 we will no longer allow multiple simultaneous logins to the same account. We know that simultaneous logins to the same account can be really convenient but they are an inherent security risk. Sharing an account with others(particularily students) will eventually lead to lost work that cannot be retrieved and also comments and content that cannot be reliably traced to an owner. So after January 1, 2009 whenever you log in to VoiceThread on a new computer, we will automatically log you out of any computers that you were previously logged into.

We know that some educutors have been using us this way and so it will require them to change their workflow so we wanted to explain why we're changing it and also document the correct, safe way to use VoiceThread for free in the classroom.

Why: Allowing students to log in under a teachers login and then participate unsupervised is a violation of the terms of service and for good reason. It is effectively giving accounts without those students having to agree to the terms of service, and many of these students are under age 13 and wouldn't qualify any way because we adhere to COPPA.

How: despite the security change you can still use the service, for free, and with your students, only it may not be as convenient. Here's the basic workflow/choice for using voicethread in the classroom:

If your students are under 13, or your district rules prevent them from having or using their own email accounts, you will either have to join Ed.VoiceThread and get a school or class subscription, or create 'Identities' which allow your students to work under your account. If you do use our wonderful Identities feature you should understand it completely as it does come with some risks.

Identities are are like extra 'faces' for your account and you can make as many as you want although after about 50 it gets a bit unwieldy. Here's a tutorial on how to make and use them. http://ed.voicethread.com/share/240771/ You can very quickly make extra identities and assign one to each of your students so that when they sit down to comment they don't need to login or logout because they can simply 'click and switch' to their own avatar. Identities are extremely convenient, particularly with young learners who would have trouble remembering their own login or password. But using Identities also has a few downsides which you should be aware of.

• First, Comment Moderation does not work because the Identities are simply a different 'face' for the educator account. VoiceThread will instantly show any and all new comments to any of your Identities.
• Second, because the students are logged in as you, they must be directly supervised as they work and record their comments because they can delete any comment made by any other identity, including the educators, and they can even delete entire VoiceThreads with just two clicks. At least once a week we get a report of a valuable VoiceThread being deleted and irrevocably lost by student working as an Identity under an educators account.
• Third, when you delete an identity you will delete all of the comments and content that the identity has made in the past, which means that next year you will either have to delete all of your prior years students identities and the work they made, or create a brand new account each year.

So in summary, Identities are really convenient but if you use them you must directly supervise the student while they work. It's more work, but it's free.

Please feel free to continue to use VoiceThread in your classroom at no cost, you'll just have to tightly supervise your students as they work under your account. I know it's not as convenient but we don't have much choice in the matter if we want to encourage best practices for safety.

Thanks for your patience and understanding,