Embedding VoiceThread in Moodle

My undergraduate class is creating VoiceThreads at the moment and I was looking for a way to embed them into Moodle. While I know you can copy the embed data provided by Voicethread, enter html mode in Moodle, and it will work that way, there exists a more elegant solution.

Step 1: Get the filter. (This needs to be done by a Moodle admin).

VoiceThread has a Moodle filter for this very purpose. You can grab it here. You can also download the zip or tgz directly. Unzip/untar the file into the filters directory under your Moodle folder. Make sure it is the entire VoiceThread folder. I should also note that this filter is for Moodle 1.9 and above.

Make sure the folder goes here.

Step 2: Turn the filter on.

As a Moodle administrator under the Site Administration click on Modules > Filters > Manage Filters. Click on the closed eye next to the Voicethread filter to turn it on. You do not need to worry about the settings at this point. You will only need to change settings in there if you have a VoiceThread sub-site.

The open eye means the filter is active.

Step 3: How to use the filter.

Now you should be ready to embed a VoiceThread into any editable text space. I chose to embed mine into a web page. There are two options for embedding, one for a larger size and one smaller.

• [[vt:nnnnnn]] – This will embed a larger size
• [[vtsmall:nnnnnn]] – This will embed a smaller size.

The n’s represent the number of your VoiceThread. This is easy to find. Just click share on your VoiceThread and it will give you a URL. Such as http://voicethread.com/share/650591/. The final number is your VoiceThread number. So [[vt:650591]] would embed this VoiceThread into Moodle.

Remember to use the square brackets

Success!

While this isn’t as good as a VoiceThread button in the WYSIWYG tools it is better than messing with the HTML. Let me know how it goes.