Year 2 - Day 3 - January 3

This is a screen shot, but it's called "Picture 1" on my desktop, so we're going to count it. :)

Awhile back, I signed up for a website called Voicethread.  It allows you to make slideshows and then add comments/narration by either voice or text.  I never got off the ground with it last year because of the amount of times it required booking the lab and the difficulties that come with that.  But apparently I accidentally clicked "Renew my account automatically" button because this fall I got an email letting me know my card was charged for another year.  My frugal nature kicked in and said 'If you are going to pay for it, you're going to use it!"

My fourth graders were beginning a project about the Hindenburg to get in some practice with various research skills so I decided we'd use VT for their final projects.  That way they could leave feedback for each other and share their projects with their parents. 

Everything was going well until one day in late December.  It was the day we were scheduled to share with each other so I opened up the files to do a test run before the kids got to school.  They were gone.  Everything that had been created was just GONE.  They had all been created under different student accounts, so I know that someone didn't just accidentally hit delete. 

Enter customer service.  They were fantastic!  I had a significant amount of information to share with them, like the names of the kids who created them, the links to the projects, the amount of comments & pictures, the dates they were created & disappeared, etc.  Using all of that information from me and a few other people who were in my situation, they figured out that there had been a glitch during backing up.  They constantly emailed me to keep me up to date on the happenings behind the scenes and then - they found & restored everything!  I was thrilled with the customer service and of course the result. 

So this morning, we got to watch them.  The kids were so excited to see everyone else's and of course cringed as soon as they heard their own voice.  It was cute. :)