Harmonize provides a broad range of online learning tools to increase student engagement. VoiceThread focuses on video annotation.
So what makes Harmonize a better solution?
Both Harmonize and VoiceThread allow for time-stamped commentary, including drawing on the screen for videos so students and instructors can react richly around video content, providing feedback at point-in-time context when it matters.
VoiceThread requires the instructor to choose the type of interaction expected from the student up front (create a video, comment on a video), where as Harmonize allows the video and image annotations tools to be available on any content uploaded at any time.
This offers more flexibility to utilize the tools as needed without having to mandate format ahead of time. An instructor can offer more student choice when deciding how to respond to an assignment. If they choose video as one of the options, then the tools are available, but the students are free to respond in other ways permitted by the instructor.
VoiceThread allows grading of student work but only with a numeric score, no additional commentary or substantive feedback is allowed. Rubrics are not an option. This does not meet the federal guidelines for Substantive Interaction for instructors and students.
Harmonize centralizes all of the student work an instructor needs, including their commentary on other students’ work and how much of other students’ work have they read. The instructor can then assign a numeric score but also can provide commentary. The same video creation and critique tools, as well as many many others, are available in the grading interface so the instructor has options at their fingertips to provide substantive feedback to the student about their work.
Harmonize allows the use of Canvas rubrics for grading as well, but this is only supported in Canvas.
Apart from the video annotation features described above, VoiceThread allows gathering of multiple files and then lets the students talk through those files, while sharing them to create presentations of their content.
Harmonize allows the uploading of the same file types, but the recording mechanism doesn’t allow them to present the files as they’re recording their video. Those are done asynchronously, instead where the viewer must see the files and then listen to the video.
For this feature, Harmonize relies on third-party software like Zoom or Teams so you can share your screen to show files while recording and then uploading the recording for critique.
Our goal is to be as accurate as possible, so if you feel there is something we should add, remove, or change, let us know!
Rich multimedia
Help students express themselves by posting images, video, audio, or text
Milestones
Help students see what’s expected of them, and when, so they make substantive, on-time contributions
Streamlined grading
Save time for instructors with LMS gradebook integration and autograding
Student facilitation
Give students control of discussions with tools that encourage them to contribute.
Reactions & tagging
Improve participation with tools that bring everybody into the conversation
Image, Video & PDF Annotations
Provide interactive feedback and help students engage more deeply with content
Plagiarism detection
Integrate Harmonize with your plagiarism software to auto-detect unoriginal content
Chat
Enable students and instructors to communicate privately or in groups
Polls
Assess comprehension and knowledge with polls that engage the whole class
Q&A boards
Let students answer each others’ questions with public boards
Use Harmonize with any major LMS. Harmonize feels so familiar to instructors and students that there’s virtually no learning curve.
It’s simple to get started — Harmonize plugs right in!
To ensure academic integrity, Harmonize then integrates with the major plagiarism detection services, like Turnitin or Unicheck, to ensure that the students’ work is authentic.
Learn how our online discussion and collaboration tools can elevate the learning experience at your institution.
Institutions of all sizes use Harmonize to improve student engagement, collaboration, and inclusivity in their online courses — all while saving instructors time. Harmonize seamlessly integrates with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle and D2L Brightspace to enrich discussions within already existing platforms. See it for yourself in a personalized demo!
In our 30-minute call, you will:
Learn how Harmonize creates a more engaging and inclusive experience for students (and instructors!)
Share your goals, and we’ll discuss how Harmonize can help you reach them
See Harmonize’s suite of modern discussion and collaboration tools in action
Fill out the form on this page to book a call with a member of our team and see Harmonize in action!
