All great speakers were bad speakers at first.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pro Educator is the account for instructors who teach with VoiceThread independently, without an integrated institutional license.

Pro Educator
$24 / month
or $259 / year
One account. No institutional license required.
Upgrade to Pro Educator
 
What you get

What comes with Pro Educator

Everything in the free account, with a bunch of limits removed and some important capabilities added.

∞
VoiceThreads
Unlimited VoiceThreads. No 200-thread cap to manage around.
500
Slides per VoiceThread
16X more than the 25 slide limit on the free account, giving you more room for student uploads & galleries.
60 min
Recording per comment
Six times the 10-minute free limit, enough to record a full lecture or detailed feedback in one continuous comment.
∞
Courses
Create as many VoiceThread Courses as you teach. Free to create. How they work, and what they cost, is covered below.
Auto
Captioning
Automatic captions on all audio and video, for both your content and your students' comments.
  • Administrative control over your students' accounts, with groups and subgroups
  • Secure sharing controls over who can see and join
  • Large file transfer, up to 3GB
  • Upgraded, priority support
  • Share by link, embed anywhere, or drop links into your LMS
  • Works on desktop, tablet, and phone
  • Independent of any institution, and connectable to a license later if your school adopts one
The important part

How will you work with your students?

Option One
Open participation, no added cost
Share a VoiceThread and students respond with free accounts. Nothing for them to buy, nothing beyond your subscription for you.
Option Two
A structured course, paid per seat
Run a full VoiceThread Course. Free to create, with a per-student seat cost when they join.
Method one

Share a VoiceThread, students join free

Create a VoiceThread from a slide deck, a video, an image, or a document, then share the link. Students open it, make a free account if they don't have one, and respond with voice, video, or text right on your content.

  • No added cost. Students never pay, and you pay nothing beyond your Pro subscription
  • Each student can leave an unlimited number of comments
  • Each comment can be up to three minutes long
  • Organize participants into groups and subgroups
  • No course to build and no gradebook. The conversation lives in the VoiceThread itself

Reach for this when you want discussion, reflection, or speaking practice without administrative overhead, and without asking students to pay for anything.

Method two

Run a VoiceThread Course

When you want structure, create a course. It works like the courseware you already know, with the conversation happening in voice and video instead of text boxes. Inside a course, each student's account is upgraded for the work they do there.

  • Modules to sequence your content and assignments
  • Formal assignments: build a VoiceThread, respond to peers, or engage your material
  • A student gallery where peer review is visible and accountable
  • A quick grader and a course gradebook
  • Course analytics to see who is engaged and who needs a nudge
  • Rubrics for clear, consistent assessment

Courses are free to create, and Pro Educator creates as many as you teach. The cost is per student seat, and you choose who pays it. Seats are $4 each when you buy them, or $12 each when students buy their own. Bulk discounts are available. A class of 25 is $100 in seats if you cover them, or no cost to you if students buy their own.

If your school has a license

The smoothest path, when it is available

An institutional license removes the last barriers for students: single sign-on, automatic account creation, LMS gradebook integration, and course cloning. It also brings lower per-student pricing. If your institution adopts VoiceThread later, your existing account and content connect to that license, so nothing you build now is lost. Ask about an institutional license.

Common questions

Good questions, quick answers

How do I estimate what a course will cost?

Multiply your number of students by $4 if you buy the seats, or $12 if students buy their own. A class of 30 is $120 to you, or $360 spread across students. Bulk discounts lower the per-seat price when you buy in volume.

Does creating a course cost anything?

No. Courses are free to create, and Pro Educator creates as many as you teach. The only cost is the per-seat fee when students join.

How long can students record?

On a free account, three minutes per comment, with no limit on the number of comments. Inside a course, each student's account is upgraded and the comment limit is 60 min.

Do I need an institutional license for either method?

No. Both work with just your Pro Educator account. An institutional license simply removes friction for students and lowers per-student pricing if your school adopts one.

Can I use this with my LMS?

You can share VoiceThread links inside any LMS for easy access. Single sign-on and grade passback are part of an institutional license rather than the individual account.

Ready for less clickety-click, and more talk?

Unlimited VoiceThreads, hour-long recordings, and unlimited courses, for $24 a month or $259 a year. Work with students free, or run a full course when you need one.

Upgrade to Pro Educator