Before writing
this blog post, I really did not know what I wanted to write about. Therefore,
I Google researched what the latest technologies in teaching were. I came across
this website called Voki, on this website students and teachers can create an
avatar and give it their own voice
I first came
across this innovation through the Lexington Institute website. They had a
whole presentation about different technologies available to teach English
Language Learners. Even though this is not my concentration, I do believe that
students in an English class can benefit from Voki avatars. Students can create
their own and give them a voice. This helps students who are shy and do not
like to participate, to participate and communicate with the teacher via the
Voki avatars. It is also an innovative way to get students to interact in
classroom activities. For example, they can create avatars for characters in a
novel they've read and then use the “voice” of the avatar to analyze each
character. Once they've created their avatars, they can then present in front
of the classroom and instead of using their own voice they can use their Voki’s
voice.
Voki’s are also
a good way to get to know students. The teacher can create her own avatar and
use the avatar to show her interests, expectations of students, and even create
lessons. She can then have each of her students create their own Voki and then
they can interact with each other on the website. Each student personalizes
their avatar; therefore, the teacher can capture each of her student’s
interests through their own creation of themselves. Also if the teacher is
going to be absent, she can create a lesson through her avatar and the students
can all join in and participate. This enables the teacher to be “present” even
though she is technically not.
Creating Voki’s
is a very interesting way of getting students interested in the material of
your content and in your class. It will give them a different view of what
learning is. These avatars help them understand things in a non-traditional
way.
Resources:
I have heard of these before, but never seen them put into use in any class that I have been in. Reading more about it is making me seriously consider using them in my future classroom one day. As you said, it gives those that may not like speaking in class the opportunity to express themselves, and gives all students an additional opportunity to interact with one another. It can be an extremely useful tool.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool idea! I've never heard of this before, but it seems like something I would consider using in a music classroom. I've been having a hard time finding technologies that apply to my concentration (music) but if this is a technology that can be used at home and in the classroom it could work well. Music teachers often have large classes because they are ensemble based, and it can be hard to get to know each student. The avatars would give students an opportunity to express themselves to the teacher without being judged by the other students. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI really like this concept. I was always a person who was not afraid to speak in class but coming to school for education, we learn all about the kids that don't feel comfortable speaking in class. This is a great tool to use. I actually never heard of this before reading your blog, but found it very interesting to learn about. Great ideas.
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