Over the last few weeks I have been introducing our Grade 3/4 students to Vokis. What is a Voki you ask? Well if you ask the kids they would probably say something like, "It's this really cool site where you can make something that talks and moves. It can be a person or a cartoon or an animal. You can dress it and change the way it looks and then embed it into your wiki or blog by copying the code that is created.
The kids love it and I do too. One of the things that I do like about it is something really simple that looks a lot of fun. It also allows for students to create something that can go online without readily identifying them. But there is also the flexibility of the avatars to present the ideas of the students. One of the activities that I have asked the kids to do is to create a voki that talks about their passion. An activity that they already regularly do in class but here is a more powerful and exciting way to present it to others in their class and their parents.
Here's an example created by Maddy...
Get a Voki now!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
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3 comments:
I think that creating a Voki is great. It allows the student to be creative in ways not usually possible in the classroom. I think that most students would be more open about themselves in creating a virtual person than having to talk about this in front of a classroom full of their peers. Especially at that age when many of the students are trying to fit in with the crowd. I know that if this had been around when I was at that grade level I would have been a lot more open and truthful in creating my Voki than if I had to talk about myself in front of the class. It allows the students to be creative and actually think about themselves without fear of what others might think.
I agree with you Rosa. It can be a very effective way to have children talk about themselves in a way that perhaps they would normally be too shy to do. I can see that it would also be great for kids to practise a second language or to share an idea. I think that there are so many very clever people out there who come up with all these great ideas. We are so lucky to be teaching now.
Great to see an actual example of a voki in use by a student - Thanks!
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