Get a Voki Speaking Avatar to Greet Visitors to Your Site and More...

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on January 11, 2008 at 5:55pm

After I saw your post it reminded me that I wanted to take a closer look at Voki with my kids. I teach in a gifted pullout program and yesterday I had my 4th graders, there are only 9 of them--2 girls and 7 boys, six of the boys go to Catholic school. OK the scene is set, we all log in--we all register--we all wait for our activation email---we all log on...then...then...the chaos began. The Catholic boys immediatedly spotted Jesus, I had to remind them that having Jesus, sporting a beret and bling and saying "hey, dude" might not be appropriate. They immediately found the devils, ghouls and pimps! We had to see how it sounded if each character said "Hi, I'm Trenton or Luke or Ben" in every language. The girls were so quite I ignored them for a while---when I finally checked their laptops I saw their Vokis looked like well dressed ladies of the night who were saying things like "I love school" and "I love to read" in British accents!! Yikes---I might need to rethink how were going to use the Vokis!!

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Permalink Reply by Helen Otway on January 14, 2008 at 4:39pm

Hi Nancy,

I created my own Voki yesterday and I was wondering the same thing about the different characters and clothing choices! What would I do if I was to introduce it to my own class?? Lots of questions raised.

Helen

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on January 14, 2008 at 4:57pm

I'm going to try it again with 5th graders with some limitation--must look somewhat like you, or an animal that represents you, tell someone something about yourself, etc. One thing that drives me crazy about kids (must be getting old) is the gore, punk, pimp, war, violence fascination---can't kids just be creative?

Example: Just finished part of Geometry/Art lesson on inscribing regular polygons. The final project was a design to be inscribed from polygons, they had hundreds to choose from. Most kids wanted to construct the ying/yang symbol or the swastika--because they were familiar "punk" symbols--I said no to all of them. Whenever I introduce a new computer gadget I really have to decide if there is any substance to it--luckily the kids give up the silly stuff pretty quickly.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Otway on January 14, 2008 at 5:02pm

That sounds like a good idea. Maybe a criteria list or rubric to keep them on track. I know what you mean by the silly stuff but I guess if they can get it out of their system then they can move on!
I'll keep this in mind.
Helen

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Permalink Reply by Anne Mirtschin on January 14, 2008 at 4:47pm

LOL - loved this, I had a little grade 6 girl who liked like she was one of the 'ladies of the night". So I gently reminded her that perhaps she could make herself look like her, so that students in other schools get a closer idea of what she is like. Some students though end up looking very much like themselves physically, others are happy to hide behind a hefty disguise and others bring to the fore their inner selves!!! Anyway Nancy, you gotta give your girls 10 out of 10 for imagination. My little girl could possibly end up as one.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Otway on January 14, 2008 at 4:55pm

Good idea Anne. I guess kids (and adults) like to play around with things first - get a laugh, make it funny. I like to allow 'play time' or 'explore time' then we can have a chat about the task and get back to it! It's all learning.

Thanks for the tip,
Helen

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Permalink Reply by gordon brune on January 14, 2008 at 9:48pm

Yeah, as a former first grade teacher, I always try to remember what it was like when the kids got a new set of markers. They just need to do a bunch of "rainbows" first before I asked them to DO anything with them!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on January 14, 2008 at 5:27pm

Here's my issue with all these Web 2.0 tools---there are only so many hours in the day. I enjoy playing with some of these tools as much as the kids but when push comes to shove we concentrate on tasks that lead to rich and relevant learning. Luckily my kids see through some of these tools, they don't stick with or go back to a tool/program unless it has some purpose? depth? flexibility? The one tool I've introduced this year that has had the most staying power is Scratch. They've tried a dozen others but don't stick with the ones that do one thing (befunky, blabberize) or are limited (animoto)---I teach gifted kids K-6 and it takes a lot to keep their attention.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Otway on January 14, 2008 at 6:02pm

This really resonates with me. I've not used too many Web 2.0 tools yet, but when using technology in learning in general, it is the stuff that allows the most in depth, challenging, interesting, problem solving and in some cases the most collaboration that have been the most powerful.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Mirtschin on January 14, 2008 at 7:26pm

I agree with using web 2.0 tools with depth attached and I will really look into scratch as I have heard about it before but for my classes when they work with global classes, it is a good way to introduce students to each other, very quickly, easily and can be completed in a lesson. After the intros the real learning begins with other tools!!! I also find startind with vokis allows those shy students a way of building confidence in working with audio.

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Permalink Reply by Frank, Divergent Learner on January 14, 2008 at 4:26pm

Anne .. when I created the Voki .. it asked if I wanted to allow comments .. I checked YES!!!! and voila!

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Permalink Reply by Anne Mirtschin on January 14, 2008 at 4:44pm

oh okay, I had better go back and see if I can edit my existing 'me' - rather attached to my old personal voki but I can see it will have lots of possibilities.

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