How I use Voki to enrich teaching and learning

Below is my interview from the Voki blog explaining how I use this tool.

Goal

My goal with using Voki is to give every student a voice and a face in a fun and engaging way even if they only have access to a phone.

How I use Voki

Voki is a great tool that allows the 21st century student to capture, publish, celebrate and converse about any topic or subject.  I love helping innovative educators use Voki.  Here are some of the things they are doing.

• Students can use Voki in the revision process of their writing by recording a Voki to make sure it sounds right. If it doesn’t, simply revise and re-record.
• During publishing parties some students are uncomfortable reading their work. Thanks to Voki they can present their work without embarrassment.
• English and Foreign language Learners can use Voki by recording themselves saying dialogue or reading a passage.  Listening to the Voki enables them to hear how they sound and work on fluency.

Some of my favorite things about Voki:

• It enables students who might not be proficient at writing to tell their story or share their message.
• It enables students to publish to an authentic audience in a format where others can comment and keep the conversation going.
• It gives a voice to a student who might not feel comfortable speaking publicly.

What would I add to the Voki product?
The ability to add your own Avatar either via your photo or drawing.

My favorite Voki trick
Set up pages at the end of units of study where students can share one great thing they learned. This creates a page of our learning which serves as a great reflective tool.  I also suggest inviting parents, family members and others in the school to community to leave Voki comments for students.

See how other educators use Voki here.

Read More

Educators connect with students & parents using Voki animated avatar

With Voki (www.Voki.com) you can share a message using an animated avatar that talks. It is created using a student’s own voice recorded right from any phone. You can design the avatar’s appearance, add voice, and can get an embed code to pop it into any web2.0 compatible site (Wikis, Blogs, Facebook, Websites) or even powerpoint. The avatar moves and speaks based on what the caller says.

Not only does Voki provide a fun way to share information with parents but you can also capture anyone’s message with a cell phone. This means once you set up the Voki up on any computer you can hand phone to a student, teacher, principal or yourself to capture a powerful words and ideas to share.

Who's doing this?

1. Greg Miller - Primary school principal Since Vokis are easily embeddable school staff often use Voki to record introduction messages for their school websites. For example, special education teacher Kim Gill embedded a Voki to welcome students and parents to their home page (http://teachers.wrdsb.ca/gillk). Primary school Principal Greg Miller recorded a personalized welcome message and embedded onto the school website.

I want more »

Read More