Voki Avatars are a great way to introduce learners to new subject areas. A voki can be integrated into almost any part of the learning experience. Vokis can be used to begin the new courseware, as a means of linking new information throughout the unit or even enabling students to incorporate these into their own presentations as assessment tasks.
I really enjoyed creating my voki and I would definitely try to incorporate a voki into my teaching. I think it provides potential opportunities for lightening the atmosphere in classrooms by incorporating a "new" teacher. Learning Managers could begin the year with a particular Voki and throughout the year the "guest" teacher comes in to introduce something new or take over a particular part of a lesson for the teacher.
I would like to also perhaps try using a voki to assess students. Have the voki ask a series of questions, and the students provide answers either orally or in written forms.
At this point I would have loved to have embedded my own Voki, however, as my luck would have it the site is having "internal issues". Once this is rectified I will share my alter-ego with you all. And thank goodness it is all rectified a day later. Here is my voki.
During this week's learning I also created my own ePortfolio using Mahara. The functionality and accessibility of Mahara means that I can keep a permanent record of the learning experiences I create and the resources I find all in one place. For potential employers they will be able to see my whole body of work in one place at one time. This has one enormous benefit, it enables employers to see that I have real world skills in ICTs and that I am a progressive learner. Students can also utilise something like Mahara as a journal and record keeping of their academic history. By uploading works of art, essays and report cards students and parents will have a permanent and constantly accessible record of the learning journey from Primary school right up to and including University.
Having such a portfolio also provides students with a highly comprehensive portfolio when seeking employment. And let's face it, who doesn't wish they had kept a copy of all of their hardwork over the years?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Samantha, I enjoyed reading your post and love the ideas that you introduced for the use of Voki Avatars in learning such as the "new or guest" teacher and especially as potentially an assessment tool. Ways of assessing students in real and measurable ways will be interesting and the use of the voki avatar sounds like fun too.
ReplyDeleteI took a mement to introduce voki avatars to my children today also as I am starting up a blog for each of them. Specifically I am doing this because I realise how ignorant I have been of the important role of engaged learning as a learning framework, why it has become necessary due to the changing face of the world economy (shift from Industrial to Knowledge economy) and the wealth, depth and breadth of technology and its important role in these processes. I am astounded at just what is available at our fingertips and I now determine to learn, grow and change with it.
We did not make it as far as voki avatar creation however, because as you stated, the site was down today. Oh well, there is always tomorrow!
I look forward to meeting your voki when he/she/it arrives Samantha. Well done on your post.
Cheers
Kylie B