Using voki.com as an educational tool

The future of the world is in my classroom today.

-Ivan Welton Fitzwater-

Generative Questions:

How can teacher take advantage of vocki.com?

How advisable is to use voki.com in an ESL class?

Hello everybody, this is my last blog related to design and use of educational technology; to be honest, I feel under the weather because I really enjoyed this activity which was full of challenges. I think such is life! So, it is time to work because I rarely put off till tomorrow what I can do today.

Topic`s today is Voki, which is an educational tool that allows users to create their very own talking character. According to Solomon & Schrum (2014) “Voki is a great motivational tool to use with students because of its creative natural and visual appeal. From teacher`s perspective, a Voki is an ideal tool for educators to use with younger students to improve their literacy skills” (p.26) It is important to know that Voki characters can be adapted to look like a humanoid or something like that. Moreover, these personages can be related to cartoons or animals. Believe it or not! Teacher wants us to record our voice and give it to the new character.

One advantage of this tool is that basic Voki is free for teachers and learners. On top of that, I can create unlimited Voki characters on my account. One of the main aspects of this instrument is that Voki operators have access to basic Voki personages. For me, the gist of the matter is that this website is used as a creative tool in where pupils can apply their imaginations. As I mentioned before, Voki is free and can easily be combined into the classroom. A lot teachers claimed that the Voki website offers a database where other learners have posted lesson plans. 

Professor think that students can view several projects with the purpose of analyzing ideas and, of course, leaning how to apply Voki in the classroom.

According to the second questions: how advisable is to use voki.com in an ESL class? We can say that teacher can incorporate technology into the classroom in different ways. That is to say, professors could combine reading and writing activities; at the same time that, they are integrating technology throughout the day in all content areas.

Incidentally, we must not forget that  student must have a basic computer skills and internet access and surfing skills as well. It stands to reason that for using Voki learners need a computer with internet connection and an email account.

How to use Voki in a teaching environment

Educators could assign pupils to make an avatar video clip in where they introduce themselves as teachers. Then, it is necessary to post it in order to share student site.

This is a video related to how to create and publish a Voki.

Advantages of using Voki

It is an easy way to make avatars and short animated clips of info for presentation.  Its free and the clips can be introduced into other websites.  It is a fun way to encourage pupils in their learning.

Disadvantages of using Voki

While it is true, there are different characters on the website; also, it is true that, customization is restricted.  As well as the audio time is limited to 60 seconds.  In fact, Krawiec (2017) mentions that: “Language skills can be enhanced by creating customized speaking avatars using Voki” (p.75)

This is my link telated to my Voki avatar.
https://www.voki.com/site/pickup?scid=14567526&chsm=acd36de209d362e3d35f0e8329185ee6

References

Gwen Solomon, Lynne Schrum. (2014). Web 2.0 How-to for Educators, 2nd Edition. USA: Published by International Society for Technology in Education.

Marek Krawiec. (2017). Foreign Language Education and its Cross-Curricular Links. USA: Cambridge Scholars Publisher.