Voki: A Tool for Bringing Characters to Life

Voki is a free web 2.0 tool used to create talking avatars.  Characters can be customized to look like historical figures, animals, cartoons, and even one's self. For a fee, users can join Voki Classroom for more access to options and the ability to control privacy settings. Vokis are limited to 60 second recordings of either a user's voice or a computer generated voice, so I use Voki for quick assignments or part of a larger project.

Creating a Voki is very easy and can be done quickly. Even in the free version there are a plethora of options and characters to choose from. Users can change the background image and customize the look of the stock characters. Publishing Vokis is easy too and users can publish directly to sites as well as copy/paste a hyperlink or embed code.

My 9th grade Honors students incorporated Voki as part of their Create a Hero Project, creating a profile of their hero character and give him/her life using Voki. Students provided an overview or teaser for their hero's journey stories and published the Vokis on their student blog pages by embedding the Voki into their Hero Stories. I was able to show my students how to embed in HTML without having to go over the basics of coding-- something I have yet to learn. Students also shared their Voki with others in their Edmodo small groups.

Here are some examples from my students. Click on the PLAY icon in the bottom left corner of each one to hear a preview of their stories.

 

 My students could also create Vokis of characters explaining concepts taught in class or summarizing chapters in a novel. World Language teachers could use Voki for recording students speaking short passages. History teachers could have students bring historical figures to life. Voki is an easy to use and versatile classroom tool for any subject area. For other lesson ideas, visit Voki's Lesson Plan Page.

Tell Me All About it with Tellagami

Tellagami is a mobile app that lets users create a short animated video using any mobile device. This is a cool tool for BYOD students and teachers to use for animated project videos.

In three easy steps, users create a "Gami" animated avatar by customizing their character, selecting a background image, adding dialogue, and sharing it. Once you have the app, there is no account log in information to worry about.  Students and the teacher could share devices to use Tellagami.

Sharing Created Gamis

While not having to worry about log in information is a plus and sharing is easy, there is not currently a way to see a library of the Gamis one makes when in the app. Once a Gami is created, select share via email to grab the URL hyperlink or save in the camera roll/ video/Tellagami folder of a device. Teachers could have students turn in their Gami by submitting the URL on a class Google form or turning the URL in via an assignment on Edmodo. Students could also embed the Gami in a digital portfolio such as a Google Site or a blog. While archiving created Gamis via email isn't ideal, I can't complain when considering the cost (FREE) and ease of use.

If you are having trouble locating the embed code, first send yourself the URL via sharing through email. Go to your email, then click on the URL and return to the Gami created. Click on the share icon in the upper right corner and the embed code will appear. I don't know why the embed code doesn't automatically appear in the app, but I'm hopeful that the Tellagami developers will remedy this soon.

Ideas for Use

For use in the classroom, students could take a picture of a project with their mobile device and upload the picture as their background image.  Adding dialogue students could record their voice or type in text that explains their project. The student could then share the link to the Gami via email, Twitter, Facebook, or copy/pasting the link to a learning management system such as Edmodo. An embed code is also provided for posting the Gami to a blog.

Tellagmi could be used for mini-virtual field trips. Students could search and select a background image of a location significant to the content being studied and record a message about the location.

For #flipclass teachers, Tellagami for quick delivery of content. Upload a picture of a diagram, equation, or any other pictorial information and record a Gami explaining the concept then share.

This easy to use tool has a plethora of uses for the classroom. From classroom presentations to delivery of content, Tellagami will allow students and teachers to tell viewers all about any concept.

Here are two examples I made: one has a computer generated voice with an uploaded background and the other has a Tellagmi provided background using my voice for the avatar. You can customize and select the options that fit your project.

The SUM of an Amazing Summer

This summer has been amazing, revitalizing, evolutionary, and ... and ... and... for my professional development. I could have written 20 posts about the events this summer, but I had no time to write! So, I will just sum it all up here.... I'm still having trouble slowing down my brain to get the thoughts on this page. Stop me in the hall, catch me on Edmodo, tweet to me, and I will just start gushing out of control.

Between attending FlipCon 2013, EdcampHome, EdmodoCon 2013, Google Apps Training & TeachMeetNJ, working with the Gobstopper folks, AND having the release of my first ever contribution-to-a-third-party-published-book (Flipping 2.0) AND meeting face to face with some amazing folks from my PLN, I couldn't have asked for a better summer.  Seriously.

When I look at how much I have evolved as a professional educator in the past year, I am astounded at the exponential rate at which I have learned so much from the talented educators I've had the pleasure of collaborating and interacting with on Twitter, Edmodo, and this blog. Sounds redundant, "professional educator," but really it isn't--everything I have been doing has been outside of the classroom, yet still grounded in my teaching practice.

I constantly get asked, "When do you sleep? How do you have time for all of this?" I make time because I love it, and I honestly go to bed at 10 pm every night.

Hey Edmodo Users, Are Your Groups Secure?

With the start of the school year off to a running start, it is important to address some key items that will insure success of your groups and prevent some not so nice things from occurring. I'm an avid Edmodo with Edmodo serving as the hub of my virtual classroom, but I learned a valuable lesson two weeks ago concerning the security of my groups and the trustworthiness of my students.

As an Edtech advocate, I'm always willing to try out new tools and I'm adamant about teaching digital citizenship. My students learn long before they enter my classroom what is appropriate online behavior, but I'm guilty of being too trusting and assuming that my students know one basic rule about digital citizenship: don't share passwords, or in the case of Edmodo, group codes.

Two weeks ago, one of my student shared the code to one of my Edmodo groups with his friend. This friend decided it would be funny to make a fake Edmodo account, join my group, and post very inappropriate items to my class. Edmodo Support was lightning fast in deleting the offensive postings and disabling the fake account, but some parents and students saw the items. Long story short, Edmodo Support traced the fake account to an IP address used by a real student, and my administration was able to suspend the student for breaking the district's acceptable use policy. While this story has somewhat of a happy ending with the perpetrator getting caught and punished, the inappropriate posting could have been prevented by me with just two quick clicks in Edmodo group settings.

Please heed my advice and make sure your groups are secure. By locking group codes and moderating posts, we can make sure that one bad apple won't spoil the entire barrel. To learn how, view this quick screencast. In less than one minute, you can prevent inappropriate use.