VOKI

Hi Everyone,

I was unable to make my own Podcast on MyPodcast as the site was not taking anymore applications for registration. Therefore I went off and discovered more about Vokis. You can see the Voki I designed in the sidebar of my blog.

Voki is a combination of "vox", which is Latin for voice, and "Loki", which is a prankster character in Norse Mythology. The origin of the word Voki also describes its purpose because a Voki enables users to express their “voice” through a customized character.

When I designed my own Voki, I was unsure how to embed this tool into my blog and therefore performed a Google search. The search results introduced to me to a fantastic blog called The EduBlogger. This blog gave me clear instructions on how to embed Voki and also outline some interesting ideas for using a Voki in the classroom. Some of these ideas included;

-Creating avatars that are similar to the students and having students record a message that tells the class about themselves. This is a great idea for introductions at the beginning of the year and an engaging way to profile students.
- Students with English as a second language or students with low literacy skills can use the speaking avatars to practice and listen to their speech. They may use the computerised voice first then record their own voice when they feel more comfortable. Writing, reading and pronunciation are all practiced.
-Students can create an avatar to represent a character from a story. This character can then be used to present a creative point of view from the character on an event within the plot.
Further suggestions from The EduBlogger can be accessed here.

A few of my colleagues have also had some experience with Vokis. Kim Thompson suggested using a Voki as an “additional teacher” within her year 3/4 classroom. I agreed with Kim and further suggested using a Voki for role-play or creating “expert” characters. This discussion can be seen here.

I see the great potential in using a Voki. However I found that the intonation and pronunciation used by the generic voice does not suit our Australian accent and can be misleading for students. I understand that one can record their own voice but I wonder if there is any other way to adjust the accent and add intonation to the Voki generic voice. If any one has any ideas I would love to hear them.