Vokis are fun - even for big kids like me!

I have been thinking about some educational uses for Vokis, or Avatars from other sites. At first, I just thought they were a bit of fun and served no educational purpose, but as I've been working through the ICT's for Learning Design coursework I have found that I've really enjoyed viewing and listening to each of the 'Avatars' scattered throughout the course. I think they are just a bit different (for now!), and a nice visual introduction to a learning session.

I have also been thinking about how students could use them and how I could incorporate them into my lesson designs in an effective way. Here is one idea I've come up with.

To introduce a lesson about healthy eating, I could incorporate a Voki for each of the five food groups, then split the class into five groups to research the answer to the question/s posed by the Voki. See the examples below:


Get a Voki now!



Get a Voki now!

I could then use a few different Vokis to introduce group discussion about the different foods we like to eat, which food group they belong to and whether or not they are healthy for us.

For example:


Get a Voki now!

I think the students would love to both play and watch these Vokis, and they may be enough to 'hook' students into the lesson. The students could also create their own Voki and talk about a type of food and the food group it belongs to.

I like them... my kids and I had fun creating the Vokis on this page and I believe incorporating some creativity and fun play into a lesson plan is a great way to engage our learners.

In this TED video from You Tube, that was part of our coursework, Sir Ken Robinson talks about creativity and the Arts in education and how they should be given as much importance as Maths and languages. I think a little 'Voki' may go a long way in this regard!