Amazing Avatars

Despite being a digital native, avatars were quite a new form of technology for me. I had heard of them but I had never used them.

Avatars are usually models that represent real humans in the digital world. They can come in many forms such as humans, animals and anything in between. They can be programmed to say and do whatever the user intends.

After some research and playing around on Voki (www.voki.com – a site to create speaking avatars), I found that avatars could have numerous useful applications in the classroom – and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to create one. They can be used in conjunction with other technologies such as blogs, Moodle/Blackboard and PowerPoint to interact with students around different topics. Other applications include using them as reminders, revisions or to reiterate homework tasks. Below is Emma, an avatar I created to tell my students about their homework tasks.


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I think the use of avatars in a learning context is a great way to provide some variety in to the classroom. They are fun and break up the usual routine of some classroom tasks. They are also a great communication tool for both students and teachers and appeal to both visual and audio learners.