Web+2.0+-+Voki

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I've been a fan of Voki.com for a while and we've used it in several different ways at our school over the last year. When integrating it into the classroom this year, I sought a way to move it from simply being a tool of demonstrating understanding or application and instead **use higher order thinking skills** to create a product. I found this by using evaluation questions in the development of the Voki avatar and in the context of a problem solving prompt. Here's what we did:

This project is an extension of their Science Unit on innovation and inventions. Along with a group of 3rd-5th grade gifted students, each of our 2nd grade students developed an invention of their own to be shared in a school-wide Invention Convention and be entered in the USF Young Innovators Invention Contest. To enhance this project, Voki avatars became spokespersons for commercials promoting these new inventions.


 * 1) media type="custom" key="8204008" align="right"First, students evaluated their options to chose an avatar and background that matched the context of their invention - Dalmatians promoting inventions that help firefighters, rats telling you NOT to buy a new and improved rat trap, and supermodels telling you why they LOVE their no-slip purses. (NETS-S 4a, 6b)
 * 2) Next, students wrote their script. We chose to type in our scripts, which really forced them to focus on their spelling, grammar, and sentence structure... and they did great! The commercial script needed to give the name of their invention, as well as identify a problem and how their invention solves it. (NETS-S 1a, 1b)
 * 3) When all done, students saved their Vokis to one class teacher-created account in order to share them with their class, others at school, and on their class website. (NETS-S 2b)

The students had a great time and their products came out great. They left class even more excited about finishing their inventions and sharing their commercials as part of the Convention.


 * Other Student-Created Voki Problem Solving Possibilities?**
 * avatars of story characters sharing about the problem/resolution of the plot
 * avatars created partway through a story showing feelings/state of mind of a character at a given point in the story or how the student would solve the problem if they were that character
 * avatars predicting the outcome of a story or sharing a hypothesis for a science experiment


 * OR access the new Voki For Education lesson plan database by visiting @http://www.voki.com/lesson_plans.php.**

(Both Vokis on this page were created by 2nd graders... the very first time they used Voki!!)