I am completely amazed at my reaction to these avatars - what wonderful little electronic helpers!
I was first introduced to these avatars during Residential School for the GDLT course this February. The course work was introduced to us by Scot Aldred for ICTs and I remeber being pleasantly surprised when I was presented with something new - Scot used an avatar to make an introduction to one of our topics to us. My personal experience with education has been one where I have always been delivered the content in lecture style learning (chalk and talk) and there was nothing in between. So, to have something interesting put in front of me awakened me and sparked my interested.
I can see the advantages of including the simple application of Avatars as follows:
1: When avatars are used by the Learning Manager in their pedagogy, they can become a HOOK for engaging the students in a topic or authentic task. Looking at this theorectically, Kearsely and Shneiderman (1999) summarise that engagement must occur for learners to learn effectively (p5).
Get a Voki now!
Get a Voki now!
2. They could be of great assistance to sight impaired students. As Learning Managers, we need to take difference into account when planning for our students and those students who may tend towards auditory learning as suggested by Gardner (1983) in his theory of Multiple Intelligences http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEFpaY3GI-I. Following Lynch's (2003) 8LMQs, we can see this in Q3 - How does my learner learn?
3: When avatars are used by the learner, they can benefit from the creativity of the task. When learners can concuct their own tasks, it makes it more purposeful for them and they can take ownership of their work. This encourages self-esteem. Creating is part of engaged learning which intrinsically motivates the learner. Kearsely and Shneiderman (1999, p1).
Get a Voki now!
Gardner (1983): Theory of Multiple Intelligences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEFpaY3GI-I .
Kearsely, G., Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology based teaching and learning. http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Smith, Lynch & Mienczakowski. (2003). The Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) and Education Capability: Why we do not Prepare 'Teachers' Anymore in Change: Transformations in Education. Vol 6.2. CQ University.
Hi Kylie
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comments on my blog. I thought I'd better check yours out and have really enjoyed reading it!
I really like the point you made about using voki's as a tool to help sight impaired students. I hadn't thought of this application. It would be so simple to record the instructions for a task on a voki and the student can replay it as many times as they like - it would be especially appealing for younger learners.
All the best
Hannah
Hi Kylie,
ReplyDeleteI also liked your succint explanation for avatars/vokis. When learnt, they are easy to use, and can be used by any student, regardless of skill. With the option to use voice recording or text- speech, it caters for a range of students. I agree that they are great for introducing topics and can be used as the" hook" to gain interest and engage learners effectively. I am definitely going to incorporate this technology into my pedagogy, as I believe it is also fun for the students. Learning should be fun, then interest and engagement will come easily!