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Here on this blog I hope to get a conversation going amongst students, teachers, administrators, and parents about who, what, when, why, and where we should teach technology skills for the 21st century. I am technology teacher at Truckee High School in Truckee, CA and currently teach classes like digital media, e-learning, applications, and keyboarding -- yes...still important! :) Please Join the Conversation!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Creating an Online Private Identity - Avatars

Today in web 2.0 class my students and I discussed how to create an online identity, with personality, while still protecting our privacy.  To do this, I had them explore different web sites where they could create Avatars.  Avatars, as one student explained, our a "digital self".  Some sites even provide tools to help you animate them and add voice.  You can either record from your phone, computer mic, or type text and have the site generate a computerized voice saying what you typed.  Pretty cool ...... and the students had a blast creating their avatars in class as witnessed by all the giggling!

Check out my avatar I created for the Modern Educator using http://www.voki.com/


Some other good sites to explore are: http://www.buildyourwildself.com/ , http://www.manga.com/ ,  http://www.tektek.org/dream/ 

Reflective assignment for my students:
Now, write a blog posting about your avatar. Tell which site you used to create it, how you made it, and why you chose the options you did. When you tell which site you used, be sure to make the site name a hyperlink so that your visitors can easily click on it to visit the site. Whenever you refer to another website or page in an online posting, create a hyperlink to make life easy for your readers.

3 comments:

  1. When you are in a social group online. It is better than showing your picture because there is all kinds of creepy people out there. Also, in a chat room if you can. Because people can track you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you should use a avatar if you don't want your picture on a website or if you get involved in a political site or a site with strong beliefs and you share your own opinion. You might not want people to see your picture, so you can use an avatar and stay private.
    Molly C

    ReplyDelete
  3. An avatar would be preferable to a photo if you wanted to use the avatar to relay information, you could just use it to explain things to people as oppose to having them read a bunch of text, which in turn could attract a larger audience by bringing in people who wouldn't want to read what you wrote. Casey F

    ReplyDelete

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