Voki's (speaking avatar) in the classroom - Brilliant!

If my children are a good example of children in the 21st century.... Voki's definitely have a place in the classroom!

I used my kids as guinea pigs in my experiment to gauge the extent in which the kids would engage with Voki's (to see if they had their place in the 21st century classroom). In the early weeks of this course, I showed the kids the avatars on the courseware for uni ... they loved them, they thought they were hilarious.

When I found out that we could actually make our own, on the voki website, I was keen to learn how. When I realised how easy it was, I let the kids have a go ..... now they won't leave me alone, they're always wanting to make them!

I asked them a few questions about how they would feel if these were included in their lessons at school, and if they thought the other kids would like them too. All feedback was positive ... which brings me to the conclusion that speaking avatars are another great tool to add to the pedagogical toolkit! I would most likely use them as the "hook" for a learning experience, to introduce the topic of the lesson, and sometimes add them in for humour. I think they would also help to ensure that learning plans cater for all learning styles.

It is glaringly obvious that the world, as it is today, relies heavily on information communication technology (ICT's) This is evident in the everyday use of 'gadgets' such as mobile phones, ipods, computers, computer games, television, digital home entertainment devices, digital cameras and video recorders and many others I wouldn't know exist. There are not many jobs available anymore that don't require at least minimal ICT usage.

In 'the real world' we are out of the Industrial Age and currently in what is known as the Knowledge Economy. The education requirements and social skills required for the knowledge ecomony are totally different to the Industrial Age.

Education has been based on the Industrial Age in the past, and is now in the process of changing so children complete their schooling armed with a wealth of knowledge for the world today.

Education also relies on the use of ICT's to teach and provide students with ICT's, so in the Knowledge Economy classrooms in the 21st century, we need teachers capable of providing this. Learning Managers need to keep up with technology, they will need to keep updating their skills as required, another important thing for the learning manager is to portray positive attitudes towards the use of such technologies in their classrooms.