Voki, Voki, Voki...

What in the world is Voki?

It sounds like an edible seaweed used to wrap sushi. No wait, that is Nori. Voki is actually a delightful cloud-based application that can be used to make customizable talking avatars. Voki is free and easy to use. First, sign up. Then, customize your character by picking one of the many people, animals, or things from the Netherworld. Next, give it a voice; which can be recorded or typed text to speech. Lastly, give it a background, press done, and voilà; the graphics sync with the sound. I enjoyed experimenting with the user friendly interface, the array of dialects, and voices which were available. The free version is limited to 3 characters and up to 60 seconds of audio.

This wonderful tool can be easy to integrated into an online classroom by embeding the hyperlinks into announcements or lessons, while providing interactive stimuli to engage student learning. It is also a great tool for language teachers to integrate in the classroom. Students can even use it to complete homework assignments or projects. In this dog-eat-dog world, Voki is a fantastic tool for educators to captivate their audience of all ages and subjects, anywhere. On that note, my only complaint is there are more dog than cats to choose from.