Last challenge everyone introduced themselves or their blog to their readers. Because we very rarely meet face to face (f2f), we still have to give some visual cues as to what we look like. But as teachers, we have to make sure you are being internet safe and that usually means not putting any pictures of actual students on the web, and if we do, having parental permission to do so. We certainly don’t name the students in the pictures.
So instead of a real picture we create an avatar. For example, here are some avatars I have made from various websites. They all represent me.
![MyHero[1]](http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/files/2010/03/MyHero1-150x150.jpg)
So now it is time for you to create your own avatar. You can then add it as a blog avatar to appear on your blog. You can also add it as a comment or user avatar so it appears wherever you leave a comment on someone else’s blog. Some websites are for students 13 and older so make sure you choose one that is for your age group.
Any age can use these avatar sites:
- Build your wild self – middle left
- DoppelMe
- Mini-mizer – middle right
- The Hero Factory – far left
From abi-station:
- Iconmaker
- Illustrationmaker
- Avatarmaker
- Moeruavatar - far right
If under 13, sorry you can’t register for these mentioned below. But over 13, need parental or guardian permission.
- Zwinky – I have now unlinked this as a student has commented about it being a viral site.
- Meez
- Tizme
- Wee World
- Voki
- Bless this chick
- Hero Machine
- Marvel Hero
14 or older with parental permission
Beginner:
Create your avatar using one of the above websites. Sue Waters from ‘The Edublogger‘ has written a great post about avatars, giving instructions on how to save them and then upload to an ‘Edublogs’ blog. Many of the sites mentioned above are included in her post. If using Blogger, here is a link to show how to add a photo to your profile.
Veteran:
If you have taken part in a blogging challenge before, you might have realised that your comment avatar doesn’t always show up on all blogs. I know I have been annoyed about that, so here is a post explaining where you can upload your avatar so it is recognised globally on all blog platforms. You might want to change your blog or comment avatar and try a different website especially if you are now 13 or older.
In a post, please answer this question: When do you think it is appropriate for students to use real photos of themselves on their blogs and why? See if you can research this on the net and find responses from other educators. Remember to link to their post if you use information they mentioned. Hyperlink as well to this challenge post, so I can read your answers.
PS: Within 6 hours of posting this challenge, Andrea has already written her opinion.
Commenter:
If you are a user on any class blog, you should be able to upload your own user avatar as well. Leave a comment here telling me why you chose this avatar to represent you.
Class:
After creating avatars for all the students in your class, show them off in some form of slideshow on your class blog. Here are some avatars from Mrs Yollis’ class they made last year. I created one using animoto last year. Perhaps you could leave a comment here with a link to a website that other classes could use for a slideshow or movie.
Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.
PDF 
I am a middle school teacher who retired in 2012 but still loves teaching. In my spare time I enjoy tracing my family history and helping others with their genealogy as well as chatting with my friends around the world. But most of all, I enjoy travelling and visiting new places.
Second blog challenge
Re: Edublog Challenge #2.
My class created their avatars today and had a blast doing so. The site we used was Moeruavatar which was really simple for them to use. I then uploaded them on to our blog using PhotoPeach, another very simple online program.
Thanks, Kym
Re Photo privacy Whilst I totally I agree with you regarding privacy, teaching younger children to use Web technology is important and they enjoy seeing photos of themselves, as it is all about them. It also provides a conversation starter for their families as often they “forget” what has happened that day. What more motivation and purpose for children to know their work and images will be posted on the web. Further up the school children are taught about internet privacy and how to be net safe.
We are allowed to post photos with names on our blog with the support of our very tech savvy Principal and informed community. Perhaps this is the community we live in, which I am grateful for. But I completely understand with other school’s policies of internet privacy.
My year 2′s had lots of fun creating their avatars. We used http://www.buildyourwildself.com which is a really easy site to use. They learnt how to save the picture into their own folders and then we uploaded them into smilebox to create our slideshow. The children had fun deciding which theme to choose and the music we would use.
Wendy Randall
2R Shiningstars
On to the Avatar challenge for my students. We combined technology with ART and made plasticene avatars, then took photos of them. Check them out here:
http://www.slide.com/r/_IHngSg87z8e0UtzGXkmoXVRnH7_VVIC?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original
I would just like to inform you that Zwinky is a site that downloads trojans to your computer. SmileyCentral, SmileyMania, CursorMania, and similar sites are all viral sites. Last year, we had several kids download them and we had lots of viruses on each computer. The tech staff was super busy for a week or two, trying to fix the issue. Just hoping to help.
~Laurenc604
Lauren,
Thank you so much for that information. I have now unlinked for Zwinky and left a note as to why.
I think that that is very cool!-Shiney
thanks shiney