March 2010: Challenge 2

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.

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:

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

Face your Manga

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.

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