We love hearing about how teachers from all over the world use Voki in their classrooms. In this edition of our Interviews with Educators series, we get a sneak peak inside of Lyndell Allen’s music classes in Ballarat, Australia! Have we mentioned that we love Australia!?
Lyndell Allen is an engaging and very busy music teacher, and mom of 3 boys. As well as teaching her regular music classes, Lyndell specializes in choral music and is the director of 4 junior choirs, a girls’ chapel choir, a boys’ chapel choir, and the chamber choir at school! Oh, and she’s also a bit of a Web 2.0 enthusiast and practitioner! Lyndell was kind enough to share with us some info about herself, her classes, and how she uses Voki as a tech tool (an “instrument”, if you will) to accompany her in the classroom.
Check out her video below to learn more about Lyndell and how Voki can be musical!
If you’re on Twitter, make sure to follow Lyndell: @lalalyndella
So, what do you think about our latest Voki Interview with Educators? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Want to be interviewed for this section? Send us a note and a link to your blog/ twitter: submit@voki.com!
Mrs. Kimberly Church is a Spanish teacher… Kimberly uses Voki in her Spanish classes, and she also teaches other educators about the benefits of using technology (such as Voki) in the classroom. Below is an interview with Kimberly, as well as a couple of videos her and her class created about Voki. Here is Kimberly’s video on how she uses Voki in her Spanish classes. To view more of Kimberly’s class videos, visit her YouTube channel, evansspanishteacher. Below is Kimberly’s interview, as well as another Voki video about using Voki in oral tests.
Q: So, Kimberly, why do you use Voki?
I discovered Voki 2 years ago and just love it! Voki takes the stress out of “presenting” a memory piece in another language in front of the class, and students can focus on the material on the screen in front of them. The kids have fun, (dare I say the words “fun test?”), and of course, I as the teacher have fun reviewing their very best material. 🙂 I emailed the parents the link to the website to view their child’s oral test, (the Voki), and they loved it too. Over the weekend, at least 15 parents embedded their child’s Voki to their Facebook. It’s something the kids are proud of, and instead of dreading oral test day, they really look forward to it. 🙂
Q: Has Voki helped you with assessment?
Using Voki for oral tests allows the student to hear what I hear. I can’t tell you how many times students would ask, “Why didn’t I make a 100 on my oral test?” I would point out that they mispronounced a word, or said a wrong word and they would reply, “I did?” Using Voki allows the students to hear themselves, as an evaluator, and they can re-record until they’re happy with it, and attach the recording to a Voki, making the assessment creative. Students who use to make low assessment grades on oral tests are making perfect scores taking their oral tests using Voki. Efficient and Proficient!!!!
Q: We heard that you’re something of a Voki expert among your peers, right?
I actually enjoy using Voki so much, and use it for so many tasks and assessments in my class, I teach a workshop for teachers about how to apply Voki in their class, (even at the MWALLT conference at the University of Minnesota). I have become known as “that Voki teacher” at my campus, and even in my district. As long as I keep the content fun and integrate technology to make learning efficient, I’ll never stop looking for ways to infuse my lessons with great technology, like Voki. As a foreign language teacher, I’m looking for “efficient proficient,” and Voki gives me that.
Q: Have you had a chance to use Voki Classroom?
I have to say, it has been much easier to sell the benefits, since you have come out with Voki Classroom. It is so much easier to have the students organized in classes, and have their assignments posted and ready to work on when they open up their account. I look forward to spreading the word about Voki and Voki Classroom. Thank you for all you have done for my students. I can’t wait to see what Voki will come up with next, for uses in the classroom. 🙂 k. pura vida — And here are Mrs. Church’s students talking about using Voki in oral tests:
At its most basic level, technology is the advancement of knowledge through the use of new tools, trades, and methods. This in mind, we can say that technology is not, and has never been, a new concept to society, or to school districts. Here’s a short video to illustrate the point:
Before we had ball point pens, we had fountain pens and before we had wood based paper, we had the costly and elusive rag-based paper made from textiles and linens. Today, we have paper, pens, desktops, laptops, smart phones, touch pads and much more. It is now time we maximize each item’s potential as our predecessors did when paper was no longer an item of the elite, but could be used by everyone.
The speed at which new educational tools are introduced is staggering, and it can be overwhelming for educators to think about maintaining an up-to-date classroom on top of everything else. For this reason, we have created Voki Classroom. Serving as a platform for teachers to manage all of their students’ Voki assignments, Voki Classroom makes integrating technology and education a breeze. To make things even easier, we have also been adding lesson plans created with Voki Classroom in mind. We’ll continue adding new lessons, for both Voki and Voki Classroom, throughout the year.
Keeping up with the technological Joneses may seem daunting but Voki Classroom, along with other online tools, exists to make the transition very smooth. If you are interested in Voki Classroom, you can get all the info – such as features, pricing, and so on – at www.voki.com.
Also, check out these links below for technology tips for teachers:
Ana Maria Menezez is an English teacher in Brazil and uses Voki to inspire her students to speak up and learn a foreign language in an engaging atmosphere. Ana was kind enough to share with us some examples of how she uses Voki in the classroom along with some of her own tips and tricks.
Ana uses Voki to motivate students to practice speaking in a personalized way and also creates her own Voki to improve interaction between teacher and student. One of the most important things about Voki for Ana is its ability to help the quieter students speak up and have a voice in class.
For more of Ana’s tips, tricks, and Voki experiences, check out the interview below!
In this interview, instructional technology specialist LaQuita Denson tells us about how she uses Voki to train teachers on effective methods of delivering information during lessons, regardless of a student’s learning abilities.
The three features she finds the most useful about Voki are:
The Language Feature: “This is really great with those students who are struggling readers, as well as students from different countries…”
Multiple Vokis: “This is great when you’re doing an assignment [with multiple students], depending on the outcome or objective of the assignment.”
Audio: “…whether you want to do this by text, or have the students use the microphone, as well as recording by phone, depending on the ability of the student…”
Take a look at this short interview to get an idea of how an educational technology professional uses Voki to enhance learning!
Want to be interviewed for the Voki blog?
Send us an email at submit@voki.com and we’ll get in touch!
As part of our efforts to strengthen our educator community, we’re introducing you to some of our most enthusiastic Voki for Education users. These educators will answer questions about how they use Voki in the classroom.
This week we bring you Mary Beth, an elementary school teacher in North Philadelphia, PA (USA).
“One thing I loved about Voki was that you could get that code without having to log in or get an account. All my students are under 13, so they can’t create an account at school without parent permission… it was really great that the kids could get the [Voki] code without having to log in and get an account.”
“[My students] had some fun personalizing their avatar. I learned a lot about the kids, just looking at how they chose to dress and accessorize their Voki avatars.”
The Voki Blog - Expanding Education 