In our latest “Interview with Educators“, music teacher Lyndell Allen used a Voki voice recording to help create a fun, interactive environment in her music classes.

We have many lesson plans in the Voki Lesson Plan Database that make use of recorded voices, especially in public speaking, ESL, foreign language and arts classes. The ways of using Voki voice recordings are endless!

In order to get the most out of your voice recording experience, it is important to be prepared with the right tools. There are two ways you can record your voice. One option is to use a computer microphone (either internal or external), and the other is to use a phone. Below, we take you through the steps for using a microphone to record your voice on Voki. Get your microphones ready and your voices warmed up!

Voki Voice Recording with a Microphone

You will need:

1.  A computer

2.  A microphone that works with your computer

Steps:

1.  If your computer does not have a built in microphone, plug in your external microphone to the computer.

2.  Test to make sure the microphone is properly connected to your computer:

a.  Go to My Computer

b.  Click on Control Panel

c.  Choose Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices

d.  Click Sounds and Audio Devices

e.  Click the Voice tab

f.  Under Voice Recording, click Test Hardware

If you have trouble setting up your microphone, ask your IT administrator.

3.  Once your microphone is properly connected, you are set to use Voki voice recording.

4.  Go to www.voki.com and log in or go to the Create section.

5.  Design your Voki as you wish.

6.  Under the Give it a Voice section, click the microphone icon.

7.  Choose “Allow” on the screen that pops up asking for Voki permission to access your microphone.

a.  By clicking the microphone on the pop-up, you can adjust recording volume and echo control.

8.  Close the pop-up.

9.  Prepare what you want to say and press Record.

10. When you have finished recording, press Stop.

11.  Once you are happy with your recording, press Save and Name your audio file.

You will have 60 seconds to record your voice using Voki and 90 seconds with Voki Classroom. Don’t worry if you or your students don’t get it the first time. You can always try again until you are happy with you recording!

Tip: Your saved recordings are available by clicking the Folder icon under Give it a Voice.

Go ahead and try out Voki using a microphone to record your voice! If you have any great lesson ideas that use the voice recording function, please share it with us below in a comment or email to feedback@voki.com.

Until Next Time,

The Voki Team

As you know, we love receiving feedback and ideas from Voki users! Your feedback helps us learn what we are doing right, and how we can make Voki even more useful.

A great suggestion we have received from many teachers using Voki Classroom is to simplify the student login names. Teachers mentioned that the current student logins are rather long, and that students have a hard time remembering them. As you mentioned, students would have an easier time remembering a shorter, simplier login.

So, we have worked hard to implement a solution to this. We are simplifying student logins!

What you need to know:

Below are examples of the current student login formats.

1. The default student logins are comprised of: First name . Middle name . Last name : Teacher email – this can lead to very long student logins. Also, many teachers don’t want their email address to be part of their students’ logins.
2. Therefore, we implemented a minor solution called the Teacher ID. Basically, we allowed teachers to choose a unique ID that would replace their email in student logins. Student logins under teachers who had defined a Teacher ID were comprised of: First name . Middle name . Last name : Teacher ID - this led to shorter student logins, but it was not optimal.

The new and improved Student logins will be comprised of: First initial only + Last name + 3 digits - That’s all! This will make for even shorter and easier-to-remember Student logins. This is an example of the new student login format:

Much Better!

Additionally, teachers will be able to easily modify a student’s login name by simply clicking on it. Clicking on the blue login will open a small window where you may edit the student’s login. This is an example of the editing window:

Important! If you currently have a Voki Classroom account:

YOUR STUDENT LOGINS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY UPDATED ON

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, 2012

Everyone affected will receive an email notification, as well as another reminder the day before the change.

You will also see an alert in your Voki Classroom account, which will be dismiss-able after the change takes place. The alert looks something like this (it’s hard to miss):

What you need to do:

Technically, there’s nothing you need to do, since the change will happen automatically. However, you should provide your students with their new logins once the change occurs.

Tip: If you are unable to tell your students about the change, we’ll do it for you. When students log in using their old logins, they will see an alert. This alert will provide their new login and ask them to use it from now on.

Note: Student passwords are not affected, unless you decide to change them.

We hope that the new student logins makes logging in to Voki Classroom a much simpler process for your students!

Should you have any questions, please leave a comment below and we will be happy to answer you, or email us at feedback@voki.com.

Thanks for the great feedback – keep it coming!

The Voki Team

In an effort to help students learn how to maintain a happy and healthy life, we have created 3 lesson plans that touch on important health topics. Middle School and High School students will learn techniques on how to cope with stress,  create realistic body image expectations, and understand the potentially harmful effects of some common consumer products.

Stress, unhealthy eating habits, and a lack of regular exercise are a combination that threaten the well-being of many students. These topics deserve much more attention in school than they currently receive, so open up the discussion in your class and let your students share their ideas with Voki!

Remember: The grade level we assign to each lesson plan is not a requisite – you can use most Voki lesson plans that were written for a higher, or lower, grade than the one you teach – if you think they fit! Also, remember that you can adapt Voki lesson plans to fit your style, or your students’ abilities.

Coping with Stress (Health, High School) – Students explore the issue of stress in school and daily life, and understand that it is an issue many people have to cope with. Students make lists of things they have to do in the week and organize them in a way to try and reduce stress. The class discusses different ways to cope with stress and decrease it in daily life. The teacher will lead the students in a meditative yoga practice at the end of the lesson. Students will create a Voki that talks about how they plan to deal with stress in the future.

Body Image and its Influencers (Middle School, Health) – Students think about and discuss body image and where body image ideals come from. Students explore different body image influencers, such as the media, family, and culture, and compare and contrast these ideals with reality. Students will analyze their own perceptions and use Voki to talk about positive perceptions of their, and others’, appearance.

Voki Health PSA (Middle and High School, Health) – Students are assigned various popular consumer products and supplements to research and evaluate. After viewing examples of different health PSAs online, students will have the chance to create their own using Voki. Students will learn about how to maintain good health and the insider information on products that should be avoided or reduced. Students will think about healthier alternatives to the products they research.

As always, we would love to hear how you are using Voki in class. If you have a lesson plan that uses Voki (or that can be adapted to incorporate Voki) and you would like to share, please email us at lessonplans@voki.com.

Sincerely,

The Voki Team

You can easily email a Voki to anyone using the Voki “Send to a Friend” option. Follow these simple steps and you will be able to correspond with people à la Voki.

1.  Once you have saved your Voki, click the “Send to a Friend” button (under the Voki preview).

2.  Enter the email to which you want to send the Voki and hit “Enter.” You can repeat this step to add up to 5 email addresses.

Tip: Make sure to enter an email Subject and a message.

3.  Click “Send.”

Step One: Enter Sender and Recipient Information

Message Sent

Once your message has been sent, the recipient should receive your Voki immediately. The email that they receive will look like this:

Voki Email

Tip: To make sure you or your recipients receive Voki messages, ask them to add notifications@voki.com to their safe senders list.

When the email is opened, the recipient will be able to view your Voki and will also have the option to reply back with another Voki or forward it to someone else. They will also have the option of saving the Voki to their account.

Tip: Since you can save an emailed Voki to your account, this is also a way to Copy a Voki (just email it to yourself!)!

Recipient Voki View

Have fun using Voki and sharing with your friends! We hope this clears up any confusion you may have had about how to send Voki through e-mail. If you have any questions about this process, leave a comment below and we will be happy to answer you!

Until Next Time,

The Voki Team

Answer: There are a few ways to do it. In this post, we’re going to walk you through one of the easier ways. Below, we show you the easiest way to make your Voki widget work without using a third-party. You’re only minutes away from having a Voki greeting on your WP homepage, ready to greet your readers!

Using Voki’s Embed Code

1. Open a Word document or other text editor.

2. Log in to Voki and WordPress.

3. In WordPress, go to the “Appearance” tab, and select the “Widgets” option.

4. Look at your widget options. Choose the “Text” widget and drag it to the sidebar display of your choice.

5. Now, in My Voki, select your Voki of choice, and click “Publish your Voki.”

6. Copy the entire embed code.

7. Paste the code in your open Word document.

Okay! Good job, we have made it this far. Let’s pat ourselves on the back and take a couple of breaths before we move forward. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale…

Almost there! Now for the finishing touches…

8. In the Word doc, highlight the source code, or “src” code. This can be found by locating src= and highlighting the hyperlink that is in between the quotation marks (it’s a pretty long link, so make sure you copy everything in between the quotation marks). See the example below.

9. To make sure you copied the link correctly, paste the highlighted link into your internet browser (but not this window or tab!) and press Enter. Your Voki should appear on the page in full screen (pretty cool!).

11. Copy and Paste your new embed code from the Word doc, into the WordPress Text box (and click Save).

12. Check out your blog! Your Voki should be happy to greet you!

TIP: If you don’t see the Voki, and you’re certain you followed the steps correctly, try clearing your browser’s cookies and cache, and reopening the page.

For those of you with WordPress blogs, we hope this helps you out! If you know of an (even) easier way to make Voki work with WordPress, please share it with us below in a comment!

And, if you have any ideas for future Voki Tip of the Week posts, feel free to share them below, and we’ll add them to the list!

Until next time,

The Voki Team

www.voki.com

Have you seen Voki Classroom?
Check out the new Voki classroom management system, and the intro video, right here.

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!

Ranging from 6th to 12th grade, these lesson plans are designed to help students explore art, contextualize its meanings, produce artwork of their own, and make connections with light, shadow, color and mood to create a certain effect.

Along with lesson plans that focus on visual arts, we have also included  two lessons regarding the art of film. Your students will be in charge of writing and producing their own short films and using their knowledge of basic art composition to create entertaining and visually interesting shorts.

(We went a little crazy with the art lesson plans; but hey, what kind of renowned art isn’t a little nutty?)

Remember: The grade level we assign to each lesson plan is not a requisite – you can use most Voki lesson plans from a higher, or lower, grade than the one you teach – if you think they fit! Also, remember that you can adapt Voki lesson plans to fit your style, or your students’ abilities.

Art Interpretations (6th Grade, Arts) -  Students are assigned one photocopy of a famous work of art. They research the background and context in which the work was created. Students then create a Voki that interprets the work’s significance at the time it was created, and follow up with a brief, impromptu personal opinion of the piece.

An Artist’s History (7th Grade, Arts) -  Students discover more about notable artists and create a brief presentation that showcases an artist’s information, famous pieces, and a student analysis of the work. Students use Voki to talk about how they feel about the art and what it means to them personally. By the end of the lesson, students will have constructed an artist database to refer to before tests.

Immediate Attraction (8th Grade, Arts) -  This is a quick exercise to help students discover their art preferences and interests. Students will have 45 seconds to flip through art books and find one piece that catches their attention. After they have gone through 3 books, students will analyze each of 3 pieces of art. Students will use Voki to describe the art, how it makes them feel, think, and what kind of reactions their chosen pieces evoke.

A New Family Tree (9th Grade, Arts) -  Students use copies of family photos and magazine clips to recreate a picture of their fantasy family tree. By using various mediums, students will make collages that use real life mixed with various aspects of their imagination to create an avant-garde piece of artwork. Students will then use Voki to describe the brief history of their made-up family.

The Meaning of Color (10th Grade, Arts) - Students work together, and alone, using color to convey a story. Students will be divided into two groups of warm and cool colors. As a team, students work together cutting out colored paper and “collaging” to create a group piece of art. After the group work is done, each student will create a Voki that tells a story that represents the artwork.

The Identity Project (11th Grade, Arts) -  Students use video to create a short film that explores their identity. Students are encouraged to use whatever they would like to make their video and have all creative freedom as long as they remain on topic or can justify any deviation from the topic. Students will then create a Voki that introduces the video to the class.

A Guide to What?! (12th Grade, Arts) - Students draw three cards from a bag that contains different words. Students then create an instructional video that somehow incorporates the three words into the activity or idea being taught. Students will create a Voki that begins the video presentation by explaining what words were drawn and what the instructional video is going to teach.

As always, we would love to hear how you are using Voki in class. If you have a lesson plan that uses Voki (or that can be adapted to incorporate Voki) and you would like to share, please email us at lessonplans@voki.com.

Sincerely,

The Voki Team

With this new set of lesson plans, you and your students can talk about class resolutions and make a pact to work towards your new goals and be supportive of each other. You can also learn about different calendars used around the world and their New Year’s day celebrations.

Remember: The grade level we assign to each lesson plan is not a requisite – you can use Voki lesson plans from a higher, or lower, grade than the one you teach – if you think they fit! Also, remember that you can adapt Voki lesson plans to fit your style, or your students’ abilities.

What is your New Year’s Resolution? (Elementary, Public Speaking, Writing, Other) - A new year can bring a fresh start to your class. With this New Year’s lesson plan, you and your students can reflect on the last year in class and how this year can be better. Students will learn about resolutions and be introspective in order to bring out the best from within.

Calendars Around the World (Middle School, Social Studies, Other) - Students will learn about other calendars that exist in the world and about the cultures that observe different New Year’s days. Each student will create a Voki that teaches the class about the history of a different calendar. They will also use Voki to talk about when and how certain cultures celebrate their New Year.

Celebrating New Year’s Eve (High School, History, Geography, Social Studies, Other) - Students will discover more about the history and traditions associated with the New Year’s Eve celebrations in other parts of the world. In this interactive lesson, students gather into small groups and use Vokis to give an in depth oral presentation about the history of different culture’s New Year’s traditions. They will also do a show and tell with a visual that the students construct that represents the culture they studied. After the presentations are complete, the class can have their own New Year’s party using all of the customs and traditions they learned about.

As always, we would love to hear how you are using Voki in class. If you have a lesson plan that uses Voki (or that can be adapted to incorporate Voki) and you would like to share, please email us at lessonplans@voki.com.

Happy 2012!

Sincerely,

The Voki Team

We decided to collect our favorite ways of using Voki here for all to see. Please browse through the list to learn more about Voki and how teachers from around the world use it to make class a virtual blast! Hopefully you will be inspired to come up with other ways to make Voki a part of your class. Below is a short list of some of our favorites but believe us, there are so many more out there!

10 Ways you can use Voki:

1. Improve Confidence
2. Learn Chinese
3. Voki Introductions
4. Interactive Instruction
5. Break Barriers using Multiple Means of Engagement
6. Become Digitally Literate
7. Voki Dictation for Language Class
8. “Pass it On” Buddy Method
9. Update Students and Parents on Class Blogs
10. Make Learning Exciting!

Thanks to all who made this list possible and to everyone that has made Voki a part of their classroom! We look forward to the new year and to hear back from you about the fun and innovative ways you use Voki in your lessons. Who knows? You and your students may find yourselves and your Vokis on our blog!

Happy New Year to all! May your 2012 be filled with happiness, gratitude, and new experiences!

Below are a few Writing lesson plans that will enable students to write freely and use their imaginations with confidence. Many middle-schoolers consider writing a dreaded task, and tend to suffer from Writer’s Block. Too many times, students are required to write technical and analytic essays, at the expense of developing their creative writing skills with prose and short stories.

The lessons below are designed to help students gain confidence writing out their thoughts by using repetition and creative topics. Each exercise encourages individual perspective, unique ideas, and thought with little imaginative constraint. By introducing students into an atmosphere that is largely dictated by their free thought, writing will hopefully become an approachable subject that will enable students to handle writing assignments ease and fluidity, no matter what the topic.

Remember: The grade level we assign to each lesson plan is not a requirement – you can use Voki lesson plans from a higher, or lower, grade than the one you teach – if you think they fit! Also, remember that you can adapt Voki lesson plans to fit your style, or your students’ abilities.

Paragraph Practice (6th Grade Writing) - Students gain writing practice with a regularly scheduled, one paragraph writing exercise using Voki. By doing this exercise once a week, students will write in different styles and voices and will also be more accustomed to writing without preparation. At the end of the year, students will be able to listen to their paragraphs and evaluate their improvement in class.

Creative Writing Crunch (7th Grade Writing) - Students draw a prompt from a bag and have 15 minutes to write a creative narrative. Once the 15 minutes are over, students will use Voki to introduce their creative story and then take turns sharing their Voki and reading their work. This exercise will help students develop confidence in writing and technique. By using light-hearted prompts, students will have fun using their imagination.

Character Guess Who (8th Grade Writing) - Students will create a Voki and write a paragraph that describes their favorite book or movie character in detail.  Students will be encouraged to write using imagery and descriptive details with the goal of painting a picture with their words. After each Voki presentation is given, the classmates will try to guess who the character is.

As always, we would love to hear how you are using Voki in class. If you have a lesson plan that uses Voki (or that can be adapted to incorporate Voki) and you would like to share, please email us at lessonplans@voki.com.

Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

The Voki Team