My name is Craig Kemp and I am Head of ICT & Learning Innovation at Avondale Grammar School in Singapore. I am an experienced New Zealand educator with a passion for Student Voice and Global ‘Connectedness’.

Being a globally connected educator means that you use tools to support the learning of your students on a global scale. In the 21st Century Learning Environments we work in, our job as educators is to support the learning journey of the digital natives in our care. Digital natives are engaged more actively now than ever before, through the use of technology on handheld and personal devices. This natural instinct to utilise technology on every occasion to support their learning makes it essential that educators are up to speed with how and why students use their devices.

Voki is a tool that I have used and still do use every week to support learning in my classroom and around my school. Voki is a free online tool that helps engage and connect learners anywhere and at anytime. I have seen it successfully used with new language learners and as an extension tool to support those students needing another vehicle to present their learning.

The good thing about Voki’s is that it is a flexible program and can be used across the curriculum and for many different purposes.

I have started to get hooked into creating a flipped classroom, as the current trends in education would suggest we should be. Voki is becoming a tool I am using to break up my lessons and add a bit of spice. It is exciting for the students to have variety.

Voki has become a tool in my school to encourage student voice. Often, in our classrooms, we have students that dominate conversation. It is hard to get true voice from shy students who are not strong at verbally express ing themselves. Voki has become a tool to share learning experiences or knowledge for those students so everyone is on a level playing field. I highly recommend giving this a go in your classroom.

In my classroom, students get the choice of how to present. Voki is one of many tools that students use on a regular basis to present their learning, either as a whole or as a part of their presentation.

I love Voki because it is easily embeddable into blogs or Wikispaces and is easy to use and very much student driven.

I highly recommend giving it a go today and sharing your learning amongst your teaching community.

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If you missed his post on how to use Voki, check it out here.

Follow Craig on Twitter: @mrkempnz

Website: http://mrkempnz.com/