Students in the phillipines have made a wiki in support of Lively. They are sharing their avatars and the rooms that they have made along with screenshots of their rooms and avatars. This is a wonderful thing to see that other kids are using this website.
Kids love virtual worlds and there are great applications. Google is making a mistake. I WISH WISH they would listen to these students who see great potential.
Voki is an animation website . It is “ a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profiles and in email messages”. This web2.0 tool is very important in education as It enables teachers and students to express themselves on the web in their own voice , using a talking character.
This is a must try site which provides an amazing 3D world which teaches English and maths core skills. Players race against two other randomly chosen online players of a similar level. The questions start out very easy and adapt to the performance of the player. The questions are read out and some are displayed on the screen. The player just clicks on the correct multiple choice answer to increase their speed. There is a download for PCs and Macs as well as apps for iPad and Android. There are teacher accounts which allow you to make logins for lots of children quickly. When there log in students will be asked to design an avatar. Because the resource requires a sizeable download it takes a little time to set up, but because it runs on your local device game play is very smooth and quick.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools
This is a fun, cute, social 3D island world designed especially with children in mind. Children make an avatar and follow a quick tutorial and explanation of safety rules. The children can take their characters on quests, play educational games and interact with other users of the site. A fabulous feature of the site is that users are encouraged to 'make and do' offline as well. These activities can be uploaded to a scrapbook and multimedia blog. Offline activities also generate points in the game. The scrapbook is defaulted to private and no photos of children will be approved by moderators if the scrapbook is public. All the usual safety features are in place, including a 'report' and 'block' other users button. The basic account with most features is free, but there are optional 'paid for' extras.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools
This is a superb maths games and activities site. Design an avatar and stroll around and choose what activities you would like to do in a range of maths topics. The games are great and the graphics are well designed and child-friendly.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths
Got an email from this group - would love to hear from those who have played Karooba -- here is the information they sent me:
"The Karooba site includes the following features:
* One the largest collections of education-based (over 100,000) trivia questions
* Educational games that allow you to:
o Challenge friends around the world in one-on-one trivia games
o Join a tournament on education based topics or set up a tournament of friends or classmates
o Try your luck in a new Find-it game
o Create your own quizzes and see how others score on your test
* State-of-the-art avatar tool (Karoobatar) - create your near real life or cartoon characters
* A real time communications tool (Karoobacator) - Instant message with your friends without the risk of foul language.
Karooba was created and is maintained by a computer consulting firm based in Minnesota. The firm's staff, which is mostly comprised of parents with school-age kids, is very concerned (like most parents are these days) about what their children view on the Internet. With this in mind, Karooba was designed to be a 'safe haven' where kids can go to play online, as well as learn…and more importantly one that parents (and teachers) can trust. "
a mobile video platform that lets you record and upload videos with your cell phone.Though the app has been around since 2008 it's now qualifies as an essential download, thanks to a host of new updates, including the addition of auto-focus and a boost to the capture speed to 15 frames per second.
Another new feature is the ability to instantly auto-sync with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a variety of blogging services. You can also send video to friends and relatives as a text message, or simply save it to your Qik profile (for safekeeping).
In terms of functionality users can now zoom and edit movies on the spot (including altering brightness and adding effects, like the one that allows you to transform subjects into Na'vi from Avatar.)
Qik recently teamed up with a global WiFi provider, which means you can keep connected even if you're out of reach of your cell carrier's coverage.And it's available on nearly every major platform (with the exception of Palm WebOS), including Google's Nexus One.
"# record using your phone or VoIP
Recording audio has never been easier! Simply call us using a touch-tone telephone or a VoIP client. No microphone or audio editing software required.
VoIP recording is FREE! Telephone recording is just $0.10/min - there are no other costs involved.
# create podcasts
Are you an audiophile? No. Then why concern yourself with the complexities of podcasting? Let us do the heavy lifting. Yes. Upload your studio produced episodes. Each of your channels can be subscribed to by an RSS client like iTunes, IE7, Firefox or any number of web-based portals.
# post audio to your blogs
Post audio content to your blogs! We integrate with popular blogging software like Blogger, TypePad, WordPress and more!
# create audio greetings
Create audio greetings to welcome users to your website! Or use a greeting as an audio avatar or signature in an email!
# host conference calls
Connect with colleagues and friends in conference calls!
# tell me more "
Some big changes with discussions on google docs that I like (except I can't figure out how to change my avatar for the discussion thread.) Watch it, however, as many email notifications for discussions are TURNED ON.
Julie and I are excited about participating in the ISTE Eduverse Talks next Tuesday 5PM SLT. Here are the show details.
Just think, if you come in, you can see HOW BAD I am at operating my avatar. (Actually, I don't think I"m as bad as I think, but my strength is definitely scripting.)
Julie is having to get up at 2 am to make this happen but she is such an amazing dear -- she is doing it! We are SOOOOOO excited and hope you'll take a venture into SL to join us.
We're so excited. Maybe you'll join us. If not, their blog will have the video and audio. Hey, and if you come, I"ll hang around afterwards -- would love to acquire some notecards about your projects. Let's post these in my office in the C.A.V.E. or any where else.
When we talk about flattening, it is not just about these projects but all of the projects going on out there -- so share your notecard and we'll find a place to collect and share them all. HOpe to meet you soon!
I'm CoolCat Whitman on Second Life (and ReactionGrid -- my favorite home for virtual worlds.)
Tammy Worcester's top 20 Favorite web tools include: avatar editor, jam studio, odosketch, several things from igoogle, and more. This is her handout given out at iste2011.
"The iPad generation. That's what I call the children of today. Now that's neither a positive or a negative nickname, just a nickname, however, whatever view you have on it, the impact on our teaching is huge.
Children are brought up with bright colours, avatars, HD and 4K screens, virtual worlds full of weird and wonderful characters and then there's school. I believe that it is vital that we, as educators, sit up and take note of this and rather than fight against it, embrace it. Make your teaching as fun and as interactive as you can. Bring lessons to life with hands-on experiences, opportunities to enquire and lessons where the children can investigate the world around them."
Cool website that turns real photos into cartoons uvatar (looks more like you than a random avatar) and video cartoonizer (cool) which takes video and turns it into a cartoon. This should be another cool website to enjoy w/ your digital photography and eventually videos.