Avatar

When I say the word "avatar" you might think of James Cameron's movie, "Avatar." In the technology / computing world, however, an Avatar is "a graphical representation of an individual." As students create "online profiles" for themselves on different websites, it is important to remember they do NOT have to use actual photographs of themselves. From an Internet safety standpoint, parents are likely to be more comfortable with students using Avatars instead of photos.

Here is an example of an Avatar Wesley made using the free website, BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF. (This was cropped for free using Picnik.)

Assignment Steps:

• 1. Use one of the Avatar Maker websites provided by Joyce Valenza on her "New Tools Workshop" wiki to create your own Avatar.

  2. Email yourself a copy of the Avatar file so you'll have a copy to keep. (You can also save it to your USB flash drive / thumb drive.)

  3. Upload this Avatar to use on your VoiceThread account. (You can also use this on other websites too, of course!)

  4. Write a post on your class blog and include:

     1. The name and link of the Avatar generator website you used

     2. An inserted copy of your Avatar image

     3. Several sentences evaluating the Avatar generator site, and what grades / situations you think the website could be appropriate to use with students.