Using Avatars in Education

I am targeting very young learners in year levels 1 and 2 with this Voki Avatar. I would use it in the Engage phase of Problem Based Learning. My intention is to engage the very young learner with the talking and moving cartoon, and appeal to the very young child's fascination with dolphins. The dolphin is a likeable creature of the ocean which I am confident the very young would want to protect. Learners are engaged by this authentic (meaningful) setting for learning.

I give the learners a defined problem as a statement, then a question. Confronted with a real-world situation, I am placing the learners in an active role of 'problem solver'.

In this case, I would incorporate the Voki Avatar in a WebQuest which learners would work through to solve the defined problem. Learners would encounter this Voki Avatar at the very beginning of their Inquiry quest to hook them in.



Kearsley,G., & Schneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning [Electronic Version]. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from
http://home.sprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm