My second tool

Vokis
I had a lot of fun with this tool and believe it has a lot of potential to be used in learning contexts.

Strengths:

• It is engaging, it's fun, it's cute.
• The site is easy to navigate. I had Prep students making their own Vokis on the interactive whiteboard using the pen to scroll down and click on their selections.
• Vokis can be embedded into Blogs, Websites and Wikis.
• Students can add their own touch to their character.
• Backgrounds can be uploaded, as I did for my Voki Vicki, I uploaded a picture of inside my Prep class.
• Audio can be added through typing it in, a microphone or by adding a audio file. Nice to have a choice.
• It gives teachers a different and exciting way of presenting information which engages students both visually and aurally.
• Students can practice their oral language skills and enhance their confidence by recording their voices on to a Voki.
• The Voki sight is not blocked in schools by Education Queensland.

Weaknesses:

• I remember people had trouble embedding the Voki into their Powerpoints and Prezis, I have not yet tried this.
• I have had my own troubles trying to record the voice of my Voki with a microphone, it seems to work well with some computers and not work with others.
• On some computers the Voki takes forever to load up on the screen.
• I had some trouble embedding the link into my website, as when I first published my Voki they gave me a link which I copied and it worked well, but when I went to retrieve the link again it was not the same and my Voki had the sites background with it. See my first page of my weebly. This could just be me, but I did find these points (adding the voice and linking), not always smooth sailing and sometimes was dependent on what computer I was using.
• What the students say on their Voki may have to be monitored, to ensure that they are sensible and do not use bad language.
• They don't have every kind of character in their range.

Opportunities:

• Vokis can be used as a multimodal resource to engage students in their learning.
• Students can create Voki personalities to share their work in a fun and engaging way.
• Vokis can be used by younger students to practice the skill of navigating their way around the computer screen.
• Vokis can help improve students oral language skills.

Threats:

• The availability and speed of the internet may restrict teachers from using the Voki site in a lesson.
• If technology lets you down, or maybe your not skilled enough, you may run into trouble like I did, recording the voices on to the Voki. Reminder: when using technology ALWAYS have a back-up plan, just in case.