Creative Use of Technology for Open House

Mrs. Sarsfield, a spanish teacher, came in with a dilema regarding open house this year.  Due to the fact that the date was changed and that she now had an away game to attend, she was caught in a bind.  She did not want to be one of those teachers who just puts up a piece of paper on her door saying, 'I am sorry that I am not here.' and leave her email address for parents to contact her.

Instead, she wanted to some how 'tape herself' for the parents to view what she had to say.  Long story short, we decided that a web 2.0 tool would work great...Voki that is.  For those of you who do not know what Voki is, it is a website where you are able to create an avatar that speaks to the viewer.  Basically, you create the avatar, as well as the background.  Then, you can either type the text or speak the words that you want the avatar to say.  (We had some slight issues with the speaking component so Mrs. Sarsfield ended up typing all of the text).  The best part about it is when you move the mouse around, the eyes follow it!

There are some limitations to the free version but it was still worth the time and energy it took to making a Voki.  For instance, Mrs. Sarsfield could not use the original avatar that she made look like her, unless she wanted to pay for a teacher license.

Mrs. Sarsfield plans on providing strips of paper outside of her classroom encouraging her parents to visit her website to listen to the Voki that she created for each of her classes.  She provided a direct link as well as a QR code for parents.  (Mrs. Sarsfield took the embed code of each of the Vokis to place them on her website.)  Click HERE to view from her website

I think that this a GREAT way of using technology.  It shows the parents that Mrs. Sarsfield still does care and, in my mind, shows her creative and thoughtful side.  If you would like some thoughts on how you can use a bit of technology during open house, whether you will be there in person or not, just let me know!