Voki

Voki—a combination of “vox” (meaning “voice” in Latin) and “Loki” (a prankster figure in Norse mythology)—is an online tool that allows users to create talking avatars.  Users are able to customize their avatars as well as add voice via telephone, text, microphone, or file.  Vokis are embeddable in Desire2Learn and can be emailed to friends and colleagues.

Voki can be used by instructors to provide brief announcements to students in interesting and memorable ways. By using tools like Voki, instructors can develop engaging teaching personas in online courses, where doing so can be a significant challenge.

Go to http://www.voki.com to develop your own Voki—you’ll need to sign up for a free account if you want to save your creation.  Here’s a sample Voki (screenshot):