Voki was fun to play with, though I was disappointed to go through the entire sign up and creation process just to find out at the very end that only paid subscribers can embed their content on a WordPress blog.

I wish that I could add a pause between the setup of my joke and the punchline (and I tried through various methods), but the lack of a pause combined with the lack of inflection adds to the cheesy humor. In the future, I would definitely record the audio myself in order to best capture the appropriate timing and stresses. I did, however, appreciate that there was a way to input text and convert it to computer-spoken audio. In a computer lab full of 28 students all trying to simultaneously record audio, this is the perfect solution. It’s odd, though, that some words are mispronounced when you switch between voices in the same regional accent. Cultural diversity in both the languages and the accents was a pleasant surprise, as they include a broad range from Czech to South African.

I see a lot of potential with this website, especially giving students the ability to bring a story to life, whether it is a story of their own creation or one off the library’s shelf.

After creating my Voki talking animation, I checked out the other sandbox tools. Vocaroo’s website wasn’t working, but I was able to explore Audiopal, SpeakPipe, and Clyp. These websites are a powerful tool for students who have difficulty putting their thoughts into writing, whether physically or intellectually. Instead of facing the hurdle of putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, students can simply click “record” and speak aloud. The program can capture their thoughts, opinions, and imagination, without the impediment of translating their thoughts to written word. I am reminded of several former students of mine that would have benefited greatly from these websites, and I will keep these services in mind for my future students.