This week when exploring different audio tools to use in the classroom or library, I found three that stood out to me.

In the past, my students have had a lot of fun with Voki.  I’ve used this tool as a vehicle for students to present information that they’ve researched, and also to give book recommendations to classmates.  This tool is super easy to use and doesn’t require a login, which makes it perfect for elementary students.  To use Voki, students simply choose a character that can be modified down to the color of their features, and then use the microphone to record their voice.  After recording, the character animates the sound.  Students can save the Voki in the form of a hyperlink and post, perhaps, in their Schoology page.

I had SO much fun playing with the Chrome Music Lab.  As we get into the final week of school, this is something that I’ll definitely use for a free time activity.  The Shared Piano and Song Maker were two of my favorite tools on the website that I think my students will really enjoy.  This tool would be excellent for a Makerspace in the library.  Students typically do a lot of building with their hands in a Makerspace, so this would be a fun technology option for students to flex their creative muscles!

Vocaroo is another fun tool that I could see myself using in my classroom or in the library.  We as teachers often want to hear our students read, but find it hard to listen to every student as often as we would like to.  Vocaroo has no time limit, so it would be a great tool for students to use to record themselves reading and post for their teacher to listen to when convenient. It’s a very easy tool to use- no login required.

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to embed the audio here (which frustrated me like no other (Audra, teach me your magic!!!) so here is a link for the audio recording made with the Online Voice Recorder.