Jeff sits down with Christy Brazemore from Voki to discuss how educators and students worldwide are using Voki's powerful talking avatars in their curriculum to meet not only their curriculum standards, but to engage the imaginations of students of all ages and subject areas. About Voki Oddcast Inc. is a leader in the development of ed tech tools with the creation of Voki in 2011. Every month, thousands of Voki avatars are created and served worldwide. Oddcast is also known for developing avatar-based social marketing campaigns including the world-renowned ElfYourself and many other blockbuster programs. Oddcast, which is dedicated to putting media technology in the hands of users to unleash their creativity, has won numerous awards and has developed programs for thousands of clients including Fortune 500 brands such as Coca-Cola, Verizon, JP Morgan Chase, and McDonalds. Links of interest Twitter - @officialvoki Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voki/?fref=nf About Christina Christina Bazemore is a Content Development Coordinator at Oddcast. She received her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education from Georgia Southern University and her Master’s Degree in Integrating Technology in the K-12 Classroom from Walden University. She was a classroom teacher for nearly twenty years. Her teaching career included researching best practices of technology integration focusing in the areas of reading/grammar, writing and math for the K-5 classrooms. Other career highlights include development and implementation of a county wide technology progress report that focused on ISTE, national technology standards, to use to communicate with the parents and administration to show students’ progress in the technology lab. In the leadership role for her peers, she took on the role as technology trainer and support personnel to the Mamie Lou Gross Elementary school faculty and staff by providing group and one on one training sessions in the area of technology hardware and software integration, design and trouble shooting. She collaborated with Special Education teachers by designing a technology integrated curriculum that met special education student’s needs, focusing in the areas of Autism and Learning Disabilities in Math and ELA, in order to help the students meet and exceed their IEP goals. She developed an instructional program that Integrated Personal Data Assistants into the Math and Writing curriculum for 5th Grade students that was highlighted on the Jacksonville Florida Action4 News and interviewed by Mark Spain in 2005. Her research interests include Exploring Technology to Address Student Multiple Intelli Thank You For Your Podcast Reviews Are you enjoying Educational Podcasting Today or other shows on the TeacherCast Network, please share your thoughts with the world by commenting on iTunes today. I enjoy reading and sharing your comments on the podcast each week. Ask Me Your Podcasting or WordPress Question Are you interested in starting your own podcast? Do you need help creating an awesome WordPress website? I am available for 1:1 consulting. Please visit my homepage and I will help you launch your personal brand today! 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ED TECH STARTUP ODDCAST EXPANDS “VOKI”CLASSROOM PROGRAM AND LAUNCHES NEW APP IN RESPONSE TO TEACHER DEMAND Avatars and Gaming Tech Shown To Enhance Learning New York, NY, May 2, 2016 – Today, educational technology company Oddcast launched a new version of its Voki website for teachers along with a free iOS application called Voki for Education. Voki is an ed tech tool adopted by millions of teachers and students that enables the creation of talking characters or avatars in the classroom. The mobile app was created to mirror the online experience and provide students with a convenient and fun way to work on their assignments and projects. Voki educational characters have been shown to enhance classroom teaching and maintain a spirit of fun and engagement among students at all levels. Voki can be used to teach everything from reading to history to foreign language and is fully customizable to create historical figures, cartoons, animals, and even portray the students themselves. Voices can be recorded, and talking Vokis can be emailed and shared on social media. Avatar-based learning in the classroom not only helps students become more engaged, but speaks to a larger shift in how students consume technology while learning. In a recent Oddcast survey of teachers who have used Vokiin the classroom, teachers pointed to the importance of using Voki, with 71% saying that using Voki “excites students making them more apt to learn." Says Oddcast CEO Gil Sideman, “We designed Voki to engage students creatively, making them active participants in their education, and it is gratifying to see this approach working in so many classrooms in the U.S. and around the world. This new version enables us to offer teachers the opportunity to try Voki in presentations and lesson plans." The new edition enables teachers to test the software for classroom presentations and advanced student assignments for free. The paid Voki product allows for a more complete package of services which includes a lesson management system for Voki assignments, enhanced privacy protection for students, and a enhanced version of the presentation program. Voki also offers an ever growing library of Common Core-aligned lessons - reimagined as Voki presentations. The content is crafted by teachers certified in Literacy, ESL, General Education, and Special Education and is presented by animated Voki characters. Further, at a time when supplemental educational resources are often hard to come by, and teachers are forced to buy their own, free tools are especially valued. A recent report from The NPD Group found that by the end of the 2014-2015 school year, K-12 teachers spent roughly $500 on school supplies with 47% of it sourced from their personal funds. With school budgets being slashed around the country, access to free platforms like Voki is more important than ever for educators. According to edtech expert and middle school teacher Matthew Farber, author of, Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning, “My students are more likely to be engaged in the classroom when technology tools like Voki are part of the learning process. Voki allows my students to demonstrate their learning in a unique and meaningful way. Plus, it's playful, fun, and intuitive to use!” For more information about Voki, log on to http://www.voki.com/. About Oddcast Oddcast Inc. is a leader in the development of ed tech tools with the creation of Voki in 2011. Every month, thousands of Voki avatars are created and served worldwide. Oddcast is also known for developing avatar-based social marketing campaigns including the world-renowned ElfYourself and many other blockbuster programs. Oddcast, which is dedicated to putting media technology in the hands of users to unleash their creativity, has won numerous awards and has developed programs for thousands of clients including Fortune 500 brands such as Coca-Cola, Verizon, JP Morgan Chase, and McDonalds.