So, this was definitely a fun one to explore, (and harass my wife with - but I think that's more of an added bonus than the crux of this "Cool Tool"). The process of creating my bitmoji-avatar took longer than I thought, as I really wanted to infuse my personality in the thing as well as my likeness.
There's definitely a lot of opportunities for personality too - my over the top (and corny) humor in my classroom definitely can find an outlet through these images. I have already inserted them into my lesson agendas, and they certainly grab attention.
It's something novel; even if it leads to eye rolls, novelty and variety add to student engagement. At the very least it has added another flavor in my instructional palette.
It also provides a less antagonistic way to provide feedback and communication. I've found the bitmoji provide a buffer between feedback and the student, making the commentary feel less personally critical. When a student, for the 15th time, forgets to cite their evidence in their argument paper, I can emphasize the frustration of seeing the same repetitive level with implied humor.
One disappointing aspect is that I have found that you can't use bitmoji in comments in google docs, you can only place them in the document themselves. It's fine, and I can work around it, but I would have liked to have the added flexibility.
It's definitely something that I will continue to play around with!
I tortured my spouse with these as well. :) you’ve hit on their best use, fun to switch things up a bit, get some eye rolls and some eyeball attention. Wish they could be used in blog comments and as you said, google doc comments too.
ReplyDelete