Technology Turned Interpersonal with Avatars

I recently started a new semester and on the first day of class, had my Digital Literacy students create avatars to use for their Google Apps profile photo.

I have written about Avatars before and their uses in the classroom, and I used the same Avatar Generator with them that I have used for my own profile photo.

I expected this lesson to be about technology...but as often happens in education, my students surprised me. As they were creating their avatars, I overheard many questions and comments.

• Is this what I look like?
• That's not you!
• Which hair color is more like mine?
• That TOTALLY looks like you!
• Where did you find those glasses?
• A pink shirt? You never wear pink!
• Is this me?

Students were interacting, reflecting, thinking and observing . My technology lesson quickly became interpersonal. They were completely engaged and having fun besides. It was a great moment. After this they learned how to save and upload their images to their profile, and my course became filled with funky handcrafted photos of my students.