Technologies and Creative Learning

ED.893.708

Assignment 2: Virtual Voki Character

Due Date:
• End of Session 2 in the Discussion Board forum: Session 2 Gallery Walk
o Copy and paste the link to your Voki.
o This is an individual assignment.

Introduction

The purpose of this assignment is to create a persona as in Horton and Quesenbery (2014) that
is an aggregate representation of a stakeholder in your context. The aggregate includes race,
ethnicity, gender, SES, dis/abilities, and other attributes that will inform you about how this
persona will learn using technology.

Directions

1. Using the username and password emailed to your JHU email address, sign up to Dr.
Sharon Mistretta’s Voki classroom account:
o Navigate to https://www.voki.com/.
o Your username and password are connected to Dr. Mistretta’s Voki classroom.

2. Watch the tutorial about creating and editing a Voki.

3. This is an individual assignment. Students’ personas can interact in future assignments.

4. Develop a persona as in Horton and Quesenbery (2014) that is an aggregate representation

of a stakeholder in your context. The aggregate includes race, ethnicity, gender, SES,
dis/abilities, and other attributes that will inform you about how this persona will learn using
technology.

Consider the following assertions made by Dollinger and Dollinger (2017) regarding
Erikson’s viewpoint that adults lose their spontaneity and playful qualities associated
with childhood that children use to explore new identity elements. Regarding your
aggregate stakeholder persona, what contributes to the retention or reduction of
spontaneity and playfulness that sustains Erikson’s attributes of a creative person?
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a. Able to think visually

b. Trusts their senses
c. Has a spirit of curiosity and wonder
d. Is comfortable with solitude

5. Create a Voki virtual character that introduces itself to the class. For example, here is the
script that “Hector,” a persona that I created about an aggregate of students in the context of my
intervention in a poverty demographic, will speak on the Voki website. Please note that a typed
script has a limit of 900 characters (including spaces). As described in the Voki tutorial, you may
record your voice that the Voki will “speak” when a user clicks the play button. I chose a
character “voice” in the drop-down menu to have the software interpret Hector’s voice. Here is
the live link to my Voki example:

o http://tinyurl.com/y64lgzql
o Or use this QR code to read with the camera of your mobile device to view Hector’s
Voki:

Example: Hector’s Voki QR

o This is the transcript:

“Hello, my name is Hector, and I am a freshman in high school. My mom and I came
to the U.S. undocumented from the Dominican Republic. My mom works two jobs, so
I am mostly on my own. We do not have any other family in the U.S. I used to play
soccer and do really well in school in the DR. The kids in my new school make fun of
my accent and are jealous of my soccer skills. It is hard to understand the teacher
and the kids in my new school. Sometimes, I feel really sad, but the soccer coach
helps me a lot. I do not have a computer or internet at home. I have a cell phone and
can walk to a Wi-Fi hotspot in my city. I am really good at building and fixing things.
Sometimes, I ask the neighbors if I can carry their groceries for them, and they give
me a quarter. I would rather work than go to school.”
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References

Dollinger, S. J., & Dollinger, S. C. (2017). Creativity and identity. In M. Karwowski & J. C.
Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self: Effect of beliefs, self-efficacy, mindset, and
identity (pp. 50–64). Academic
Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jhu/detail.action?docID=4812381

Horton, S., & Quesenbery, W. (2014). A web for everyone: Designing accessible user
experiences. Rosenfeld Media.

Lebuda, I., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2017). Me, myself, I, and creativity: Self-concepts of
eminent creators. In M. Karwowski & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self:
Effect of beliefs, self-efficacy, mindset, and identity (pp. 137–152). Academic
Press.

Oleynick, V. C., Thrash, T. M., LeFew, M. C., Moldovan, E. G., & Kieffaber, P. D. (2014).
The scientific study of inspiration in the creative process: Challenges and
opportunities. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(436).
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00436

Proudfoot, D., & Fath, S. (2020). Signaling creative genius: How perceived social
connectedness influences judgments of creative potential. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220936061

Snyder, H. T., Sowden, P. T., Silvia, P. J., & Kaufman, J. C. (2020). The creative self: Do
people distinguish creative self-perceptions, efficacy, and personal
identity? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the
Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000317