Can You Hear Me Now?

As I was working with the different items in the sandbox this week, I made some early guesses as to which ones I might like and which ones I wouldn't.  I was very surprised at the end result after I played with a few of the tools. 

I thought that the Voki would be my winner, as it gave you an option to have both an audio and visual.  Since so many people are visual learners, I thought this would help engage the audience.  I struggled with this tool for a few reasons.  One, once I finished customizing my avatar and making my recording, I wasn't happy with the outcome.  The final product was a bit too creepy for my taste when the avatar I selected started talking.  The other challenge I found was getting the resulting file posted.  Many of the methods for posting were not included in the free version (including posting to blogger).  I think, though, that this tool would be very engaging in the classroom because the students would be engaged by the avatars.  I think you could use it for class announcements or other brief messages. 

The next tool I reviewed was Blabberize.  This one was also rejected quite quickly, as the idea of talking pictures has never been high on my list of things I like.  However, I felt that it was useful to have learned about the site and how it works, because I think kids probably think this is hysterical, and it would be good to know how to use it and be able to teach them how to make audio clips for their own use.

Finally, I remembered why simple is sometimes best.  I had previously skipped over Audiopal and Vocaroo because they are both tools that just create audio clips.  After my dissatisfaction with the other tools, I went back and recorded in both Audiopal and Vocaroo and was happy with their simplicity.  I hadn't originally thought to use Audiopal because of the time limitation.  But, with the ease of use, it was great.  My final recording was in Vocaroo.  I loved that it posted directly to Blogger and created the start of my blog post for me.  Personally, I find this type of tool would have limited use in the classroom, as I can't imagine a time when I would create an audio cast vs a webcast.  But, maybe those of you working in the classroom have experience with times when a purely audio cast is preferred. 

Listen to my clip for an additional observation I had while creating my audio clips.
Vocaroo Voice Message