Week 2: Thing 3

So I've created my blog. I want to comment on the Avatar thing. I see the point if you're playing a video game or using your Wii, but it doesn't seem very practical for classrooms. First, I didn't like the interface on Yahoo (which I am typically a fan of Yahoo! products). It was overwhelming in the number of seemingly unimportant options like tshirt designs. However, it was very lacking when it came to actually designing my "person". The Wii offers many more options when it comes to selecting body type, hair styles, and face shape. Yahoo seems difficult to navigate and it doesn't allow for many variations, at least without spending some time figuring out where things are located. This should be more intuitive than it is.

I suppose you could use this in class to have students "create" characters from a story that they are reading. However, this seems to be a "busy" task more than one that inspires critical thinking. There may be ways to make it based on critical thinking principles, but overall, it doesn't seem practical.