BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF
Build Your Wild Self (stylised BuiLD YOuR WiLD SeLF) is an online avatar creating tool from the New York Zoos and Aquarium, that allows users to create a wild avatar of themselves. Build Your Wild Self starts out like any normal avatar creator would with users choosing a gender and facial features, but then users can choose to add various body parts from many different animals to create their wild self. Below is an example of a "normal" self and a "wild" self I created using the tool. Each category contains approximately 10-15 different choices, that allows for many variations in avatars to be created. Once created the avatars can be sent to a friend, downloaded to be used as a desktop or printed. The tool also provides a description about "What's WiLD about you?", which includes the a brief summary each animal body part you chose. As well as a name for your avatar, in my case "Callan the Lio-gib-phant-monarch butterfly".
Build Your Wild Self can be used in the classroom as a great avatar creation tool for use at the start of a school year for students to show their personality and get to know each other. The tool can also be used to learn about many different animals as it gives the informative facts about each chosen body parts once the avatar is created.
There are some negatives to the tool however. At times the selection of body parts could be quite glitchy, with certain parts not being able to be selected as well as not being able to remove certain parts once they had been chosen. There is also the large possibility of students getting off task and not listening to teacher instructions when the tool is open, as they are too interested in looking at all the possible body parts they can choose.
Overall Build Your Wild Self is an interesting and different avatar building tool that has some benefits over more traditional tools, however it does have some negatives (glitches). In regards to the SAMR model it would be in the augmentation category as students would be able to create an avatar without the tool, with the tool just providing an easier more streamlined process. For the Bloom's taxonomy it would fit into the create category as students are required to create and design their own personal avatar.
There are some negatives to the tool however. At times the selection of body parts could be quite glitchy, with certain parts not being able to be selected as well as not being able to remove certain parts once they had been chosen. There is also the large possibility of students getting off task and not listening to teacher instructions when the tool is open, as they are too interested in looking at all the possible body parts they can choose.
Overall Build Your Wild Self is an interesting and different avatar building tool that has some benefits over more traditional tools, however it does have some negatives (glitches). In regards to the SAMR model it would be in the augmentation category as students would be able to create an avatar without the tool, with the tool just providing an easier more streamlined process. For the Bloom's taxonomy it would fit into the create category as students are required to create and design their own personal avatar.