Avatars: Make a Meewee using Weeworld

This is a post I wrote about using Weeworld to make avatars for the SchoolNet blog in 2015 but it is still relevant in 2018. My classes have joined the 2018 blogging challenge so we are busy with making avatars. My plan is for different classes to make different avatars.

Getting started with Weeworld
Weeworld can be accessed at http://www.weeworld.com/. Young students enjoy using this type of avatar-making applications.

When students open Weeworld they’ll see a lot of adverts on the page. This is a good opportunity to teach Grade 1s and 2s about the dangers of advertising and clicking on anything that sparkles and moves.   They will need to click on the big, green play button.

They are taken to a scene with a figure that needs to be dressed and created. I always tell the students to create someone who looks like them!

As they work through all the options a dressed figure starts to emerge.  You’ll notice that there is a Save button at the bottom.

I let them stop at the point where their avatar is created and we take a clear screengrab of their avatar.  Note that if one clicks on the Save button it takes the students through a registration process. If kids are under 13, they need a parent's permission to register.  As it is unlikely that we’ll never use the application again I don’t go this step.

Examples of Grade 1 WeeMees
YouTube tutorial on how to use Weeworld
This YouTube tutorial will take you through how to use Wee world.



Uses in the classroom

• The main way that we use it in the younger classrooms is for teaching basic ICT skills.
• The students like to talk about their creations and what they are wearing so this application is useful for oral purposes.
• One could get them to make up an oral story about the little Weemee they have created and share it with the class.