Talking Avatars in Education: The Virtual Teacher Comes of Age!
Avatars, talking web characters, and virtual representatives are growing in popularity for one fundamental reason…they “work”!
With broadband becoming the standard of Internet access in all four corners of the world, the benefits and possibilities of using rich media and interactivity in marketing are beginning to become a reality, if not the norm. One of the most active areas is in the so-called Animated Avatars known by many names such as: Talking Web Characters, Virtual Representatives, Virtual Characters and Web Comparators. Their popularity is growing every day, it’s not by accident, one critical reason is… “they work”, but when it comes to using them to deliver training, presentations or integrated into CBT and education, Virtual Teacher is up to the challenge.
The provision of assisted education through the ubiquitous virtual tutor comes of age.
Virtual teachers, educational presenters and tutors can have a new face, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with the same happy disposition, automated lip-syncing, virtual and engaging content combined with contextual delivery. We know that retention is improved, we know that lean back education can be absorbed effortlessly, and we know that there is nothing more powerful when it comes to conveying complex ideas or facts than the spoken word. Virtual Teachers can be available in different shapes, ages, genders, and even fantasy. The flexibility is endless. Education creators can focus on the topic and choose the ideal virtual tutor to help in the process. Literature assignment can be delivered in context and even math and science education can become more accurate when enlisted with the help of a virtual tutor who has the power of “voice”. Unattended education via the web or locally operated makes virtual education highly effective and manageable. CBT has a new face, interactive courses can have guides and virtual assistants. Many formal education and training settings incorporate media into their presentations and educational content, and it’s not by accident, why? because it works! The ability to focus on content and its compelling and memorable delivery is why virtual teachers and tutors are commonplace in high-end establishments in the corporate stratosphere and in high schools alike, they both have something in common. , the recognition that compelling animated virtual teachers can deliver results in planned and precise ways, where achievement at all levels of learning can be accelerated. This is no coincidence, its technology at its best, with a face and a purpose. Take a nice enough PowerPoint presentation, charts, facts, figures and pictures, add a full virtual animated teacher to the mix and now you have a new generation of educational delivery.
In an educational environment it is a proven fact that the retention and concentration of information improves when faced with attractive content. So what should you look for in your animated talking character?
1: The Avatar Appearance
Is your talking animated character “cool” or looks like it fell off the ugly tree, is it well crafted and generally convincing, or is it amateurish and poorly animated? Does it suit your imaging and delivery requirements? Is quality something you are comfortable being associated with?
2: Automated Lip Sync
Is the avatar lip sync accurate? there is nothing worse than seeing a virtual representative that looks like a badly dubbed movie, it is critical, our brain reacts in microseconds to something that does not look good! It seems strange, but most animated offerings of talking characters are less-than-convincingly lip-synced, to say the least. Individual tests include; Do virtual tutors’ lips stop moving when they are silent? Does it shape the phonemes correctly or is it just a random selection of gibberish?
3: Virtual Teachers Ambient animation, Less is more.
Animations during narration should be kept to a minimum and be subtle, almost invisible. When watching a news broadcast, you would be uncomfortable if your comparison eyes were moving from side to side and exhibiting strange and seemingly uncontrollable head movements. What is important is the content delivered by the talking avatar, and all animations should be kept to a minimum to avoid distractions. Less is definitely more.
4: Virtual Tutor – The Voice
Text-to-speech may seem convenient, but it tends to sound awful. Remember! this is a virtual representative, your own animated web or media comparison is an extension of your image, unless it sounds like a robot stay away from synthesized voices. Use your own voice, or a friend’s, or pay for a professional voice over, they’re not as expensive as you think! In the future, TTS will probably get better, but at present it should only be used if you have no other choice.
5: Customizing your virtual character
Some offers give you many tailoring options, even allowing the visitor to play with the character during your narration. In general, you should try to restrict tailoring to clothing and bottoms for the best effect. You want your visitors and users to establish a relationship with your virtual teacher, so continually changing your appearance does not offer continuity to the visitor or student. Having a virtual tutor that the visitor can mess with only detracts from your message.
6: Integration and Hosting of your Virtual Teacher
Consider that many education delivery requirements can be remote over the Internet. Give this area a lot of thought as it is fraught with potential additional charges and risks. If you have a Pay-for-view contract, a contract that charges you a monthly fee for so many streams, the risk is your increase in views, you end up with one of two potential problems; you have to pay more because you had more visits as your site grows in popularity, or you can’t pay more, so your talking avatar disappears, leaving a block with the provider’s logo in its place. The same goes for hosting providers, you have no control over their hosting facilities, if you trust your web comparison and your service providers’ servers go down, you have lost your “voice”. If your own internet service goes down, at least the entire site is no longer visible. Always try to use a solution that gives you full control, builds your composition on your time, generates industry standard output (Flash, Flash Video, or Regular Video), and has full flexibility when it comes to integration.
7: Flexibility gives your choice.
Is flexibility important? Would it be nice to have access to the native output of your efforts in an industry standard format like Flash, Flash Video, AVI, etc. so you can integrate your work into other environments like Powerpoint, Camtasia, YouTube, etc.? Are there other services from the provider that can help you, such as Voice-Overs, integration and custom services? Can your composition work offline? Can you create them offline? Flexibility adds to the return on your investment.
Resume
Doing any job poorly is not a good idea, many people grab a new technology and pitch it to their audience without giving it much thought. Implementing a bad Animated Virtual Representative is detrimental and could reflect on your business and/or educational requirements, taking your time in creation and not settling for second best.
