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===As our classrooms become increasingly technology-rich and our students become more adept and consistent users of technology in the classroom, one of our primary responsibilities as educators is to protect our students' online identities. One basic method for protecting student identities is to teach students how to create avatars, so their images are not displayed on the web. ===

Uploading student photos to the web is risky business. Most parents are fine with posting their child's photo online as long as their name is not attached to it. To be on the safe side, have your students create their own avatar (a visual representation of oneself).

Most students have some experience with avatars already, due to the popularity of use in video games. Using this component in the classroom requires the use of avatar-creator websites, and then a method for saving the avatar. Some sites allow students to save their image, some allow students to email the image, and some require the ability to take a screenshot of the image.

I'm a Mac addict, so I often refer in this site to "taking a screenshot". The comparable action for a PC would be PrintScreen or using a tool like Jing.

Avatars are so much more than just a "fancying it up" tool. My students use them when they write on a blog, post in a VoiceThread (digital storybook), or participate in a chat or discussion forum. They use their avatars on Glogster, on ePals, on almost every online tool we use. And they make them just for fun! At the beginning, we told our students that their avatars had to look like them - and it's nice for them each to have a semi-realistic avatar. But for students, much of the fun comes from creating avatars that represents their interests, often in ways that wouldn't be realistic for everyday life (Harry Potter tattoos and striped hair for 4th graders, anyone?)