Xtranormal & Voki

Xtranormal and Voki are tools designed to do similar things.  The idea of the site is that you have an avatar and a background, and then you instruct the avatar what to say and the website makes it into a little movie.   However, there are some differences between the two.


First of all, Voki is coming out with an education version, where there won't be ads and more of the options will be available for free. Xtranormal has very limited free options.  There are only a handful of characters and backgrounds to choose from if you don't pay.

Xtranormal has a few more directing preferences which Voki doesn't have, and in Xtranormal you can insert two characters into one movie.  In Xtrannormal you can have your person make gestures with their arms or face.  You can also change camera angles.  There is more customization in Xtranormal, as you can also insert music or ambiance into the background.  In Voki, however, you can insert your own background, which could be useful.  Another useful feature in Voki is that you can insert audio in several different ways: via your computer microphone, telephone, text to speech, or importing an audio file from your computer.  This would allow you to create your audio in GarageBand, which lets you put in background music or ambiance.

Both Xtranormal and Voki give you the change to publish your video and share it via web link.  Voki gives you the option to embed it in a website or send it to a mobile phone or e-mail.  On Xtranormal you can upload your video to YouTube.

Xtranormal also has a downloadable program called State which gives you more options.  It is only available for Windows.

Uses in education:
Voki and Xtranormal provides a fun way to give class directions or explain a new assignment.  I would like to see students creating their own to explain a concept.  In Xtranormal you can put in two characters and have them have a conversation.  It would be cool to see students using it to have a debate about an issue.

Here's an example of an Xtranormal about Thanksgiving:



And here's a Voki used in a Spanish class. (scroll to the bottom)


A Voki tutorial:


And an Xtranormal tutorial: