Ever been in a virtual classroom when the students do not want to turn on their cameras and be shown to the rest of the class? Most educators have experienced this scenario at some point throughout the pandemic and distance learning. With the integration of the virtual avatars in your classroom, it is possible to have more students be shown and represented among their peers, even if they do not want to turn their camera on. In this article, I will discuss one of the leading 3D avatar platforms, Loom.ai, and show you how to use 3D avatars in your virtual classrooms.
Loomie.ai
Loom.ai is a 3D avatar platform that enables students to join a video conference meeting or virtual classroom with a 3D avatar. When a student speaks in a video call, the 3D avatar will respond and react to the student’s voice, mimicking their social interaction. With Loomie.ai, students have a wide range of options to personalize their avatar to fit their preferences by changing their avatar’s physical features, attire, gender, color of skin, and more. Once the students create their virtual avatar, activating the 3D avatar during a video call is as simple as changing their webcam display within their video conference platform. Loom.ai works with most video conference platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and others. To learn more about how loom.ai works, watch the video below.
How to use Loom.ai in the classroom
- Have your students download the loom.ai application on their desktop computer or mobile device.
- Once the students download the application, have your students create their avatar to fit with their appearance and preferences. If you students are using a mobile device, they can automatically create an avatar from a 2D selfie from within the Loom.ai mobile app.
- To activate the student’s 3D avatar during a video call, have your students change their webcam display in the settings of the video conference platform to “LoomieLive Camera+”.
- Ensure that the Loomie.ai desktop application is running during the video call or your virtual avatar will not be display.
- Test the 3D avatars in class and enjoy!
