Share Bitmojis with your students while avoiding the trouble of terms of use and inappropriate images. Save Bitmojis to Google Drive and share the folder with students!
Bitmojis are so much fun! They’re these little cartoon character images of yourself that let you express emotions and communicate.
I’ve seen educators use them all over the place: in text messages, in emails, in slide presentations, in documents and on social media. They’re even using them to leave feedback on student work!
The sad part: It’s not as easy to get students to use them.
- Bitmoji Terms of Service specify users must be 13+ years of age.
- There are some … umm … less than appropriate Bitmoji images in the app.
- Bitmoji is owned and operated by Snapchat, and Snapchat is blocked at many schools.
So, how can we get these fun images in the hands of students — to make class more fun AND to incorporate them into learning?
Three words: Google Drive folders.
If we can create Bitmojis that look like our students and save them to Google Drive folders that students can access, they can enjoy the fun, too!
In this tutorial video, I show you how to get started on Bitmoji, create characters that look like your students, save those images and share them with students.
The bad news: It’s not a fast, easy fix. It takes some time to create several Bitmoji characters and download the images.
The good news: If you do it ONE TIME at the beginning of the school year, your students will have access to them for the rest of the year!
Here are the steps. Feel free to watch the whole tutorial video or just skip to the part that you need help with:
6:20 — Set up a Snapchat account (or choose one you already have)
7:06 — Head over to Bitmoji to start designing a character
7:25 — Design a character for a student (or a group of similar-looking students)
10:24 — Save Bitmojis out of the Chrome extension
11:58 — Create a Google Drive folder for your Bitmojis (and subfolders for each student appearance)
13:33 — Go back to the Bitmoji app and create a new appearance (and repeat until all students are done)
15:44 — Share a link to your Bitmojis folder with students
16:58 — Have students add the folder to their Google Drive
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How do I add a Snapchat account if I already have one?
Just log in with your existing Snapchat account. You don’t need to add a new one.
Do you have to create one bitmoji at a time and then change it for each student since you can only have one bitmoji avatar? Can you explain “appearances”? Do you mean that you have to create an avatar for a student and then pick a bunch of different images (I’m guessing this is appearances) and then go back and make a new avatar for a different student and repeat the process? You can’t then make new appearances for that student after you change the avatar to a new student, right?
Great, thank you so much. Definitely what I was looking for and I am not very tech savvy but I think I will be able to do this for my students.
[…] Bitmojis for your students: How to create and share them (Start here if you are new to Bitjmojis) […]
[…] Bitmojis for your students: How to create and share them (Start here if you are new to Bitjmojis) […]
[…] I ask them to note my sofa, picture of my cats, bookcase with books and art materials, my refrigerator with my diet Coke, plant, and window. Then I provide each of my learners (I only have 12 of them) with a Google Slide template, Build Your Own Bitmoji Classroom, developed by @HollyClarkEdu and @themerrillsedu. To their template I add a variety of Bitmojis I created for them due to them being under the age of 13. To learn how to create bitmojis for your learners, see this post by Matt Miller, https://ditchthattextbook.com/bitmojis-for-your-students-how-to-create-and-share-them/. […]
I don’t have bitmoji because its blocked does anyone know how to break the fire wall
wat if u dont have a snapchat acount?