April 25, 2008

The Advantages of Avatars

To the Editor:

Jeremy Bailenson's "Why Digital Avatars Make the Best Teachers" (Information Technology, April 4) was brilliant, and as soon as I can find somebody tech-savvy enough to make an avatar for me, I intend to switch over to avatar-based teaching. However, outstanding as they were, Bailenson's suggestions didn't go far enough. He convinced me that an avatar could help my students, but with a little work, my avatar could help me.

Everybody's worried about student