NOTE: At this time the Bitmoji app is not on our SDPC approved apps. However, as a teacher you could create a personal account and save the Bitmojis to your personal drive as pdfs, then share the photos only to your school account, just as you can do with any .jpg or .png. We do not want teachers to encourage students to create Bitmoji accounts due to data privacy compromises.
Bitmoji is a free avatar-creation app and Google extension. It is not approved for use by our students. However, as noted above, you can create your own account and save the avatars as a png and insert into a virtual space, as below. It is important to understand that people keep referring to Bitmoji Classrooms. However, this is just a virtual classroom created with Google Slides and Google images to make a virtual space with hyperlinked assets. It is not a Bitmoji space, except for the fact that you insert an avatar into the space. You could use ANY avatar. I hope that clarifies.
Bitmoji is a free avatar-creation app and Google extension. It is not approved for use by our students. However, as noted above, you can create your own account and save the avatars as a png and insert into a virtual space, as below. It is important to understand that people keep referring to Bitmoji Classrooms. However, this is just a virtual classroom created with Google Slides and Google images to make a virtual space with hyperlinked assets. It is not a Bitmoji space, except for the fact that you insert an avatar into the space. You could use ANY avatar. I hope that clarifies.
Link here for a slidedeck with lots of templates for creating Bitmoji Classrooms that can be used to post your materials. Consider this a Bitmoji HyperDoc!
Link here for a slidedeck with lots of templates for creating Bitmoji Classrooms that can be used to post your materials. Consider this a Bitmoji HyperDoc!
Review this Great Step-by-Step by TheMerrillsEDU to Create Your Own Classroom Bitmoji
Review this Great Step-by-Step by TheMerrillsEDU to Create Your Own Classroom Bitmoji
Some search tips –
Some search tips –
I recommended adding the word “transparent” as stated above or “png” in my search to pull up transparent decor & furniture. As for Bitmoji, if you search “pose” you will see Bitmoji in different positions – not just heads.
To find more transparent images, use a site like FAVPNG or remove the background of your own images with Remove.bg as Ariel Oliveira demonstrates below:
Also, if you want a particular Bitmoji but it has text or other items you do NOT want, you can crop or edit with these tips:
You can add video into your classroom by first saving any video into your Google Drive then following the steps in this tutorial:
You can add video into your classroom by first saving any video into your Google Drive then following the steps in this tutorial:
You can create an entire interactive classroom with multiple slides and links, which is a fun way to deliver announcements and morning meeting activities during distance learning.
You can create an entire interactive classroom with multiple slides and links, which is a fun way to deliver announcements and morning meeting activities during distance learning.
One thing to consider if you are sharing slides this way is you want to be sure that students can’t move everything around in the virtual classroom.
One thing to consider if you are sharing slides this way is you want to be sure that students can’t move everything around in the virtual classroom.
Therefore you will want to set up the classroom basics, export as a jpeg then set it as the background. THEN layer your clickable images and elements on top. Emily Houck demos this process towards the end of her video:
Therefore you will want to set up the classroom basics, export as a jpeg then set it as the background. THEN layer your clickable images and elements on top. Emily Houck demos this process towards the end of her video:
Bitmoji Google Classroom Banner
Bitmoji Google Classroom Banner
If you want your scene in Google Classroom, check out Brad Dale’s walkthrough below.
Tip!!
Tip!!
Google Classroom will automatically place a darkened overlay over your banner. There is no recommended way to change this so keep in mind when designing and choose light & bright colored items when possible.
Google Classroom will automatically place a darkened overlay over your banner. There is no recommended way to change this so keep in mind when designing and choose light & bright colored items when possible.
Here you can see how Jill Kimbrough’s bright classroom scene looks before and after inserted into classroom!
Tip!!
Tip!!
Use light & bright colors as shown above and keep in mind the position of the title and class code when placing elements Here you see the overlay. Since Jill’s image is bright, it is still visible.
Use light & bright colors as shown above and keep in mind the position of the title and class code when placing elements Here you see the overlay. Since Jill’s image is bright, it is still visible.
You can even make your Google Classroom banner animated!
You can even make your Google Classroom banner animated!
While the above video uses Screencastify, you can also create a GIF from Google Slides with Tall Tweets.
Copyright Concerns with Bitmoji Scenes
Copyright Concerns with Bitmoji Scenes
While it is fun to create Bitmoji classroom scenes, you will want to be considerate of copyright and mindful of the DMCA (which protects digital work & sharing). If you are searching on Google, you can filter by usage rights for example.
You can also source CCO images that are available in the public domain or use a picture of your own classroom as the background like the Hipster Art Teacher:
While using images may be ok and considered “fair use” when restricted to your classroom for educational purposes, since these are digital works that are uploaded and shared, your usage may not fall under “fair use” any longer – especially if the images are not flattened or posted publicly to the web.
Amie Bentley draws her own images so you can be sure it’s safe to use! Plus she is sharing some templates at her post below:
Bitmoji also has terms of use that are worth checking out, too.
Have you created a Bitmoji classroom scene? Has the Bitmoji craze hit your online neck of the woods? I love seeing what teachers create and learning new tips and takes on the idea! It shows how teachers are thinking of creative ways to stay organized while connecting to students. These welcoming virtual spaces are not the same as the real thing, but it shows how much teachers care!
Be sure to share your Bitmoji classroom scene in our Teach With Tech Facebook Group. – we have a whole post dedicated just to virtual classroom inspiration!
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