Alabama teachers create Bitmojis to personalize virtual classrooms

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBMA) – One West Alabama teacher is helping educators across the world share resources to improve their virtual classrooms. It's all thanks to the power of social media!

ABC 33/40 spoke with a teacher who says she'll never go back to regular online teaching.

“I hope other educators are inspired to join the group and learn about building virtual classrooms,” says Dr. Allatesha Cain.

She has a doctorate in instructional technology and distance education, and it’s really come in handy since the pandemic started.

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Cain is a 3rd grade teacher at MLK Elementary in Tuscaloosa.

“It’s almost like I cheated because of the path that was already set for me, but a lot of the other teachers you could see the gloom on their faces. What are we going to do? How are we going to get these students involved? We were calling them, calling the parents trying to get them online,” she says.

Then came the idea of using cartoons... Bitmojis.

She hasn't had to beg students to learn since then.

"Oh Dr. Cain that was so nice! They even ask me to do different themes for them, they wanted a star wars theme, so I was able to decorate the classroom. I had a student whose birthday was on may 4th so I called it may the fourth be with you," she says.

While the virtual classroom is fun to look at, most importantly it keeps the students on top of their work.

“They were able to engage independently and everything was spelled out for them with the colorful classrooms and they were able to do the lessons I wanted them to do on their own,” says Cain.

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She started the Bitmoji Craze for Educators Facebook page and now there are more than 300,000 members across the world, all sharing resources and ways to improve their virtual classrooms.

“I do have a lot of stuff in reserve, I have already started planning for the school year, think I’m covered until December,” she says with a smile.

She's especially proud to be helping teachers come out of their comfort zones and looks forward to learning from them too, she never imagined she'd reach so many people.

If you or an educator you know would benefit from the Bitmoji Craze for Educators Facebook page, you can find more information here.