I am a Voki "Ambassador," one of about a dozen educators worldwide who advised the site on what features to include in the launch the classroom version of Voki. Voki is a Web 2.0 tool that easily enables users to create customized talking avatars. I embedded a Voki of myself on the homepage of my class website. Teachers can now sign-up students to virtual classrooms... no emails required!
Check out their press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/8/prweb8716302.htm\
PDF of Voki for Classroom's "Getting Started" Guide