Click here to see my Animoto video |
A N I M O T O
I found a great tool at Animoto.com for creating 30 second videos. You choose a style, upload pictures and/or short video clips, select your music, add a titles and you have a video. This Web 2.0 tool is fun and easy-to-use. Animoto is also free for creating 30 second videos. For a $30 fee you can upgrade a one-year subscription to create projects longer in length.
Animoto would be a great tool for students to use with vocabulary words or defining new concepts. It would be interesting to give a student a concept like capitalism or socialism and see what kind of pictures and music they can put together to come up with a 30 second explanation of the word. Students could take their own photos or use some from Creative Commons or Microsoft Office. They could also create their own graphics using MS Paint or PowerPoint slides to help illustrate the concept.
A colleague and I teach a class called Graphic Applications. We start with basic graphic editing in Paint then move into Photoshop. As a precursor to Photoshop we do a project called What's Out There. We have our students upload pictures to Picnik.com, BeFunky.com, Loonapix.com, FunPhotoBox.com, and PhotoFunia. Students use the features on these sites to create new pictures from an existing photo. In the past students have submitted their individually edited photos for this project. After finding Animoto.com we decided to extend the project and have students upload their edited photos to Animoto to make a video. After they create their videos students will embed their videos in a Moodle forum so they can view each other's videos on one site.
Your video intrigued me so I had to go and check ANIMOTO out for myself. I love it! I made my own video that you can check out at http://animoto.com/play/CD1M6e4FQ0bdlMjP9gyA8Q
ReplyDeleteIt was very easy to use, thank you for sharing. I'm just trying to think of how I could have my fourth graders use this without email addresses. Any suggestions?
Karen,
ReplyDeleteThis site totally rocks. You found an awesome Web 2.0 tool that can be used in many subject areas. Thanks very much for sharing how you are going to use the video in your classes. I also like how you are going to have your students upload them onto the Moodle to share with their peers.
I think I will be using this in my Web Design Class and Business Law classes. I will also be sharing this site with my co-workers.
Also thanks for creating your video. This really helped me understand the potential the site.
Karen,
ReplyDeleteAwesome tool. I'v heard of of this site but didn't know much about it. I love the ideas you have for incorporating it and for students to share with each other. Your video was great and has inspired me to visit this site. Thank you!
Karen,
ReplyDeleteAs always, I am so very impressed with your work! This looks like a very intriguing site and one that we could use at the elementary level to introduce new concepts. Quick and easy to use for teachers and a great way to build background information on new topics.
Thanks for the information!