Animoto http://www.animoto.com
I use Animoto to send visual newsletters home to parents in addition to my bi-monthly written newsletter. A picture really is worth a thousand words and parents love to get these email links and open them to see their child's photo or even a short video clip. Here is the one I made for Halloween to capture the day. Enjoy! Animoto is one of the easiest new techy tools I have learned. (PS I have parent signed photo release forms for all the students in this video. Please do not post student photos online in Animotos without getting parent permission on district photo release forms.)
ABCya! Animate - http://www.abcya.com/animate.htm
I use ABCya Animate with my film class in the after school program. The kids said they wanted to learn how to animate, and I had no idea how to animate! I also didn't have a lot of money to purchase animation software. I began looking online for something free and found ABCya. Not only is it free, it is really easy to learn. The kids race in the door to start their animations each Thursday. They love this techy tool, and they are starting to use their new skills to insert their animations into Powerpoints for their teachers. Win, Win, Win. Check out the first animation I made at Christmastime to remind kids to be fire safe.
Voicethread - www.voicethread.com
Voicethread is an amazing presentation tool that is also very user friendly. You just drag and drop photos into the program and then add either your "voice" or a text bubble to narrate your story. That's it! There is also a phone in feature, but I haven't used that yet. Voicethread is great for collaborative work. I created this Voicethread book review with two teacher colleagues whom I never met in person. We all read the book and collaborated in a virtual space to create this Voicethread. In his book, The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner describes a workplace where ____. Voicethread is an excellent tool for giving kids the 21st century skills they will need to collaborate now and in their future work lives. The Voicethread below is a book review of Amanda Ripely's The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way.
https://voicethread.com/share/5292259/
https://voicethread.com/share/5292259/
Prezi - www.prezi.com
Prezi is a presentation tool that includes animation or "movement" through a non-linear format. The shape of the Prezi itself is meant to convey meaning, somewhat similar to "concrete poetry". The animation helps to both maintain the viewer's interest and to reveal a theme or message. Prezi is vulnerable to the same "user errors" that are often made with Powerpoint. Don't try to cram to much into your Prezi slides or to make your animations too intricate. Keep it simple. "The play is the thing", or in other words, tell a good story with your Prezi. Don't impress us with your graphic arts to change fonts and colors. For more information on what can kill a Powerpoint or a Prezi presentation, check out these three articles.
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http://prezi.com/fjtxm4qtos3b/levels-of-technology-integration-into-curriculum/
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http://prezi.com/fjtxm4qtos3b/levels-of-technology-integration-into-curriculum/
Google images - search for unlicensed photos
So I wanted to find a concrete poem to put in the post above, and there was nothing in Creative Commons. I went to Google Images, put in "concrete poem" and then selected SEARCH TOOLS to the far right and from the drop down menu (the little down facing arrow) select USAGE RIGHTS and then LABELED FOR NONCOMMERCIAL USE. This helps me to narrow my search to photos, or in this case, concrete poems, that I can share. It's really important to both teach your students digital literacy and to model it yourself. Have fun, and if you have another source for unlicensed photos, please share it here.
http://www.google.com/imghp
http://www.google.com/imghp
Free Clipart - www.openclipart.org
Another great source for free graphic art is at Open Clipart. In addition to simple cliparts, there are free templates for scrapbooks, calendars, cards, party invitations, and photo editing.
WeVideo - www.wevideo.com
It's downright amazing what you can get for free on the internet! I have Adobe Premiere video editing software on my personal laptop and Adobe CS5 on my work laptops.
Zaption - www.zaption.com
http://zapt.io/tgh2adwy
Please follow this link above to see my first example of Zaption. Also, watch the Youtube Tutorial on how to make your own Zaption. Zaption is a tool that lets you draw and write on top of your Youtube video. You can also put words and images in a side bar to give even more information about your video. Check it out. It is really pretty easy after you watch this tutorial.
Inspiration
Inspiration is a mapping and organizational tool. Check out these tutorials made by Krissy Johnson on how to navigate in Inspiration.
http://screencast.com/t/46p64dB6vtyT Part 1
http://screencast.com/t/GYmMQSUvk Part 2
http://screencast.com/t/w90VQtskYQh Part 3
http://screencast.com/t/46p64dB6vtyT Part 1
http://screencast.com/t/GYmMQSUvk Part 2
http://screencast.com/t/w90VQtskYQh Part 3
dig.ccmixter
www.dig.ccmixter.org
This is a music source to use in conjunction with your other web 2.0 presentation tools. It is a Creative Commons music site "where you already have permission with attribution".
Check out this Youtube tutorial in which teachers use digmixter as part of a presentation piece on the Pacific garbage patch. The Youtube video shows how technological and pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) are married together when two teachers collaborate to plan a unit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a90EvWfoLU
This is a music source to use in conjunction with your other web 2.0 presentation tools. It is a Creative Commons music site "where you already have permission with attribution".
Check out this Youtube tutorial in which teachers use digmixter as part of a presentation piece on the Pacific garbage patch. The Youtube video shows how technological and pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) are married together when two teachers collaborate to plan a unit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a90EvWfoLU
Weebly - create your own website like this one
Here is a really good tutorial on how to create a Weebly. He goes fast, but he is using the current version of Weebly, and some of the other tutorials online are using older ones so the layout looks different and it gets confusing. In it, he will show you both how to create the Weebly and how to create linked images and hyperlinks to your text.