Technology Toolbox

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Tell me a story digitally

Who ever thought that there are so many ways to create digital stories and most of the options are free! During our session we looked at Xtranomal, Animoto, shwup, Photostory 3, Kerpoof, Myths & Legends and voice thread. Each had their own little way to enhance photos, video and stories.

After seeing all of these strategies did one stand out from the rest? Which if any will you look to add to your curriculum and how can it enhance student learning.

December 10, 2009 - Posted by | Uncategorized

7 Comments »

  1. I think the Photostory 3 and the Animoto stood out. The only issue I have with Animoto is that the slideshows can’t be longer than 30 seconds. I would like to utilize a video slideshow for use with our annual senior trip to Washington D.C. We get so many great pictures during the trip and this would be a terrific way to share the trip with those who couldn’t go, the community, and/or all the people who made it possible for our students to go. The idea of mixing pictures with music is always a useful medium. This will be a great tool for me to add to my curriculum and help the students prepare their own video slideshows for future use.

    Comment by Todd Hodkey | December 11, 2009 | Reply

    • Photostory 3 would probably be great for creating a Washington D.C. video. It’s simple and effective, but can limit your creativity. Nonetheless, it facilitates a quick and attractive presentation. If you want your students to create something a little more intricate or high quality, you might want to look into using the most recent PowerPoint because you should be able to add music to it and do audio recording with less ‘software’ limitations. However, Photostory 3 is simple:)

      Comment by Sandy Walker | December 17, 2009 | Reply

  2. I thought this session was the most interesting of all…no offense Paul. Animoto seemed really easy to use. I also forgot all about being able to use Zamzar to eventually burn a copy of the slide show. One problem I found with Animoto is that it is currently blocked at the school. The other program I though interesting was Xtranormal Stories. This could be used in the classroom to help with discussion or my own kids may even enjoy making their own movie…pretty cool!

    Comment by Andy Neuberger | December 16, 2009 | Reply

  3. Great session. Animoto sounds doable for a beginner. I wish it allowed for more than 30 second of video – but, it’s free!! I’m looking forward to trying this sometime soon. It’s just one more tool for teacher and student use.

    Comment by Lois Cole | December 17, 2009 | Reply

    • Photostory 3 for Windows is also free and definately doable for a beginner.

      Comment by Sandy Walker | December 17, 2009 | Reply

  4. I’m sad I missed this session. I had a parent meeting. I sat through this session last year, and then had my students do a project using Photostory 3. I wasn’t in love with the software, and was hoping to learn more about other digital story-telling options this year. It’s soooo much information, but I figured because I had a basic working knowledge from last year, I could do something bigger this year or purchase a better program for digital storytelling. I used Photostory 3 because it was free, but I think I could have had the students use powerpoint with audio recording and had a better result and more control over the pictures. We had some trouble resizing pictures and text last year without losing picture quality. Issues I hadn’t ran into as much in PowerPoint.

    Comment by Sandy Walker | December 17, 2009 | Reply

  5. This was the most exciting so far. SimplyBox will be awesome for personal information organization and sharing. I look forward to checkikng out Xtranormal Stories & Kerpoof to see how I can engage my students.

    Comment by Patty Friedt | January 2, 2010 | Reply


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