Emerging Technology #4: Animoto

I chose to study Animoto for my fourth emerging technology because I was looking for an alternative program to using PowerPoint in my classroom. I constantly try to change the methodologies that I utilize in my classroom. I love to try to find new ways to engage my students. Of all of the emerging technologies that I have learned about so far, this is my favorite application. I actually had a lot of fun creating the basic video that I made!

First, I will explain was Animoto is. According to the main website (http://animoto.com/), Animoto is an application that allows users to create, share, and download videos with other users. Using Animoto, students can create 30 second videos using text, pictures, video clips, and music for free. However, if you want to create longer videos or videos with higher resolutions, you have to pay additional usage fees. Animoto is better visually than PowerPoint Presentations. Furthermore, the Animoto website contains step-by-step instructions and is quick and easy to use. Animoto is one of the more well-known emerging technologies. It has been heralded as a beneficial educational tool by many organizations such as CNN, Discovery Education, NASA, Scholastic, and National Geographic, to name a few (http://animoto.com/education).

Here are a few resources that I found to be particularly helpful to when studying Animoto:
http://simplyteaching.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-animoto-video-poems-based-on-red.html

http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/Animoto

Here are a few ideas for how teachers could use Animoto in their classrooms:
1. Students could write/present book reports, summaries, and reflections using Animoto.
2. Teachers could use Animoto to present lectures and notes.
3. Teachers and students could use Animoto to create videos to raise social and community awareness.
4. Students could use Animoto to create short commercials or speeches.
5. Students could use Animoto to present their poetry, art, and creativity.
6. Students could make campaign videos for class elections.
7. Animoto could be used to create flashcards for vocabulary words.
8. Teachers could use Animoto to create virtual field trips for their students.
9. Students could create Animoto videos to introduce themselves to the class (the teacher could create one too!)
10. Students could use Animoto to create a video brochure for a product that they want to buy or for a country that they want to visit.
11. Students and teachers could work together to create an end of the year video to recap and remember highlights from their school year together.

While using Animoto, I was surprised to see how easy it was to create my own video. I was impressed by the number of free images, music files, and video files that were available on the Animoto site. One problem that I ran into was that users have to pay for certain advanced features such as higher video resolutions. However, I found a website that allows teachers to apply for a free 6-month membership to Animoto. This membership would allow teachers and their students to access and use Animoto free for 6 months in the classroom (http://animoto.com/education). Another issue that I encountered with the free, public version of Animoto was that students could easily access other Animoto videos that had explicit or inappropriate content in them. Yet another issue that I encountered was that users had to select a song from the list on Animoto, or they could upload a song that was purchased from the internet. If the song that you wanted to use in your video was not purchased on the internet, you would be unable to use that song in your Animoto video. Another drawback to using Animoto in your classroom is that students have to be 13 years of age to sign up to use Animoto, even in the educational portion of the website. A final issue that I had with Animoto was that users cannot place text on top of the images in the videos (you are limited in your text options).

Here is a link to the Animoto video that I created. It is called "Flowers and Love":
http://animoto.com/play/1SS1StQMq3ocvI2QPcQSNw?utm_source=project_complete_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=project_complete_email&utm_content=challenger