Last week, I spent my time working with on a new tool that I am not familiar with. Although it may not be new to you, it is new to me: Animoto (click the link to access Animoto). Animoto is a tool that allows users to create and edit professional videos with images and videos. I found the use of Animoto as a quick and easy way to introduce topics to students in a way that is more "jazzy" than a traditional job aid or tutorial. See my creation below:
I created this video to introduce our online students to Technology Badges that they can earn in addition to their course work. Although this information is present in each course and in the resource center in Blackboard, I was hoping this quick tutorial would excite students to access the badges and learn more about the process.
General notes:
The trial version has a watermark on each video
The speed of the photos cannot go any slower than what is present in my video
Song selection is pretty good but a lot of them include lyrics which may split users attentions
Super quick learning curve
A logo can be added in the trial version- but not in the next level upgrade (you can pay more for the upper level upgrades to include the logo)
This makes users pay more to have both the logo and watermark removed
In my case, I decided removing the watermark was more effective than adding a logo
Both videos and images can be uploaded
The templates provided tend to be finicky in terms of cutting off images or providing the full image - most of my time was spent finding a template that did not cut off images or provided the full view of images
Limited image cropping within Animoto
Overall, it was a great tool to use to show our students something in a new method not currently used in our program.
More to come this week!
-h