My critique of Web 2.0 tools I have tried:
1. xtranormal.com. I think students will really like extranormal It is easy to use and there are quite a few options in the free portion. If you want to make more complicated videos involving more characters, then you need to buy a membership. I did not have any trouble making or editing my video. It took quite a while to upload it to YouTube, but once it got there, everything was fine.
I think students would be engaged with the tool and find it fun to choose characters and write their scripts including the camera angles, sound effects etc. Doing a video using this tool eliminates the problem of the students using pictures of themselves and uploading them to YouTube. We have a strict policy about students pictures in our school division. It will also help those students who do not like to see themselves on video, but still have something to say. The one problem that I could anticipate might be downloading a higher version of flash to use with the program. My computer does not have the deep freeze program on it, so it was possible for me to do, but we may not be able to download it on student computers. I will have to find that out.
I give extranormal.com 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
2. empressor.com. This is a slide show site that allows you to make slide shows with picture, sound and video capabilities. I was not “empressed” with empressor. I thought it was going to be fairly easy, but some things did not seem to work not matter what I tried. I spent a lot of time making a short slide show, when it should not have taken nearly that long. I have to admit that some of my time was spent trying to find a music video appropriate for middle year’s students…which is next to impossible. I think other tools would have done the job a lot easier.
One problem that I could not solve was trying to insert the text. Inside the text box are the words, “insert text here”. On two of my slides I could NOT get those words to disappear no matter what I did. I also had a lot of trouble getting my backgrounds to stay the way I wanted them to be on each slide because it wanted me to choose a universal background. I was going to insert voice, but decided not to invest the time because I am not sure I will even use it. I could not count on the slide show being in tact the way I wanted it when I returned to the site periodically.
I would rate empressor.com 2 stars out of 5.
http://www.empressr.com/View.aspx?token=GdQaVGBomu4=&e=M1Ee1B8nmuo%3d
3. prezi.com. I loved this tool! It was so much fun to use and really got my brain working as to how I wanted my presentation to turn out. It was very user-friendly and easy to fix mistakes. I have used it a few different times after the first time I tried it.
I think the students would be excited to try something new and would be eager to move to something different from the regular slide show format they are used to such as Powerpoint. The one draw-back I could think of was it does not have the capability to embed video yet. When I tried, I received a message that said they were working on it.
I would rate prezi.com 4 1/2 stars out of 5 stars.
4. animoto.com. I loved this digital story program. I ended up buying a membership, because the free part of the tool will only let you do a 30 second video, which did not seen long enough. It is very easy to navigate within, import visuals, insert text and had a great selection of music right on the site to use.
I think this tool would be extremely useful with students and I can see them being engaged with the added extras such as music. The stories were easy to make and I was pleased with the final products.
I would rate animoto.com 5 stars out of 5.
5. Toondoo.com.-is a fun and easy cartoon making site. I found it easy to use and I decided to make a 3 window comic about making friends. My 11 year old son did not understand it, so I am not sure I met my purpose? It is limited in some ways, because of the length of comics it allows, but there are plenty of options for characters, background and props. I can see students being very engaged with creating various simple projects using Toondoo.com.
I would rate toondoo.com 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
6. One True Media- I received some cute pictures from a relative and decided to try out this tool. I had heard it mentioned a few different times and was curious to try it out for myself. It was very easy to use and edit. One problem I had with it was not realizing I was using features that were not included in the “free” portion of the membership. I spent a lot of time putting in text and editing it. In the end, I found out I had to upgrade my subscription to be allowed to use it. I did not feel I liked the tool enough to pay for the upgrade, so I ended up with a video without any text except for the title and “Happy Holidays” which was not what I originally wanted to say.
I was not nearly as impressed with One True Media as I was with animoto.com. It did not have as many free options and it did not make up for that in the finished product or ease of use. It was very easy and quick to upload to Youtube.
I would rate One True Media a 2 1/2 out of 5.
7. Zimmertwins.ca-I came across this little story making site and decided to try it out. It would be a great tool to get beginning readers and writers interested in writing stories and it is easy to use because they are automatically turned into movies and you have an instant final product.
The idea behind the tool starts with choosing a background. It automatically inserts one of the 3 characters: Edgar, Eva or the cat named 13. You can change the background, characters, what they are holding etc. by clicking on the type at the bottom and it automatically changes the story. The story is written for you according to what you choose for options. You can insert dialogue bubbles wherever you want. It is kind of a cross between a movie and a cartoon.
I found it very easy to use and there were lots of options to choose from. It has a story starter portion as well so if you needed an idea and did not want to start from scratch, there were plenty of ideas to choose from.
The things that I did not like about it were not being able to change the story the way I wanted. I wanted my character Edgar to ask Eva to play ball, but the only thing related to that in the prop list was a football helmet. The lack of choices limited the directions that you could take a story and may limit some students creativity. I think younger students would be very engaged with this tool, despite it’s limitations.
I would rate zimmertwins.ca 4 out of 5 stars.
http://natiepo.glogster.com/what-do-i-like/
10. Zamzar.com- This is a very handy little tool used to download videos. It was quick and easy. The steps are presented very clearly.
I would rate zamzar.com 5 out of 5 stars.
11. Surveymonkey.com- this is such an easy tool to use to create on-line surveys. The instructions are clear and there are many options for design and question type. When you get your survey finished a link is created for you to use with you respondents so they have access to the survey. When the survey is completed by everyone involved, total percentages and break down is available for analysis. There is also a graph making portion that can be used for reporting of data. I liked the fact that questions could be linked to different respondents. The free portion of the program only allows you to make surveys up to 10 questions and there are some limitations on design. The upgrade was quick and easy and relatively inexpensive.
I would rate surveymonkey.com 4.5 stars out of 5.
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