Video+Tools

Video tools are very engaging and easy for students to use. I chose to use Animoto. On Animoto users can create a free account, which allows for thirty seconds of video with music. You can choose the background theme you like to begin and a song that fits the purpose of your video. Next you can input pictures from the website or upload your own. Once your pictures are in, you can add text to the slides. While working on the video you can change the pictures and the text, or change the order in which they appear. Animoto is a great tool to use in the classroom to represent vocabulary word definitions with pictures and synonyms. This tool can be used successfully in so many different ways. Students love to create things and this tool allows for students to use knowledge, research, creativity, and editing skills. Allowing students to make videos is an extremely motivating activity through the educational use technology in the classroom. Ranker (2007) writes that "the novelty of video-making presents opportunities for students to search for, evaluate, clarify, and revise information" (as cited in Morrow & Gambrell, 2010, p. 374).

Another use of video tools in the classroom can be done through the viewing of videos and video clips. There are many search engines and video hosting sites appropriate for school settings. These hosting sites include, but are not limited to, School Tube, Teacher Tube, and YouTube. Using short video clips to introduce a lesson, reinforce a topic, or even show a demonstration is a great way to motivate students and incorporate technology in the classroom. "Video watching might be perceived as a passive process, but it does not have to be. Teachers can use short videos in the classroom in a number of ways" (Morrow & Gambrell, 2010, p. 376). It is important that these videos do not become the sole instruction, but they should however be brief, interesting, and relevant to the topic the teacher is discussing (Morrow & Gambrell, 2010).

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Click here to visit Animoto's Website

Here are some other Web 2.0 Video Tools to try. Simply click the picture to view the website!



You can also view these Hosting Sites for Web 2.0 Video Tools. It's just a CLICK away!