The Educational Value of Animoto

-Recently, I was asked to look into a program called Animoto. Animoto allows me to simply create videos that utilize pictures and text to get the point across to my students. Think of it as a flashier Powerpoint. You work through a very intuitive interface that allows you to drag pictures, videos, and songs and provide captions as well. The service it provides is fantastic, as not only will it edit the video for you providing highly detailed backgrounds and overlays, but the program also sets up appropriate time for the video to emphasize the point. Above, you will a short video I produced with the web service going over questions to ask when looking for a good source to cite for my students. As this is a highly visual element to the lesson, it certainly allows for students who may have trouble with absorbing written materials to see the visual associations involved with the lesson. As the software is fairly easy to use as well, teachers can easily create videos to help tailor to students individual needs in order to better understand concepts that the teacher is trying to convey. In the end, if you find you have students who need help with learning a lesson, I suggest giving this program a try, and see if it offers better success in lesson planning.