As an educator, you are always trying to find way to ensure that the material that you teach is accurate, fluent, and meaningful to your students. One way to ensure this is to "review" what you are teaching and change or add to it appropriately. Video and photo editing/sharing is one way to ensure that your material is accurate and relevant to your students. There are two free photo to video applications that I am going to discuss in this blog to let you know the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Animoto is a web based photo OR video editing tool. Animoto is a very good at making "cool looking" video projects. You choose a theme, import the pictures (or video) that you want to put to video, choose a song to be played in the background, and then click on finalize. You are DONE, that easy. Yes, with this tool, anyone, and I do mean ANYONE can change their simple photographs into an exciting video/photo montage with music. However, this program does have it's limitations. You can NOT narrate the project after you are done. The only way that you would be able to narrate and coordinate your voice with the slides would be to use a recording program and then import your audio into Animoto... (not easy). Another negative, you can NOT crop your photos from inside of this application, your cropping must be done with another program first. Final analysis: If you are a beginner user, or perhaps even a student in school, and needed to make a video that shared a lot of pictures in an exciting way, then Animoto may be for you, but if you are wanting some other features to make your photo sharing more personal, then this may not be for you.
Microsoft PhotoStory 3, however, is a program used to create a virtual "show and tell" for the users. In several very easy steps, you import your photos, crop them while IN the application, add emphasis to certain spots in the photo through zoom, AND narrate your views through the entire presentation. This free little gem from Microsoft, however, may soon be phased out. In fact, they have not updated the software since 2005. If you are trying to download this software, and have a Win7 based computer, you will probably have to use the CNet download here as opposed to the Microsoft download site. Anyway, back to the point... PhotoStory 3 is a very user friendly and feature packed piece of software. In the world of education, this program can and will be VERY useful. From teaching specific lessons, to having students share their own projects, this little piece of software is golden in my book.
This video was created using Animoto and then exported to YouTube.
This video was created using PhotoStory3
Jared I found the same problems with Animoto aas you described. (narration and photo cropping) Also agree with using the CNet download. I have Windows 7 and found no problems with the CNet download. Great videos, not something anyone would want me doing, since the use of tools normally ends up being a destructive process in my life, and I am sure my insurance limits would cover me using a torch..lol
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed both of them.
Very thorough presentation. I would be very sorry if it got to the point that I couldn't use photstory in the classroom anymore. It is definitely one of my favorite ways to get students into their project outcomes. Good job!
ReplyDeleteJared, I really enjoyed your two presentations. I agree with you, Photo Story 3 is much more personalized. And I am disapointed it is being phased out, I used your suggestion and used CNet to download and it worked well for me.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow career education teacher I can definately appreciate all of the small steps involved in welding. I really liked you choice of classical music for the Animoto. Welding is truly an art and it is kinda like a slow classical song. Great job! Thanks for the Cnet tip as well.
ReplyDeleteI think, after the video, I can confidently light the torch. I might want to increase my insurance just in case ;) Great videos and post on the two applications. While I think Animoto's very nice (and a lot of kids think it's just so cool), PS 3 is more beneficial in many ways -- which you've mentioned. Great job here!
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