Animoto

Animoto (www.animoto.com) is a website that creates video/image/text slideshows set to music. It is SUPER SIMPLE, and can be used by both educators and students for various reasons. Recently, I had an English class create Animoto presentations for books they had read. They chose images from creativecommons.com or found cover shots and photos of the author. Along with the images, they incorporated key quotes from their novels along with their opinions and theme statements. They were also instructed to choose songs that fit the mood, theme, and tone of their novel. This was perhaps one of the parts of the assignment that they enjoyed the most! Once they gathered all images, text, and sound, Animoto created eye-catching slideshows and the students presented them to the rest of the class.

This idea could be used for teachers to create presentations to introduce students to new concepts. Librarians could create Animotos to spotlight various authors and books or as a new innovative way to do a book talk. It's also an excellent way for students share books they have been reading!

Poll Everywhere

If your school allows cell phone use for educational purposes, then I highly recommend www.polleverywhere.com. This is another survey tool, but it can be done via text messages. Users sign up for an account (free or paid, and free has worked just fine for me), create questions, and students respond by sending a text message. Much like Survey Monkey or Quizlet.com, it can be used for review, assessment, or to find out more about students and their interests. PollEverywhere has worked well for me because it shocks students when they are told they can use their cell phones. They appreciate the chance to access their mobile devices, and I get valuable information about their knowledge and interests. If teachers or librarians have access to a projector or interactive white board connected to a computer, then they can have Poll Everywhere on the screen so students can see the question, number to text, and the results. The results are conveniently displayed in bar graphs with percentages as soon as text messages are received by the website. In my use, it's only taken seconds.