Animoto to the Stage, Take I

Why the interest in Animoto?

Last year a new member our staff used Animoto during one of the school wide celebrations.  Needless to say, I was more that impressed.  The animation, transitions, sound effects, and overall quality was more than impressive. I noticed at the end of the video presentation the word “Animoto” appeared at the start of the credits.  This is how I knew about the program. However, due to the rather busy schedule of a teacher, I was never able to actually play with the program. This year is a different story! By taking a web 2.0 class, I was given the opportunity to explore programs that I have always wanted to play with.  

Highlighting the Research?

Berger & Trexler identified Animoto as a great tool for project based activities for students K-12 (p. 139). Users can upload digital photos, add back ground music and even add text if they choose (p. 139). Teachers can create educational accounts where students can have a safe environment to create their videos that can be shared vie email, blog post, website, YouTube or by downloading it directly onto a computer (p. 140) 

Setting up the account

Setting up my Animoto account was a straight forward process.  After going to the Animoto.com website I simply clicked on the “Sign Up” button that was located in a big green box right in the middle of the page, I couldn’t have missed it if I was trying.  Filling in the “Create an account” required fields took only a couple of minutes and then my account was ready for me to get creative.