Screencasting with EXPLAIN EVERYTHING

Explain Everything 2 is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard app for the iPad that lets students annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export images, video and webpages. 

Students can create slides, draw, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Students can also rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage.
Finished projects can be exported as a movie to the `Camera Roll'.

Teachers & students find it a highly creative tool which can be utilised in a range of curriculum areas to make thinking visible . It enables students to articulate their thinking by creating multimodal explanations in which they provide step by step demonstrations of that thinking  In many schools, for example, it is used for students to capture  and reflect on their solutions when problem solving in Mathematics,

The Explain Everything app has recently updated and so the best tutorials are available as an ebook within the app itself.

One of the most creative uses of the Explain Everything app is a tutorial in which Paul Hamilton, a well known EDTech pioneer, uses it to create an animated robot. 

Digital Camera Capers & ANIMOTO

Public Domain Image -PIXABAY

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Perhaps one of the most valuable learning tools in the classroom for students is a digital camera. With a digital camera in hand students can capture countless experiences which can then be used for blogs & presentations in English and RE, process diaries/journals in Science and PDH&PE or even as a thinking and reflection tool in Mathematics.


The inclusion of still and movie cameras in the iPad is particularly valuable. Photos are captured and stored on the device - no messy transfers or downloading any more. They can then be accessed  and used in other applications with ease. This low technology threshold means that even our youngest students can create multimodal digital texts on their iPads.

The following example is a Snapshot of learning in a Science Classroom.It was created online using ANIMOTO which allows students to upload up to 10 photos to create a simple animated feature. The video can then be shared by link or embedded in a Blog page or Google Site. eg

                      Yr5 Amazing Microbiologists

Digital Artmaking : Take One Photo & Start Creating

Recently I have also been experimenting with digital photos and a range of photo manipulation tools tools and filters to explore Visual Arts concepts and express myself visually.

There are a number of ways you can then share your photos including simple online galleries such as Picasa and iPhoto which allow you to create albums and slide shows quickly and easily.

Tools such as Animoto are easy to use on a laptop or iPad .  Once you have your video on Animoto's website you can also upload to Youtube.

Book Trailers

Source: Openclip Art

TRAILERS 

 Have you been to the Movies lately? Along with the choc-tops and the popcorn one of the most anticipated parts of the experience is the Movie Trailers which promote upcoming movies. They are always fast paced, engaging and designed to get you to decide what you’ll come back to see next.


 Book Trailers are similar to Movie Trailers. They combine text and images with a music soundtrack and visual effects such as zooming and fading to create a dynamic presentation suitable for the internet.They are being embraced by authors and the publishing industry as a way of promoting the latest books for adults as well as kids. Here is an example published by Harper Collins.



STUDENT CREATED TRAILERS

So why not engage your students in promoting their own favorite books via their own trailers? Making Book Trailers is a great way for students to really engage deeply with a text and use their creativity with technology as well. Not only that it provides a unique opportunity for other kids to learn about new titles by watching them. Here is a sample created with iMovie Trailer designed to promote  "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"  by Roald Dahl

DESIGNING A BOOK TRAILER

Remember your purpose is to persuade other students to read your favourite bookStudents can use a range of tools to create their Book Trailers including Animoto, Keynote or Perhaps the most supportive tool is iMovie which has its own Trailer templates for students to use.

ANALYSE THE BOOK - what was good, unique, interesting about your book. List/brainstorm/mindmap your impressions, feeling, important points.

RESEARCH OTHER BOOK TRAILERS that are similar to what you would like to do. Preview some from this wiki or search for book trailers on YouTube or Teacher Tube . Decide what you like and don’t like.

SCRIPTING & STORYBOARDING Write a SCRIPT and/or create a storyboard.

GATHER YOUR RESOURCES - images, sounds, sound effects or video.

Decide which ICT tool you will use for delivering your trailer

eg Powerpoint; Keynote; Windows MovieMaker; iMovie, Animoto

Plan effects (transitions, sound, colouring, etc). Try DANOSONGS for some free music

CREATE: Review the plan – with teachers, other students and create the trailer

Storybird - A Reading and Writing Community on the Web

I have been experimenting with Storybird a  free Web 2.0 tool where you can access a range of artwork and create your own ebooks to be published online.

This first one is one of my first Storybirds  containing some of my favourite quotes and ideas about the nature of Creativity. Hope you like it.



I also made this one to publish some 'Found Poetry' I created using the text of the stunning picture book Farther by Graeme Baker Smith as my inspiration.


I loved this little one from the Storybird Community about authoring a story.


To get started simply sign up for a Teacher account at Storybird. You can have a free class,  up to 35 users for free. You and your class can create & publish as many books as you wish. You can also choose to create beautiful 'picture books' such as these or 'longform' books - chapter books.

As a member of the Storybird Community you can also read as many other books by other Storybird authors - a great way to get your students reading AND writing.

Thinglink : create your own interactive multimedia resources

Recently while preparing a Professional Learning day on Inquiry Learning I discovered a useful little Web 2.0 tool called Thinglink. It is an engaging way for teachers to create a visual pathfinder for students to explore a topic and build their background knowledge.

It could also be used by students to curate content or present their findings around a topic or a theme.

Simply start with a photo and then add links and other content from SoundCloud, Youtube, Vimeo. The content links are shown as icons with which users interact as they explore the image.

Users can also access other Thinglinks in the community library. I searched and found a useful Australian History "thinglink" on the Gold Rush.


Then I tried one of my own on Rainforests in Australia.

Then I tried one of my own on Rainforests in Australia.

Sharing options are via weblink, email or you can get an embed code which will allow you to embed it in a Class Blog, for example.Teachers seem to be able to create a free account and create for students and possibly a class can use it. Still to investigate the cost structure.

I was able to get up and going by simply playing but if you wish you may wish to explore this Thinglink which provides information and tutorials on how to use it in the classroom.