Emerging Technology 1: Animoto

I decided to create my own animoto.  I like how innovative it seems compared to power point slides.  I created an introductory video to coin identification for primary students.

http://animoto.com/play/aZuCAhXk7B00o1QDwN7yhg?autostart=true

I really enjoyed working with this program.  The steps were very clear and easy to follow.  There is a gallery of images and music to select or there is an option to upload your own images and mp3 files. 

I am a looping teacher so in first grade I would probably create videos such as one to show students as an introduction to lesson or unit.  In second grade, I would like students to begin to learn how to create their own.  Students could create videos about parts of speech, shapes, landforms, or any number of topics throughout the school year.  This program is so simple to use that once students learn how to create their first video, they would be able to make many more after that on their own.  The potential problems I could see are searching for images.  I would probably select a topic that enabled students to utilize the gallery photos rather than doing an image search at the beginning.  I would also have them select music from the galley to keep things simple.  I will post some of my students videos as soon as we complete this new adventure!