Big Huge Labs
http://www.bighugelabs.com For what would I use it? Projects requiring one photograph and a limited number of text. Register? It’s free, but no need to register unless you plan to go back to a project another day to edit. Once you save it, it’s saved as a jpg. How long does it take? Once your have your image ready, it takes less than 30 minutes to create, save, and print. What are the steps? 1. Find and save your image. 2. Choose your format from the many choices (trading card, magazine cover, CD cover, poster, etc.) 3. Upload photo. (Browse > Open) 4. Add your text. 5. Hit the CREATE button. 6. Edit, Save, Share, or Hi-Res? o EDIT allows you to center your image better or change your text. o SAVE as JPG to the location of your choice. o SHARE to either Flickr, e-mail, or Facebook. (E-mail didn’t work for me) o Hi-RES costs money. |
Animoto
http://www.animoto.com For what would I use it? Projects with images, limited text, set to music Register? Free for basic program. Upgrades give you more choices. Have each student create their own username and password. How long does it take? 1-2 periods to register, find images, write text, sort, and pick out music. What are the steps? 1. Sign Up > Free > Try It 2. Choose Style > Select 3. Add pictures and videos (I recommend choosing all your pictures up front. Select all of them and upload them together. Others can be added or deleted later, but you’ll save time if you upload the majority at the beginning.) 4. Drag and Drop the pictures in to the order you want them to appear in your presentation. 5. Add text boxes. These can be dragged and dropped, too. 6. Choose music. 7. Produce Video 8. E-mail to Teacher at osd.wednet.edu address for presentation / grading. |
Xtranormal
http://www.xtranormal.com For what would I use it? Projects with a script for one to two people Register? Free. Have each student create their own username and password. How long does it take? 2-3 periods of computer lab time. Prior to starting the technology piece, have the students finalize their script. What are the steps? 1. Sign Up 2. Select “Create” tab 3. Select general look of your project (I recommend you looking at them in advance, and narrowing their choices down. Some are not going to be appropriate for school projects.) 4. Choose between 1 ACTOR or 2 ACTORS 5. SETS tab > choose location for your movie 6. ACTORS tab > choose Actor 1 – choose voice; choose Actor 2 – choose voice 7. SOUNDS tab > (may not even need) 8. STORY tab > add script in script boxes 9. DRAG and DROP motions into the script. PLEASE NOTE: DRAG AND DROP ALL MOTIONS BEFORE LOOKING AT IT. SAVING IS VERY SLOW AND TIME CONSUMING. 10. Hit SAVE at the end of each sitting. DO NOT HIT PUBLISH UNTIL IT IS COMPLETE. EMPHASIZE THIS WARNING OVER AND OVER AGAIN! 11.Once it’s published, students copy and paste their url into E-mail to Teacher at osd.wednet.edu address for presentation / grading. |
Microsoft Newsletter
For what would I use it?
Projects requiring a lot of text, possibly accented with images. Register. No. It's available from Microsoft Word. How long does it take? 2-3 periods of computer time. Students could use their first day just for research and the next two days to put their project into newsletter format. Experienced students may be able to compose the newsletter as they research. What are the steps? 1. Go to Microsoft Word. Go to File > Project Gallery > Newsletter. 2. Choose the newsletter format you like best. 3. To change a text area, double click in a text box, then type in your own text. 4. For an image, right-click on the image, choose "change picture" then replace it with your own image that you have chosen. 5. Finalize newsletter to your individual taste. Use the formatting palette to change effects and formatting. Drag and drop both images and text boxes to a new location. Changing text fonts, size, color, etc. is done the same way as is done in Word. 6. SAVE the project in the same way you would save a Word document. |