Before I settled into one website to find some useful apps, I visited each of the three suggested sites for this week’s assignment. Reflecting on the lessons we learned last week about evaluating websites for potential use, I immediately was drawn to edutecher for its teacher-y look and feel. I loved its simplicity and how it made me feel like I was ready to learn a new lesson. But, wanting to be open-minded, I moved on to go2web20. Despite its utilitarian feel, I quickly lost my preference for edutecher, and couldn’t wait to peruse through the long list of topics to find new apps. However, I still had one more site to visit before I chose. The final stop, schrockguide, did not visually grab my attention at first. It had a “someone’s blog” feel to it vs. the look of a useful resource site. Despite this, I did find myself getting off track reading some of the posts regarding iPads in the Classroom and Chromebook articles.
But, back to the original assignment: I selected go2web20 to research three new apps. Going back to the topic list, I selected “music” and then a music-creation tool, “ujam.” I teach a Sound Production class, and I am always looking for an online music production tool for my students to work on at home. Ujam claimed to be a cloud-based site that allows its users to record their vocals or instruments and turn them into full-fledged songs. I was most interested in whether or not the site included prerecorded loops for the students that neither sang nor played. The first step was to sign up – which you could do through your FaceBook or Google account. Since I have the latter, registration was a snap! The next step was to either sing or play into the onboard mic. What? I was not ready for that. I was hoping to get into the program to explore before I actually created something. But, there was no way past the microphone that I could find so, I sank down low in my chair, hid behind the monitor and…sang “Happy Birthday” to ujam (I was so mortified I would be caught that I could think of no other name!) Once I was finished, it gave me the option of using my voice recording or turning it into an instrument. There was no way I wanted to hear my singing played back at me, so I opted for “instrument” and the program took my voice and turned it into a grand piano version of the song. The “notes” were placed on a scale, and you could quickly tell where I was out of tune. However, you could drag the notes up or down to change their pitch, and ujam let me know if the note was a “good” fit, “best” fit or “rarely used.” After moving things around a bit, I ended up with a pretty accurate sounding “Happy Birthday to You.” From hear, I could change the main instrument, add drums, chords and other background sounds. I was very impressed and with both its ease of use, as well as its advanced functions, and I could imagine using this for either my Sound students, or as a narration recording tool for digital stories in my History class. When I was finished with my “creation,” I had the option to share it through a multitude of social networking sites or download it as an mp3. This feature really is useful and makes the program a must-have for anyone who needs to record audio. As a final note, I immediately deleted my project, as I did not want it to fall into the wrong hands! (students often have to use my computer to present to the class)
The second app I explored was “animoto.” This program allows users to create multimedia slideshows, or what I liken to the ultimate e-cards. I signed up through my personal email, and was immediately taken to sample videos. I was worried at first because every sample I chose had a $ option, but I quickly realized you can use any of their templates for free, for a maximum of a 30 second show. This they call their “lite” version; the Plus version costs $5/month or $30 year and gets you unlimited, full-length videos. The Pro version is $249 a year and is geared more towards businesses looking to sell products. One reason I chose this site was because I was looking ahead to next week’s assignment of creating a cell phone video and I am in need of a good editor. Animoto is available on both GooglePlay and iTunes, so if I liked it, I could use it on my phone. There is a short video that does a good job of teaching you how to use the app, but it is a pretty simple interface to learn on your own. I chose a template, uploaded photo and video clips (or tried to), selected a song from their extensive library (you can also upload your own music) and added some text. The videos took awhile to upload, (in fact, I kept getting an error message and finally just canceled them), but the pictures went up pretty quickly. Overall, I was happy with the final movie, though any in-depth edits are saved for paid subscribers. From here, I could share my project through email, FaceBook or even upload to YouTube. I see many uses for this in a classroom, however, the 30 second limit really limits how extensively you can use it with your students. Perhaps a .30 PSA or book character introduction? I might actually opt for the Plus version, though I don’t see it as a solution for next week’s editing.
Or click here if the video does not show.
Make a video of your own at Animoto.
The final app I explored was “smores.” This site lets you create multimedia fliers online. These fliers can be sent to your email list, posted on your FaceBook account, added to Pinterest, or shared via a number of social networking sites. The app was rather easy to use, though it did have some bugs here and there. One example of an issue I had was after I typed in the main title, the program wouldn’t let me go anywhere, as if it was stuck in the title-editing mode. I will email this problem to the developer. When I went to the next area to edit, I made all of my changes, saved, previewed, and noticed my new edits were not there. I had to go in once again and add them, and the changes were there in the second preview. I can see students getting impatient with the process. What is good, however, is the ability to add photos, videos, an agenda, a hyperlink and comments. I forgot to mention that you sign up for smores either through a FaceBook Account or your email. I signed up using my school email, which I quickly realized that all three sites I registered for here were done through three different means. Did I not just learn anything through the information overload discussion? Smores is good for the obvious: creating online fliers for an event. But students can create invitations for historical events, announcements for green initiatives or a promotional release for a book they have recently read.
My SMORES Flier
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