PE4_GoAnimate

In a previous blog post I introduced you to the Web 2.0 tool Go Animate.  Now I have been set to the task of becoming proficient in using this tool.  For my RILS (Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario) project I had to teach a group of educators how to use this tool well enough to be able to introduce it to their students.  So, in this case, I learned the tool by teaching the tool.  Naturally, there were some instances where I had to act quick on my toes to figure out a problem a student was having.  Actually, about three people had the same problem.  So, I did some troubleshooting to figure out why their home page did not look like everyone else's. 
The screen you see upon clicking on the link should look like this picture to the left.  As I try to get the screen some of the other teachers were seeing, I still cannot figure out where they were or how they were seeing the screen.  Nonetheless, I helped them navigate the screen they did see to reach the templates page where they could start creating a video. 

I showed them some of the sample templates the site has to offer, and I showed them the difference between a basic membership and an upgraded membership.  In fact, several of the teachers upgraded right then and there because they too wanted to become experts enough to use the tool flawlessly and successfully in their classrooms come August. 

For our purposes here, I will continue to use my basic membership.  However, I do think that a year's membership will be on my to-do list at the start of the next school year.  The drawback to using only the basic membership is the lack of exporting options.  I circumvented that problem using the Screenflow software on my computer, but I can see how sharing might be difficult and frustrating for someone else. 

Some of the interesting (free) features I found while exploring this site prior to my teaching the tool is as follows:

This site has a messaging component, making it even more interactive.  Students can stay in touch through this site if they are working in a group to create a video. This site allows users to sign in via Facebook, making the tool that much more relevant and interesting to our digital natives.  Users can also use their email contacts to find friends who use Go Animate, and they can "friend" other users, similar to Facebook. 

If a student's work gets a lot of attention from other Go Animate members, the student can earn different badges.  This would be a great motivator for certain age groups.  I can see my 6th grade students loving this, my 7th grade students liking it but not showing their affection, and my 8th grade students hating it like they hate everything else.  Okay, I give them way too much credit here.  They don't have the passion to hate things.  They are far too apathetic for that.  ;)

The site allows users to choose from an array of different templates.  The basic membership does come with fewer choices than that paid membership, but the basic templates get the job done well. 





This site also allows users to create a video from scratch, where the end product is, as the site proclaims, "100% you." 

Check back for my next installment where I attempt to create something that is "100% me."