Thursday, December 4, 2008

Using Animoto to explore curriculum ideas

Following on the idea of using stories to explore kids ideas of values, I've been thinking about use of web2.0 tools to communicate other parts of the NZ Curriculum. Early on this year our Science department rewrote its essence statement. I've picked up on a small number of ideas from that to trial with an animoto slideshow. The trial you see below is not perfect, but the idea is there to be picked up on and perfected. How awesome would it be to create these (using animoto, moviemaker and so on) with a department? How great is it to use images of kids from school to say, this is what science is about for us. How much more powerful would it be when ERO visit and ask to see our essence statement in our scheme and we say check this out, this is what we think science is about. Like I say, this is just a kernel of an idea, but the potential extends beyond this...what you see here is an early attempt, its missing some of the slides I'd added to animoto, 30 seconds is way too short, watch this space for improvements...

6 comments:

Ms Driver said...

Hi Craig
having only 30 secs does mean you really need to know what the ESSENCE is that you all believe in so having such a short message is good. Huge potential for developing across the curriculum and marketing for schools via websites... we believe at school xyz in Literacy we {animoto promo} this give me a lot to think about and take back to school - thanks for igniting this thought!

Heheboy said...

If a picture says a thousand words then 30 secs speaks volumes. It's a great use of technology and will be having a play myself... Awesome!!

Craig Steed said...

Thanks for your comment Justine.

Good point on the short time frame meaning you have to really distill out the essence (chemist talking here). Still would like another 30s or so though, as it trails off after about 20, but yes brief, to the point...and potential to apply across a range of things I think.

Anonymous said...

At 30 seconds perhaps it's an audio visual haiku. I'll be giving it a go! Limits force focus on the content. I like that.

KB said...

Hi Craig,

This looks like such a professional production (don't you love Animoto??), and something that would sit so well on a website for the school etc.

I know from Twitter that you've signed up for an Animoto for Educators account, so the time limit won't be a problem soon.

I'm going to start Animoto with the kids next week.

Great stuff!

Keri-Lee

Craig Steed said...

Thanks for your comments Pedroniusprime, visual haiku - like it!

KB, still waiting for my educator registration to come in, then we'll be cranking. Looking forward to seeing yours!