The Web 2.0 site that I have chosen to review this week is Go!Animate. This site claims that anyone can animate. I was somewhat skeptical about this claim. In the past, I had tried out several other Web 2.0 sites as well as several software packages. I was not able to find anything that was easy to use. Most of them required that the user know the mechanics of animation or required that the user be good at drawing. You had to be able to draw and know technical aspects of animating. These sites or software packages claimed that animating was easy and anyone could do it. So when Go!Animate claimed that anyone can animate, I was going to make them prove it. Well, their claim was true.
With Go!Animate it is very easy to create some really impressive and entertaining animations. You can add many features that add a lot of polish to the animations. You can create your own characters, add various backgrounds, add speech or text bubbles, add music, add props and add special effects. With the basic package which is free, you can create animations up to one minute in length. When you are finished with your animation, you can download it or share it on various social websites.
Go!Animate can be a great resource for the classroom. Teachers can create engaging and entertaining animations. This would be a great way to differentiate instruction. Students would easily be able to create animations to demonstrate what they know. Not only are they demonstrating what they know about the content, they are able to learn how to create animations.
Another really nice feature of the site is that it prohibits use of inappropriate content or language.
Hi Mark, Like you, I am doubtful that an animation application or software would be easy to use. After reading your blog, I am going to try it. I know that the students would love to create their own animated movies while demonstrating the content that they have learned. From your description it seems this application has come up with a winning combination of creativity and user friendliness.
ReplyDeleteMark, this is great! Good looking out. I need to spend more time playing with this and fully absorbing it, but I could easily use this in my English classes and especially my AVID classes. As you and Klytia have already noted, this is much easier to access than expected and can lead to endless applications for both the student and the teacher.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely chose one of my favorite tools to animate with students. I have also used this tool on one of my commercials on my blog and for congratulating friends on their birthdays and special occasions, so this make this web application very versatile. It is very easy to use and the experience is so much fun. I can't wait to use this great tool with my students and see their reactions.
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