Tag: hare

A Review of Content Creation Tools

As an aspiring educator, I am continually searching for new tools and technologies that can be incorporated into my future classroom. For the purpose of this reflection, I’ve selected three different content creation tools to toy with and review. Of the three tools selected, each tool falls under a different category. From the presentation category, I selected Animoto; from the infographics category, I selected Infogram; and from the storytelling category, I selected Sutori. I also further assessed each of these tools by rating them on the Triple E Evaluation scale, and I will further discuss this as I reflect on each individual tool.

I began with Animoto, which is a tool for creating brief, video presentations. It was relatively easy to make an account and navigate the site, and therefore can be used by students as well as teachers. The video presentations that can be made are very visually appealing and have a multitude of customization options, however, these options are quite limited unless you a willing to pay for a subscription. That said, I attempted to create my own artifact using only the free options, to get an idea of how I can use this tool in my classroom without breaking the bank. Due to its easy to follow nature, I decided to create an artifact that could be created by one of my future students. With assistance where needed, I believe this tool can be used by 3rd/4th graders, and created a mock assignment through Animoto as an example. In this video, my future student (me) was instructed to create a video presentation that used sequencing to order the events in the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare”. Below is a screenshot of the screen students will see when creating their Animoto.

A screenshot depicting the “slides” of my mock video presentation.

It was quite simple to construct the video, and provided me with plenty of options to customize it however I’d like. That said, I was only able to make the video a maximum of thirty seconds long, and could only fit one short sentence of each “slide”. This limits the potential projects that Animoto could be used for, however, a short sequencing project seemed to work just fine. Besides these deficits, the video created was very visually appealing and professional looking nonetheless.

I selected a “Woodlands” themed Animoto to match the environment described in the fable.

After creating this video and spending ample time on Animoto’s website, I decided that I would score it a 12/18, meaning it has average learning potential and its effectiveness depends on the instruction around it. Animoto’s score is mainly hindered by the limits that the free version puts on a project’s potential, as not much information can be fit in a thirty second video. Animoto’s material restriction keeps students from depicting any in depth understanding, and the concept of scaffolding (as a teacher) cannot be done due to this limit as well. That said, I wouldn’t recommend Animoto for use by teachers in a lesson plan, unless they are willing to spend money, and should only be used by students who do not need space or time in the video to be incredibly descriptive.

The next tool I evaluated was an infographic, Infogram to be exact. This tool allows users to create visual reports and graphs to be used for a multitude of lessons and assignments. Contrary to Animoto, the free version of Infogram still provides the user with a multitude of customization options and ways to present information. That said, this website was a bit more confusing that Animoto, and therefore may only be used my older students or those more experienced with classroom technology. While creating my artifact using this tool, I decided to stick with “The Tortoise and the Hare” lesson theme, but instead made an infographic that could be constructed as a class. That is, an Infogram that I could create while my students brainstorm ideas to add during a group discussion. In this case, I created an Infogram that compared the Tortoise and the Hare by listing their character traits.

In a class discussion, I would have more empty “bubbles” for student’s to brainstorm character traits.

My Infogram was very visually appealing and served its purpose as an easy character trait organizer, and the process wasn’t very time consuming. Although I wasn’t a fan of its sometimes confusing nature, I do believe it is worth it for Infogram’s endless customization opportunities. It allows the user to be creative with their assignment, or in this case their lesson. Below I attached a screenshot of the customization screen where the Infogram is constructed.

Many of the options have detailed settings that can be confusing to young students.

The Infogram was a tool that I thoroughly enjoyed creating, as it is one that provides a multitude of learning opportunities. It is for that reason, that I decided to rate Infogram a 15/18 on the Triple E Evaluation scale. Although confusing for younger students, Infogram has endless potential in creating anything an older student or teacher may need for an assignment or lesson plan. It has plenty of opportunities for effective learning due to its limitless design possibilities. For Infogram, points were deducted due to its semi-confusing nature, however, I would still recommend this tool as an effective one for use by students, teachers and administrators alike.

The last tool that I used was Sutori, which is a story-like presentation creator. I created a free account, and immediately noticed how much simpler this tool was compared to Infogram. It was very straight forward and made it easy for me to create new pieces of the story, insert multimedia and change the sequence if necessary. I again decided to stick to “The Tortoise and the Hare” theme and switched back into a students mindset, creating a Sutori that simply described the plot of the fable. It was very easy, took me a whopping ten minutes to complete, and therefore can be very useful for younger students. After I completed my artifact and selected the “present” button, I noticed that my completed Sutori very much resembled basic presentations, and that the only difference is the process by which they are constructed.

My finished Sutori very much resembled a typical presentation.

I was unpleasantly surprised by this, as I expected it to be a bit more unique and visually attractive. There were more customization options that could have been used to make the slides more appealing, however they wouldn’t change the overall bland power point format. Attached is the way my Sutori looked during the construction process, as it resembled a story-like timeline. Regardless, construction was easy and easily understandable for less experienced users.

My Sutori looked much different while I was constructing it.

Overall, Sutori is a good tool for use by students and teachers, but can be easily replaced by other basic presentation tools. Due to its lack of exceptionality, Sutori scored an average 11/18, as I rated it only a bit higher than a basic presentation. It has the potential to be an effective learning tool if advanced instruction is given to enhance the content of the Sutori, however the same could be done with another tool. Sutori’s only unique feature is its timeline like design, but can be useful for young, inexperienced technology users. For these reasons, Sutori is an adequate tool that I would recommend for students of all ages, and teachers in need of an easily constructed presentation.

All in all, I feel as if my search to find effective content tools was rather successful. All of the tools that I tested out could definitely be of use to me in my future classroom, whether it be for a lesson plan, or as an assignment for my students. My favorite content tool was easily Infogram, simply due to its ability to support my students’ creativity. Regardless, I am excited to see how these tools can be of use to me in my future classroom, and can’t wait to discover the new technologies that will continue to develop.