Even More Digital Storytelling! -GoAnimate

Much like Animoto, GoAnimate is another great way to be used as a teaching and learning tool. They are both good ways to use digital storytelling, although unlike Animoto, the user is able to manipulate characters to create an original video, not just using pictures and text to create a slide show. With GoAnimate, the free version only allows 30 second movies to be created like Animoto, but there is a lot more involved. The user can choose a setting for their movie, which characters they want to use, and they can even make the characters move and preform a variety of different gestures and emotions. What I like about this, is that you can type what you want the characters to say (there are default voices for each character) and you can even change the language they speak. This short video I created using GoAnimate is a small interaction where two characters are meeting each other for the first time. They are introducing themselves in Spanish, and talking about where they are from (typical introductory vocabulary.) This would be very useful in the classroom as a teaching tool for reinforcement, and even listening comprehension. It will definitely engage the students, especially if you have the characters make silly gestures. If the default voices are not very comprehensible, you can even record voices of your own. I also like how it can be customized to the curriculum (using chapter vocabulary, grammar concepts, etc.) I think this would be a great project for the students to use in the classroom, however it is very time-consuming. To apply each movement to each character in the scene, to type the dialogue, create new scenes, it seems like a lot of work for such a short video. It would definitely be something that would take a few days to do in the classroom.