Educational Value of Animoto

According to McPherson, children prefer accessing online multimodal tools rather than reading or writing about a topic. (2008) In 2006, Animoto was developed in New York, using Cinematic artificial intelligence technology.  A group of film makers thought it would be a great way to increase the quality of videos shared over the internet.  It combines the visual and auditory (pictures and music) which resembles a movie trailer. (O’Shea, 2011)  Creating a video montage for the first concept of my colonization unit, the 3 G’s, God, gold and glory, scaffolds the Common Core “I can” statement of my students beginning to understand and describe the economic aspect of North American colonization (i.e. reasons for colonization, and the differences between the Spanish, French and British colonization).  The first essential question of our colonization unit is why did European countries want to colonize the New World?  This video montage clearly and simply answers that question.  

References

McPherson, K. (2008). Mashing literacy. Teacher Librarian, 35(5), 73-75. Retrieved from     http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/224875729?    accountid=3783

O’Shea, K. (2011).  Animoto.  Retrieved from        https://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/INSITE/Animoto, September 20, 2014.

Class Blog

The Educational Value of Wordle

Wordle, a Web 2.0 presentation tool, is defined by alphaDictionary as “a creative design composed of words”.  (2004-2014) Digital natives refer to Wordle as word clouds used in the classroom and other professional settings. (Prensky, 2001)  Historically speaking, according to Dr. Goodword (that is just his/her web name); the word “wortle” has been around since the 15^th century.  Somewhere along the way, the “t” was dropped and a new lexicon was born.  The Wordle created for our Colonization Unit is designed to introduce the vocabulary words used in the readings and YouTube videos.  By pre-teaching vocabulary to the students, their ability to comprehend the Big Ideas increases, assuring they will eventually make connections to events from the words.  In Universal Design for Learning, the Wordle is a multisensory tool, providing equal access for learners through the visual modality.  By using the primary colors in my Wordle, students who are color blind, dyslexic, have visual constructive dyspraxia or are challenged with depth perception weaknesses, students can access the vocabulary for the unit in different ways.  According to Wissick, use of the Universal Design model supports teachers in providing access for many learning styles and creating the opportunity to use web resources in the classroom setting. (p.3, 2004)  I would consider Wordle a Universal Design for Learning Tool. 

References

Goodword, D. (2004-2014). AlphaDictionary. Retrieved September 13, 2014, from http://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/word/wordle

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. S.l.: Marc Prensky.

Wissick, C., Schweder, W., & Gardner, J. (2004). Technology applications to support diverse learners. 1-5. Retrieved September 13, 2014.