These types of animations not only appear in educational videos, but also pervade traditional media, such as commercials. Giving students the option to create animated videos for their products should be something that you consider, and PowToon is there to help you out! Here's a short video created in PowToon that explains how it is unique from PowerPoint or Prezi.
The best part about PowToon is that it can be integrated directly into our student's Google Drive accounts. They simply navigate to their Google account online, click the "create" button (or "new" if they are in the new view of Drive), choose "Connect more apps", and then search for Powtoon. Completing these steps will allow students to sign up and use PowToon through their Google account. No new usernames or passwords needed!
Once they are signed in and have started their first project, they will instantly be reminded other presentation software (PowerPoint, for example). There are slides on the left side, a timeline at the bottom, and a gallery of objects on the right.
Animating with PowToon invovles placing objects in a scene, adjusting the length of time that they are present, and choosing entry and exit animations. Tutorials of all kinds can be found on PowToon's website (here) and YouTube (here).
Finally, I will leave you with a short piece of animation that I put together using PowToon. This was put together on a student Dell 1:1 machine using the built in mic to record the audio (please excuse the low rumble of the air conditioner in the background).
If you would like to learn more about PowToon, contact your district instructional technology coach today!
