learningIT

I love sharing stuff like this. When I meet “tech people,” I like to ask them for similar recommendations. Here’s my list of productivity tools I can’t live without (and most of the stuff is free too):

Skitch: 1-click uploading of images for fast and fun image sharing. Draw on a blank canvas, take a screen snap and then label or highlight areas in the photo. Useful for creating “How to” sheets. I also use it for drawing classes and use it to record what I am drawing on my screen to make tutorial videos.

Vi.sualize.us: Photo bookmarking made easy. I use this with my art classes. How? I create useful tags and then embed the URL on our class webpage/wiki etc. View my account here.

Diigo: A powerful research tool and a knowledge-sharing community. Don’t just bookmark! Highlight the web! Add sticky notes too. Access and search your findings from any PC or iPhone. Create groups to pool resources for specific projects. (My Diigo name is elemICT)

Google Reader: Keep up with your favorite websites in one easy place. Make everything come to you.

PBWiki: Put all your class notes online for free (2gig limit). Why travel with binders of paper. At least use it as a backup in case of fire. I think I am up to five wikis now! View one of my examples here.

Animoto: Automatically produces beautifully orchestrated, completely unique video pieces from your media. Free, fast and shockingly easy. I have blogged and compared photo slideshows before here.

TweetDeck or Twhirl: Both are fast and easy ways to connect with Twitter.

VLC Media Player: A highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac …) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

Stickies: Like Post-It notes and available on Mac computers.

Quicksilver: Free download for Mac. Find items on your computer and keep your dock tidy (or empty).

Screencasting: I use SnapzPro, I use and love ScreenFlow, but Jing is free for you. Record your computer screen.

MediaFire: I use this more with my friends than with my students. We use it to transfer/share/grab files from each other for free (100mb upload limit).

And of course, YouTube and Vimeo: both for finding resources and sharing vids. I use YouTube more for school and Vimeo for my personal stuff.

Following on from my post yesterday, here’s the breakdown I used to help evaluate the features and final product of the three sites:

So, which one to recommend? Personally, I prefer Animoto, especially if you have access to the Educator’s Pass. Otherwise, you could pay for the video upgrade or settle with the 30 second video. Animoto looks flash, professional, modern and the transitions are synced to the music. You are able to highlight certain photos too. You can do this with the other two, but you would have to play with the transition times to do this. Animoto has a simple click option. The DVD quality upgrade costs five (US) dollars per flick.

UPDATE: As of today (what a coincidence), Animoto has announced that you can add video clips to your Animoto videos! Watch a few sample videos and find out more here. You can upload clips from your camera or phone, or use some from their collection (from iStockphoto and Getty Images). You can choose highlights of up to 10 seconds each, though they recommend using only 3-5 seconds as that works best within the flow of an Animoto video. (I’ll update it on the chart later as the file is on another computer)

Stupeflix, though in beta mode, does not store your video. It only hosts it for a month, allowing you and viewers to download it. This may be a good option for those teachers willing to share videos with parents, but unwilling to post them to YouTube etc. (It would also save time of burning it to disc.) Therefore, it also does not allow embedding. You would have to download the video and then upload it to a sharing site. Stupeflix states you may also upload video, but when I tried, I was not permitted. I even converted the file (more investigation needed on this). I didn’t really like the black background at times and some of the cropping of the shots.

Photopeach does not allow downloading. It only hosts. It was rather fast and simple to use though. If you could download it, it may have stretched to number one. One option I did find interesting was the “Spiral View.” When you create a slideshow, you may switch between the two modes for viewing. It also has a quiz option that teachers may find useful. I did prefer the larger display area for photos.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

UPDATE 2: I have updated the change in the chart to the Animoto category regarding uploading video.

Teachers often ask which is the best photo slideshow creator to use in class. The ‘usual’ three I hear about are Animoto (teachers click here), PhotoPeach and Stupeflix. So I decided to do a test. Using the same photos for all sites, I created slideshows and compared their features and final product.

However, everyone has different tastes. You may view the three examples below. Which do you prefer? I’ll give my breakdown and verdict tomorrow. Do you know of any other alternatives? If so, please let me know.

Example 1: Animoto

Example 2: PhotoPeach
Eastern Canada Trip 2009 on PhotoPeach

Example 3: Stupeflix (Note: Stupeflix only holds the video for 1 month. I  downloaded it and then uploaded it to Vimeo.)

Eastern Canada 2009 from FNC videos on Vimeo.

At my school, it’s nice to see some high school students presenting their research in different ways besides PowerPoints and reports. This class used Animoto to present their findings on HIV for their geography class. I am baffled why more students/teachers don’t use it. Feel free to leave them comments here.

Previously I reported on how some Grade 4 classes were defining Japanese culture for their unit of study here at my school. Students were asked to take pictures of unique elements of Japanese culture. As a grade level, they used this information to define Japanese culture and think about how history and geography have shaped it. They first posted their photos on Posterous and then the above video was made with those pictures using Animoto (info available under the Cool Web Tools page on this site). A great resource to review their unit as well as to introduce the topic next year.

Click here to watch via YouTube and leave a comment.