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Workshop :: Digital Storytelling & Presentation Tools

4 : Lots of Tools

Pick out some tools that interest you and start creating! Make sure you pace your time so you can try out at 3 or 4 tools

(Some new tools to explore)

PC/Mac TOOLS FOR ORGANIZING PHOTOS

•  Picasa (PC & Mac)
  Create albums, tag photos, face recognition. Does nice collages too.

FUN TOOLS FOR EDITING PHOTOS & CREATING PHOTO EFFECTS

• BeFunky
• PicMonkey 
• Pixlr 
• Photofunia
• Big Huge Labs
• Cartoonize
• Sloganizer
• Wordle - word clouds
• Tagxedo - word clouds

MIXED MEDIA: PHOTOS, VIDEO, AUDIO, MUSIC

• Animoto for Education -
  Animoto is an easy to use tool to create photo & music video stories. This would be a fun project for an art class. Or to create a video representing how you feel about a book or movie. Upload your photos, arrange the order, select a piece of music and let Animoto do it’s magic. You’ll have a great video slide show with great transitions and effects synched to the beat of the music. 30 second videos are free. Special accounts for educators. (Examples: Education examples) 
• Photopeach
  http://www.photopeach.com
  Another photo slide show tool, with text and audio options. (Example: Dust Bowl)
• VoiceThread
  http://voicethread.com
  Add photos, scanned drawings. Record audio with microphone or 'phone it in'. Others can leave comments via text and audio.  Use for student book reviews with their own drawings and narration. Student created stories with photos or drawings. Narrated slide shows of community events. Book talks.
• Glogster.edu
  http://edu.glogster.com/  Mix graphics, photos, videos, music and text into "glogs". Takes the static poster to new heights! (Examples: Cocaine, Itzak Stern) 
• TarHeelReader
  http://tarheelreader.org/  Add photos & text. Readers can hear text read back to them. Ask me for the 'secret password'!  
• Microsoft PhotoStory (PC Desktop) - add photos, screen shots, jpgs from PowerPoint to create a story. Add narration and simple transitions and effects. Example video created with PhotoStory
• Popcorn Maker - Fun tool that lets you combine video, photos, audio.  example: Summer Reading Blog post explaining popcorn maker

• Microsoft Movie Maker (PC Desktop)
• iMovie (Mac)

CARTOONING, ANIMATION, TALKING HEADS

• Kerpoof
  Create a picture, story or movie' Free, online, flash based tool. Provides cartoon backgrounds and objects to place on the background. Objects can be resized, rotated and repositioned. Create text ballons for thoughts and dialogues. Teacher ideas and lesson plans provided
• GoAnimate
  Joyce Valenza mentions it in a blog post and has an example on her blog. I haven't tested it yet, but it looks like a ton of fun. Watch this video to see how it works. Pick from tons of backgrounds and characters, add motions and action, thought balloons or your own voice, upload photos and more. You can create multiple scenes as well. Somehow I'm having a vision of kids creating their own versions of a Shakespeare play, with unusual settings and characters.
• ToonDo
  
• Xtranormal
  "if you can type, you can make movies" I haven't explored this one too much, but it is tons of fun! Pick your characters and give them a voice, select background scenery and sounds. Add camera angles and movement. Use the "Quick Tips" button for a quick tour. It's on the screen where you create and edit your movie. When you're done, you can use the embed code on xtranormal to post it to your web site. Videos can also be posted to YouTube.
• Bitstrips for Schools
  Create your own comic strips. Educational pricing and free personal accounts.
• Zimmer Twins
  Pick a story starter and then have your students finish it with this fun and engaging video cartoon tool. Pick from characters, scenes, actions and add your own words. Also has a school version for classroom use. Tips on Using ZimmerTwins in the classroom. Example: Science Time
• Blabberize
   Goofy fun. Upload a photo, select the mouth in the photo and add your audio. The mouth will move up and down as the audio plays.
• Voki
   Create a character, add your voice.  At of late 2010, Voki seems to be focusing it's free product on the education market, and without advertising! A good move. Example: Paige Jaeger's Voki

• FotoBabble
   Add your voice to a photo.
• Automatoon - easy animation 
•  
• MORE Cartooning Sites - http://mediaspecialistsguide.blogspot.com/p/graphics.html 

COLLABORATIVE

• VoiceThread
  http://voicethread.com Add photos, scanned drawings. Record audio with microphone or 'phone it in'. Others can leave comments via text and audio.

• Storybird
  Beautiful graphics to inspire your stories. Arrange the images as you wish, add text to tell your story. Story can be embedded on other web pages. Book versions can be printed for a fee. You could record the story using a screencasting tool like Jing or Screenr. (example: Maxwell's Dreams)

PRESENTATION TOOLS

• PowerPoint
  Used creatively, PowerPoint can be be a powerful storytelling tool. Used badly, it can be deadly, dull and boring. Think creatively! Banish the bullet points! Don't write out your whole talk and put it on the slides! Use Presentation Zen principles and let your visuals tell the story. Take a look at this example of a PowerPoint that breaks all the rules, from Joyce Valenza. If Lincoln had PowerPoint (and GarageBand)  Joyce Valenza's blog post about this.  (another 'how not to use powerpoint' slide
  TIPS: How to Create Presentations that don't Suck (lifehacker)

• Jux
  http://jux.com  Simple, elegant and easy to use. Primarily photos and text.  Templates for a variety of presentations from a single photo image, a countdown series of photos, slide show and more. Each user's Jux page can contain multiple presentations. Use Jux to create a presentation, a digital media portfolio, a blog, a website.  Examples:  Cooking the Light Way (nicely organized web site), Teaching but Learning (education quotes and images)

• Zeen
    Add images, text, video, links. Easy to organize and arrange, Mimics a magazine layout. Great for reports, presentations, portfolios, publicity and more. Examples:  Polly's Sample, Robots and Ethics

• Prezi
  http://prezi.com   An interesting way of creating a presentation in a somewhat non-linear way. Place text, photos, and other media on a big blank screen. Arrange in the order you want to present it and add paths to connect all the pieces. Lets you zoom in and out to put focus on different pieces of the presentation. Could be used as a mindmapping tool. Lots of examples:   Prezi's Education Wiki
  Tips: 10 tips to help master Prezi    Thoughts on using Prezi as a teaching tool  Why the Best Prezis Use Grouping & Layering

• VoiceThread
  http://voicethread.com   Add photos, scanned drawings. Record audio with microphone or 'phone it in'. Others can leave comments via text and audio.  Use for student book reviews with their own drawings and narration. Student created stories with photos or drawings. Narrated slide shows of community events. Book talks.
  VoiceThread Resources: VoiceThread 4 Education Wiki - examples by grade level. VoiceThread Tutorial - 4 page PDF handout on VoiceThread by Suzie Vesper (Wellington, New Zealand)  Getting Started with VoiceThread in the Classroom (PDF)

• SlideShare
  http://slideshare.net  For sharing presentations and creating narrated slidedecks. Also a good source of presentation tips and ideas.

• Glogster.edu
  http://glogster.edu  Mix graphics, photos, videos, music and text into "glogs". Takes the static poster to new heights! (Examples: Cocaine, Itzak Stern , New Tools Workshop)

CURATION TOOLS

• Storify
  http://storify.com  "Turn what people post on social media into compelling stories. You collect the best photos, video, tweets and more to publish them as simple, beautiful stories that can be embedded anywhere." (Examples: Sidi Bou Zid: A Jasmine Revolution In Tunisia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Story about library tech upgrades embedded in a blog post)

• Curated.by
  http://www.curated.by   Another tool to gather web resources and social media to create a story. (Examples: Sidi Bou Zid: A Jasmine Revolution In Tunisia

• Pinterest
  http://pinterest.com Photo oriented tool. Create a Pinterest board on any topic you're interested in and add photos with notes & descriptions. Boards can be edited collaboratively. Could be used to gather visual resources for a project. (Example: Floods, SacLib Book Recommendations)

• Scoop.it
  in beta testing, request an account.  Example: DataViz

AUDIO STORY 

• AudioBoo
  http://audioboo.fm  Podcasting done easy. Record directly to the site or through iPhone or Android apps. 5 minute limit per recording. Creates RSS for recordings.

• Audacity (Desktop)http://audacity.sourceforge.net  Open Source tool for recording audio and saving as mp3. Handy for creating audio file for use with other tools.

BOOK CREATION

• Little Bird Tales
  Draw online, upload photos and scanned artwork to create pages. Record your voice to provide narration. Very easy, user friendly interface and kid friendly. Free, but donations are appreciated.

• Storybird
  Beautiful graphics to inspire your stories. Arrange the images as you wish, add text to tell your story. Story can be embedded on other web pages. Book versions can be printed for a fee. You could record the story using a screencasting tool like Jing or Screenr. (example: Maxwell's Dreams)

• Tikatok
  Has nice story starters to help younger kids feeling creative. Stories can be saved offline in PDF or purchased.  Students can create online story books using their own words, photos and drawings. Accounts are free for educators. You can set up groups for each class with individual accounts for each student. Books seem to be available only on the tikatok site. No embed codes to put them on your website. Really oriented towards printing the books. User retains copyright on their story using Tikatok, but if you use the "buildabear" story feature, they gain copyright to your story. In collaboration with Barnes & Noble.

• StoryJumper
  Another book creation site. Pages can be created from scratch with your own words and uploades photos/drawings. Resources also include many characters, backgrounds and props that can be added to the page. Doesn't seem to have a way to set up multiple accounts for a classroom yet.  Books can be viewed on the StoryJumper site and printed for a fee.

TIMELINE

• My Histro - timeline, photos, narrative. Variety of viewing, sharing, formatting options.  
• Tiki-Toki 
  Graphically appealing multimedia timeline tool. Include text, images, video, Free individual accounts, with paid teacher/student options.  (Examples: The Fight for Democracy, ALA Banned Books)
•  
• Dipity
  Pretty easy to use timeline tool. Upload photos, add text, dates, locations. Embed YouTube videos with just the URL. (Example: Lebanon) 
• Meograph
  Timeline tool that adds mapping as an extra dimension. Tell a story over space and time, with video, audio, images and links. 
• Other Tools: Time Toast,  

GEOGRAPHIC & MAP BASED TOOLS

• Google Earth - Lit trips, etc.
• Google Maps - Create custom maps of locations, vacation spots, places in a book, historic sites, etc. Take a screenshot of a map and create a memory map
• History Pin - Add photos and share a story (example: Sydney - Argyle Cut)

APPS FOR iTHINGS & OTHER MOBILE DEVICES

• StoryRobe, StoryPatch
• Apps for Digital Storytelling
• Doodlecast - draw and narrate. Could be used for drawing and storytelling. Or for short demos. 

More information on Digital Storytelling:

• Digital Story Showcase  - These wonderful stories were created by students in the Design & Production of Media Resources at Florida State U.
• Story Corps DIY - Do it yourself StoryCorp tips
• Center for Digital Storytelling "Every community has a memory of itself. Not a history, nor an archive, nor an authoritative record... A living memory, an awareness of a collective identity woven of a thousand stories."
• Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling Detailed information on creating digital stories. Tutorials on using Microsoft Photo Story. Examples of stories
• Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre - by Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 43, no. 6 (November/December 2008)
• Teach Story - Educator  Tom Banaszewski's blog about digital storytelling and related ed-tech topics.
• BBC Digital Stories -- 
• 7 Things You Should Know about Digital Storytelling
• State Library of Queensland -- Queensland Stories  -- "Queensland Stories is the State Library of Queensland’s project to collect and display Queensland digital stories; stories about your community, your house, a special person, your favourite place, or things you love to do."
• Digital Storytelling Station - San Diego Public Library  -- "Stories help define who we are and how we fit into the world we live in. the Digital Storytelling Station gives you an opportunity to spotlight something you deeply care about and will be available for others to see and hear."
• Digital Storytelling
• Mrs. McGraw's English Wiki - Digital Storytelling - Includes information on assessment rubrics.