Animoto

I've been using Animoto for about five years now, however, after sharing it with some colleagues (who were very positive - as they always are) at a recent TeachEat session it only seems fitting that I write a short post about it.  Also, I can honestly say it is one of my favourite tools for engaging pupils at the start of a lesson. 

So, what is Animoto? In their words 'Animoto is a video creation service (online and mobile) that makes it easy and fun for anyone to create and share extraordinary videos using their own pictures, video clips, words and music'. Easy, fun and extraordinary. I would have to agree with all of those points. Here is an example of a video which I made within 10 minutes:

The only thing that takes any time is actually sourcing the pictures or video clips. Customising the video is very very easy. 

As previously mentioned Animoto videos can be used to introduce a lesson or a topic. Also, they are great to use for revision purposes. Oh, and best of all, Animoto is FREE for educators. Indeed, click here for our free educators account (they last 6 months but the admin team will renew your account if you get in touch with them). 

When using these videos the pupils will often say 'did you really make that, Sir?'. Yes, technically I did....