December 19, 2015
One way to creatively integrate technology in classroom learning is through engaging students in media activities that involve the use of various digital forms. This is referred to as digital mashups. To create a digital mashup, students will have to blend different types of content including text, videos, soundtracks, visuals and many more. In doing so, students get to practice multiple literacies in a single learning activity. There are several good tools that you can use with students in class to create media mashups. Below are some examples of applications we would recommend for this purpose:
1- HSTRY
HSTRY is a very good web tool for creating multimedia timelines in class. The process is very simple and easy. Just sign up either as a teacher or a student, choose the timeline you want to work on and start adding your events. You can add images, videos, and audio. The great thing about HSTRY is that it allows teachers to create a classroom and invite students to join it. Within this classroom, teachers will be able to share timelines with their students and view the ones they create. Teachers can also make their timelines interactive by adding questions for students to answer.
2- Thinglink
Thinglink allows you to bring life to your pictures and make them interactive through adding to them links, videos, music, and text. Your images can either be uploaded to your Thinglink account either from your hard drive or import them from the web, Flickr or Facebook. ThingLink images are also shareable, and embeddable, with a click to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and email.
3- Educreations
Students can use Educreations app to create animated videos explaining the things they have learned.”Educreations is a unique interactive whiteboard and screencasting tool that’s simple, powerful, and fun to use. Annotate, animate, and narrate nearly any type of content as you explain any concept. Teachers can create short instructional videos and share them instantly with students, or ask students to show what they know and help friends learn something new.”
4- Glogster
Glogster is a social network that allows users to create free interactive posters, or Glogs. A “Glog”, short for “graphics blog”, is an interactive multimedia image.Glogster empowers educators and students with the technology to create online multimedia posters – with text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds, drawings, data attachments and more.
5- Magisto
Magisto is a fun and easy way to automatically edit videos and photos and share them with your friends and family. Magisto will turn your video and photos into beautiful edited movies, complete with music and effects, in minutes.Some of Magisto’s video editing features include: trims and edits the best parts of your videos; Easily share movies to Facebook, Twitter, Email, Instagram and YouTube, Video camera stabilization, filters, effects and transitions; Facial recognition detects friends and family in your videos… and many more.
Explain Everything allows students to create screencasts and step-by-step guides. They can annotate, animate, narrate import and export a wide variety of multimedia materials.Students can “Create slides, draw in any color, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage.”
7- Videolicious
Videolicious allows you to instantly weave together interviews, videos, photos, music and more into a sophisticated video production—in seconds. Just talk and tap—or watch and tap—to make the perfect video.Other features of Videolicious include:Talk and tap to magically line up your narration ; watch and tap to easily add b-roll to interviews; quickly combine videos and photos with music, apply cinematic filters to multiple photos + videos; and instantly preview your video production.
