Edvertisement: PowToon

PowToon in a web based presentation tool. It is simple to use tool has powerful animation effects, resulting in quite beautiful animations. PowToon allows you to upload voice-overs, and has a library of background music.

Using in the Classroom

The obvious use for PowToons is presentations, and students find it simple to use.
Our year 8 ICT used PowToons for an anti-bullying task. Using easy to find tutorials, they produced presentations of the quality below.

Getting Started

To start, go to www.powtoon.com. This is a freemium service and you can sign-up for free using your Google account. The free account has some limited services, but provides plenty of material for students to use.

The video below shows you how to use PowToon.

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How to do this

PowerPoint

With PowerPoint you can record within the program.  The video below shows you how.

Prezi

Prezi is a little more complicated. First you need to record the audio and get it onto your computer. 

Here's a couple of ways you can do this:

• Most phones come with a simple audio recording app, or you can add one. You can then email the recording from you phone to your computer.
• All Windows computers have a sound recorded installed (just type "sound recorder" into the search box). You need to make sure that you have a microphone (most laptops have them built in).

The video below will show you how to add the voice over.

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Getting a Google Account

For my colleagues, the College has a Google domain. If you're not sure of your account details, then speak to IT services.

For everyone else, or if you want a private account, Google accounts are free. Just go to Google and in the top right-hand corner is where you will find your Google account details, and / or sign-up.

Google accounts can also be used to access many more Google services and many third-party services.

Using Google Drive in class

I will be posting about the use of Google drive throughout this year, but if you want some ideas now, I would suggest checking out some of the thinks below:

Google Documents for Teachers
40 Ways to Start Using Apps in Schools
Google Tools for Schools: Google Drive and Docs
The Google Educast