Using Technology in the Classroom: Online Animations

Online animation programs allow the user to instantly create an entertaining and humorous cartoon. Gone are the days when successful animators are the only people able to enjoy the process of putting voice to cartoon creations and experience a fantastical world that inspires.

Goanimate4schools.com can put the creativity back into your pedagogy.

Whether entertaining or educating, cartoons are a powerful vehicle to carry educational content and teach in a 21^st century manner. Students will love your creative new approach to teaching them using cartoon characters, as their interests and values are adhered to using web 2.0 tools.

To get started, teachers can create an account for their school, after which they can create logins for students to access this school account. As animations are being created, students have the option of saving a draft or publishing a finished product.

This is a terrific way to incorporate aspects of media literacy, language expectations, content subjects (history, science, etc.) and even character education. Having problems addressing bullying and peer problems in your class? Why not teach the lessons students need to learn using cartoon characters and humor; rather than lectures and detentions.

GoAnimate4Schools allows students to be the creators of virtual worlds where they choose characters, write dialogue, decide on movements and gestures to match words and focus on a variety of settings through which the plot or action occurs.

This application is very user-friendly and is a much more appropriate option (compared to goanimate.com) for elementary school students. GoAnimate4Schools features built-in text to speech that allows you to type words that can be instantly read out loud. A variety of voice options allow you to personalize and alter the sound to fit your needs.

In as little as 30 minutes, students can create (from start to finish) an animation presentation worthy of display to your class and their family. Web 2.0 tools such as GoAnimate4Schools are paving the way for teachers to infuse technology into classroom practice with very little technology knowledge themselves. Let students be the teachers and show you how to animate. It builds literacy skills, confidence and engagement into the school day.