Group+4

= "The Show Offs" =
 * Video
 * Presentation

Visit Alan Levine’s 50+ Web2.0 Ways To Tell a Story wiki. Read the information on the Home page. Select Tools By Type to see the list of different storytelling tools.

Your group is responsible for reviewing the best of the tools within your assigned set. Each person in the group should review a minimum of 2 tools. You can decide what tools you will choose and who will review what tool. * Hey Guys, I put my tool and my name in the chart below. Did anyone else really have their heart set on the two I chose? Angella * Hi. I'm good with the ones you chose. I'll add my choices below, but am quite happy to change them if someone else had their eye on either!. - Kate *Hi all! I put in the 2 tools I will review. Are they okay with everyone? Melissa Hello Sorry it took me so long to get setup. I had to go buy another computer my other one crashed on me. I posted below the tools I will review. Dave Hello Everyone if it is ok with you guys I am going to do my screencast and digital story using Photo Peach. Let me know if anyone has any problems with that. I am going to get started.

***Hi Everyone. So it turns out that Ahead, one of the tools I reviewed, is not really one of the "best" web 2.0 tools out there. As you can see from my review below, I hated it! This means I'm going to choose another tool to review. - Kate** I just wanted to say great job team and you guys did a awesome job on your presentations.

I agree! Great job Group 4 and thanks for all of your hard work, insightful reviews, and creative screencasts! ~Melissa

Include the following information in you review: • ease of use • site support • appropriate for what audiences • is there an educational version • strengths, weaknesses • ideas for use

Use the table below to organize your work:

http://www.myplick.com/ In order to use the site, you must sign up for an account. When you do so- there is an option for more information. If you read further, there are directions for how teachers can create a group log in and give each student in class an individual log in. On the home page there is a list of resources for teachers, including lesson plans, ideas of ways to implement the technology and even a page where Kerpoof has cross referenced state and national standards with the activities that the site offers. There is a lot of support built into this site. First, the tutorials. These are easy to understand, step by step directions on how to use the program. You have the ability to watch the videos in segments, and you have the option of watching any step of the video again and again. Next, they have dedicated pages on their site to the support of teachers. Here, they answer FAQs, offer helpful hints for using the technology with students and multiple ideas of how Kerpoof could improve student learning. While the site is easy to use and fun, it limits the content students can use in their pieces to what they have already created. In other words, you have to use the pictures, and art they provide; you cannot create your own characters. This is a con to the site, but limits the necessity to have students searching for graphics on the web. Another weakness would be the site’s limited application as far as grade levels go. This is not something you would want to use past the 7th grade. The materials are too simplistic. I see the strength of the site being its ability to help students create cool cartoons with limited technology and resources. Another strength would be the site’s ease of use. It takes no time at all to get started creating. I can see this site being a fun way for teachers to reinforce setting or elements of plot. After the students have created short stories, they could go to the lab and turn their stories into digitally animated story books. Next, they could use the site to visually depict the setting of a text. I currently have my students send thank-you notes to the PTA for providing the mints and water for our school’s MSA testing week. I could use this site and have the students practice writing thank you notes digitally. Finally, I have my student create memory boxes for a vocabulary assignment. I have several students that I know would really love getting onto this site and creating digital pictures to represent the meaning of a vocabulary word. I think I would really like using this site with my students because it is so intuitive and easy to use. This would make it much easier to use with a whole class than some of the more difficult movie making programs. ||= Angella Mullins || There does not seem to be an educational version of the software, but the implications for educational uses of the program are infinite. There are thousands of presentations available for viewing in the public section of the website. You are able to browse through the presentations with the use of a search engine within the site. There are several student age young people sharing their presentations on everything from famous Americans to their favorite authors. I can see using this software as an option for a digital book trailer or book talk. Students could create their presentations, and we could store them on the media center’s web page as a tool for other students to use when deciding on a book. Students could create biographies for author studies using the program, and I could have my students store the presentations on our class webpage. Students could take turns viewing each other’s presentations from home and then leave/make comments via our web page. I would love my students to use this program when they create time lines for famous American icons. I could show many exemplars from previous classes once the presentations are created and I can store them for future use in my class. This could also be used by myself and my fellow colleagues to explain the FCPS BCR rubric. I have tons of questions every year from parents regarding the rubric. It would be nice to have a presentation housed on the school’s web site that went through the points of the rubric with parents, while showing examples of student exemplars. The possibilities are endless! There is a screencast that explains the uses of the software, along with its intended purposes. The video is easy to follow and the steps are clearly reviewed. The site is easy to use, if you have had practice uploading and downloading video from YouTube. If you have not had practice navigating YouTube, it will probably take a little longer to figure out. If you do get stuck, there is an email address provided, so you can email questions and get a response. There is also a link to YouTube, so that if your questions involve the uploading of video, you can go there for help. One of the strengths of this technology is its ability to help presenters reach audiences that they previously could not. So instead of having a face- to –face meeting, conferencing sharing of ideas and trainings can take place in many different geographical locations at once. Another benefit of a Zentation presentation would be the ability of the audience to go back and review the material presented at any point. Also- the presentations can be stored online, so that they can be used over and over again as the need arises. Finally, one of the features I thought was most beneficial was the “outline” feature of the presentation creator. It is here that you can break the presentation down into segments that you name in the “outline.” Using this feature allows the viewers of the presentation to go back and watch just the parts they need to, instead of fast forwarding and searching for the appropriate segment of the presentation. There are some draw backs to this presentation software, however. First, in order to create a presentation on the site you need to already have the Power Point you want to use in your presentation completed. Next, in order to create the presentation’s narration, you need additional hardware, such as a microphone and web cam. None of the computers at our school have a camera built into the monitor, making this a difficult program to use with students. Finally, the video you upload needs to go through YouTube. Our school district has blocked students from using YouTube, so they would not be able to upload the video from the school’s computer lab. ||= Angella Mullins || Unfortunately, this is one of the least user-friendly platforms I have encountered. The site is somewhat difficult to navigate. I started by creating a free account and watching a sample presentation, both of which were easy. When the presentation was over, however, I wanted to get back to an initial sign-in screen that had a link to a tutorial, and this proved more difficult. Clicking on the “a” logo in the top left corner didn’t bring me back to the home screen, as I initially hoped it would. I tried a small house icon embedded in the presentation, but that just brought me back to the beginning of the presentation. I had to click on the “ahead” logo in the bottom right to get me there. To begin creating a presentation, you first must upload some files that you wish to use. I started uploading some pictures from a recent vacation and found that this process took quite a long time. One image in particular seemed to take longer than others, so I deleted it before it finished uploading. Next, I uploaded a short video clip taken with my camera, and this didn’t take too long. Creating a presentation was not nearly as intuitive or easy as I had hoped it would be. The tutorial video had no audio with it and only had instructions in captions below; these were hard to read while trying to simultaneously “watch” where the tools were and how the presenation was being put together. It didn’t help that the captions were small and blurry. In addition, the parts of the presentation were very quick; I had to watch it several times to get the basics. Once I did start creating a “space” as they call the presentations, I found it difficult. Adding files was easy, but manipulating them, adding movement, and inserting text were not. The user guide indicates that once you insert a file, you can move them around, rotate, etc., “as if you were working in any other layout tool.” I assumed this meant that you could use the mouse to grab the file and drag it elsewhere on the screen, resize it, and rotate it, but this didn’t seem to work. I gave up after a few minutes. I rewatched the tutorial and still couldn’t get past inserting some files. The same thing happened when I tried to add text; I couldn’t figure out how to move and manipulate the text after typing it, nor could I edit it. I gave up on the whole program after a fairly frustrating hour. Before I gave up, however, I explored the “Help” section of the site for Support. There is a link to a “User Forum” that takes you to a “We’ve Moved” URL; when you click through to that, you have to submit a question to the forum and then wait for a response. This would be extremely inconvenient if a user were working on a deadline. The tutorial, as mentioned above, was only marginally helpful. The user guide (can download as a PDF) includes images and words, but I still had a hard time executing the steps to make a presentation. This company could really use a more detailed tutorial, live help, and even a better FAQ section. If you can figure out how to use this platform and decide you like it, it would be appropriate for high school students. It can be used to create some very polished and professional looking content, as the sample content on the site exhibits. It seems a bit too complicated for younger students. Teachers and school librarians could also use it to create presentations for classes. For example, a history teacher could create a presentation to introduce a unit on a time period. Such a presentation could include links to Web sites, images, videos, etc. I could see this being used instead of a webquest in any discipline. Likewise, students could work to create presentations in all disciplines. Collaborative creation isn’t as easy as it could be, as to use and save presentations, you must log in with an email address and password. A group of students would have to use one email address for the whole group. In terms of how an audience accesses a presentation, there is some flexibility. Finished presentations are assigned a URL that anyone can access, so individuals can experience the presentation at individual workstations. Another possibility would be to use an interactive whiteboard to have the creator speak on the topic at hand while in front of a class. A disadvantage of this is that each audience member has less control over how he experiences the content. Overall, I would not recommend using this platform; there are others out there that seem easier to use and better designed for collaboration. || Kate Kennedy || That’s it. If you like what you see and hear, you’re done. If you’re not yet satisfied, you have several editing options to make your video just how you like it. You can edit and sequence your images; change the music; add text slides; and choose a “style” (which usually includes backgrounds and borders) for transitions. This all couldn’t be easier. Of course, there’s a catch, and it might be a big one. The site is free to join, and it’s free to create a video of any length. But you can save and share only videos that are 30 seconds or under with a free membership. I created a video that included 9 images and one 5-second video, and it was nearly a minute long. This means that I have to pay for a premium membership if I want to save the video, download it, and share it with others. Or I can pay $9.99 to buy a high-resolution DVD of the video. At $39.99 a year, the premium membership includes the ability to create videos that last up to one hour, one free DVD, the option to download videos to your computer, a selection of premium music, and “virtually unlimited” storage. Even if an educator were to buy the premium membership, there is no educational licensing for the program, so this means that students would only be able to use it if their teacher were to give them the email and password for the account. There are some ways that this platform could be used in an educational setting, however. Any teacher could create a video of class activities (both still images and video) to use on Back-to-School night in order to illustrate the learning environment in the classroom. A school librarian could create a similar video to highlight the array of ways the library is used. A creative writing teacher could display a series of images and then ask students to create a short story based on the images. A social studies teacher could use images from the Civil War to activate prior knowledge and start discussion prior to a unit on that war. A yearbook class could even use this program to create and sell a video yearbook. Similarly, students could document the process of executing an experiment for a science class and present their experiment to a class with the video as a backdrop; they could also display it at a science fair. English classes could create “stills” of important moments from a novel, choose music and background appropriate to the genre, and explain their choices as a culminating activity. The nice part about this platform is that it is so easy to use and creates a polished final product with little effort or technical know-how. Because of this, students of all grade levels should be able to use it. The downside of this simplicity is that it creates very straightforward, linear presentations that need only a passive audience. In other words, this isn’t a rich mulitimedia environment with endless educational potential. Still, it is unfortunate that there isn’t an educator’s version that allows for student accounts, collaboration, and teacher supervision. ||= Kate Kennedy || The process to create these animations is relatively easy to follow and allows the user to completely play the part of the director. Users can choose from collections of sets, backgrounds and characters, which camera angles to use, character gestures and sound effects to create the movie. This is a free resource for public use, but there are limitations for users. You must first create an account and then you receive 300 points. It costs 220 points to make and publish just one animated movie so it might be a one-time experiment. There are ways to earn more points, according to the terms of privacy Xtranormal can give you points at their discretion and you can of course buy more. There is a tab for educators where you can create an account for $10 and include and number of students for $.50 each. There is a 14 day free trial period for this educator resource available. I believe this is a very fun and creative way for students to animate assignments such as research projects, presentations, and foreign language dialogues, just to name a few. I enjoyed the one example on the website mocking a presidential debate; what a great idea for language arts and social studies classes. I think that Xtranormal could be appealing for upper elementary through high school as the �comic book� feel will keep students interested. The variety of characters and collections available from which to choose is impressive. The downsides to this particular tool are the limitations, unless you want to upgrade, and the robotic sound of the characters� voices. || Melissa Gaeta || In my opinion, this particular tool is better suited for high school, college or educators themselves. The site is definitely geared towards an older audience, with more of a business feel. Slideshare actually promotes the uses of their presentations for meetings, conferences, etc. and they even mention that the government has used this tool. I could see teachers and administrators using Slideshare for professional and staff development sessions, workshops, and maybe even to present lessons in the classroom. Again, as I mentioned above, older students could use this site to present research topics, give a presentation in class, or in an art class to demonstrate ad campaigns, the power of pictures and music and to demonstrate graphic art skills. The strengths of this site are its ability to upload and download presentations so easily and to control whether what you create is private or public. That these presentations can so easily be embedded and shared through a variety of social media sites is also a plus. The weakness of Slideshare would definitely be its slant towards business, and not including a more educational- friendly version to meet the needs of different audiences and users. || Melissa Gaeta || There is an educational version which allows teachers to sign up for a free classroom account. Sample videos are available for viewing to gain ideas for how to use Animoto. As with any free tool, the options are more limited than if a user actually pays for an account, but the the choices are still varied enough to suit most purposes. The major limitation for the free account is that any video created is limited to 30 seconds in length. If users prefer to pay for this presentation tool there are two options; plus and pro. “Plus” costs $30 a year and allows for unlimited full-length videos with an expanded selection of slide themes and music. There is also the capability to download videos your computer or a DVD. The “Pro” version of Animoto further extends the selection of slide themes and offers exclusive music selections, licensed for commercial use. Pro account users also have access to HD upgrades and a “White Label” option to customize the video with a personal brand. Animoto is very user-friendly and offers online support and a thorough archive of “frequently asked questions” for those needing assistance. The ability to actually a talk with a person is also available weekdays during regular business hours or questions can be emailed to customer service. There is also a blog with tips and suggestions. The strengths of this particular Web 2.0 tool is the ability to have a free account and upload an unlimited amount of videos. There is also a good collection of styles and music from which to choose, or, if the choices are not what you’re looking for, users can import their own. The main weakness would be the limited length of the videos (30 sec.) that can be created with a free account. Animoto has many possibilities for use and application in the classroom. I have personally used it to create a book trailer, I saw products created by fifth grade FCPS students as part of a media center lesson. The students created videos highlighting the library and what services and resources it has to offer. Sample videos on the site show an animated alphabet with letters formed from everyday items, math problems brought to life, a video documentary of students participating in a bridge building competition and a presentation on civil rights. Really any brief slideshow that can be created with Flickr, Picasa or Google Docs could be created using Animoto. The application of music and the theme applied to the video just give an added way to grab attention. || Melissa Gaeta ||
 * = **Name of Tool** ||= **URL** ||= **Review of Tool** ||= **Reviewed By** ||
 * = Kerpoof ||= [] ||= The site I chose to investigate for “Video and Presentation,” was Kerpoof.This is a site where you can create original artwork, stories, short movies and even greeting cards. I had never heard of the site before, and I was impressed by the site as soon as I clicked on it. When the page opens, it appears to be geared toward a younger audience. There are lots of cartoon graphics and most of the icons are accompanied by a picture to help you figure out what the icon does. I thought this contributed to the over-all ease of the site. Because the site is geared toward elementary and middle school students, the how -to videos are easy to follow and clear. Even a first time visitor to the site, like myself, was able to begin creating a picture after watching a one minute tutorial.
 * = Zentation ||= [] ||= Zentation is a site designed to help users create online presentations that combine video, slides and audio. It is meant to create high quality webcasts, training videos, webinars and virtual events. The software takes your Power Point slides and synchs them with video and sound. I do not see this software being used at the elementary or middle school level. Instead, I think it would be best used by individual students, at the high school or college level, to create a learning product from home that can be shared digitally with a class, or stored digitally for future use.
 * Ahead || www.ahead.com || Ahead is a Web-based platform that allows users to create interactive visual presentations. You can upload all sorts of files (images, videos, PDFs, etc.) and create a presentation (or visual blog) that includes zooming, panning, and additional text. Viewers can also choose to zoom in and out and pan while watching a presentation. The presentation happens on one big virtual “Canvas” and the creator directs how viewers travel through the canvas; at the same time, individuals can stop and look more closely at any part of the canvas. It’s supposed to be like an online version of InDesign, and the company claims that Ahead allows you to create a rich zooming presentation without writing any code. The Beta version of the program is free and limits the amount of data you can store while requiring that your presentations be public; a $10/month professional version offers more storage, the option to have private presentations, and a few other features. There is no educational version.
 * = One True Media ||= http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/public_home || One True Media makes turning image and video files into video slideshows incredibly easy. Here’s how it works:
 * 1) Join by entering your email address and choosing a password.
 * 2) Upload images and video from your computer, Facebook, a selection of stock photos, Flickr, or a URL. Image and video upload is easy and quick. As soon as you click done, you see a preview of your presentation, complete with preselected music and transitions.
 * Xtranormal || [] || This site is a tool for creating 3D animated movies based on text and dialogue that the user provides, either typed or recorded. Movies that are created with __Xtranormal__  can be embedded and exported into other sites, such as YouTube and Facebook.
 * Slideshare || [|http://www.slideshare.net] || This site is a presentation tool for Online users to upload contents from PowerPoint, various types of documents and video formats. These presentations can be kept private or made public, remixed, reused and downloaded also and they may be shared or embedded in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. There is a newer feature known as “Zipcast,” which allows users to sync audio with slides for live presentation. There are some limitations on those who choose to join for free, but the available options are fairly impressive.
 * Slideroll || [] || The site I researched was focused on creating slideshow presentations online. You basically use pictures that you have already downloaded onto your computer. The slideshows can then be published on the internet, myspace, youtube or facebook. THe presentations can also be emailed to friends. In my opinion it is just a glorified powerpoint presentation. I was not really that impressed with the site. It seemed like a pretty basic program to setup. The one thing I will say is I do like the simplicity of the program and the ability to setup a slideshow within minutes. The clairty of the presentations was also impressive but that may have something to do with the quality of pictures being used. You do also have the ability to add music to help enhance the presentation. I am not sure how applicable something like this would be in the field of education although if you are teaching are it would be great and easy way to display works of art. Overall I would give it about a 5 out of 10. || Dave Staub ||
 * Empresser || [|http://www.empressr.com] || This program seems to be very similar to the other site I researched although they were in different categories. This program is more geared towards adding some special effects as your transition from slide to side. A normal powerpoint presentation allow you to do limited things with the slides as you transition from slide to slide. This program allows you to go 3 dimensional with your slides as they transition from slide to slide. The special effects are pretty cool and really grab your attention. I have seen especially in the field of math power point used to instruct lessons and the majority of the slides are pretty boring and the kids lose interest. I can see something like this grabbing the students attention and keeping them engaged in the lesson. This tool can also be used as a storytelling tool where you can create, manage, and share rich media presentations online. I feel like this tool is very user friendly everything is basically dragging and dropping the items you want to share in your presentation. It also allows you to easily import files or already created presentations. The program also provides you with a tracking device that allows you to track how many people viewed your presentation. Although I feel like this program may be more geared towards a business there are certainly some features that can be used to enhance the look of your powerpoint presentation or any digital stories that you may have created. ON an scale of 1-10 I would give it a 7. || Dave Staub ||
 * Photo Peach || [|http://photopeach.com] || I think I may have found the golden ticket with this program. This program is specifically geared towards educators.. This is also a slideshow presentation software that allows you to use pictures, music, and videos. The feature that I like the most is it provides a collaborative forum where students can work on projects together and create their own presentations. It allows the teacher to monitor the progress of the students work and the participation of team members. The presentations can be used for any subject area and allows the students to create dynamic presentations and express the information that they learned. Another great feature is that teachers have complete control over the work the students are creating. They are able to monitor and determine what infromation actually gets displayed or shared on the net. There are a lot of features that allow the teacher to have some control over the presentations being created . Teachers are also able to create presentations and easily link the presentations to school websites and share the information with parents. Teachers also used this program to create interactive lessons and quizzes that they used in the classroom. This is the first program that I have researched that seems to appeal specifically towards educators and they seem to have thought of everything. Overall I would give this program a 9 out of 10 || Dave Staub ||
 * Slide Rocket || [|www.sliderocket.com] || This is a pretty fantastic platform that allows you to create professional presentations with relative ease. As soon as you create account, you are invited to watch an interactive tour that shows you what the platform can do for your presentations. You can import existing Powerpoint presentations or create new presentations. You can add video to your presentation, link to real time web content such as Twitter feeds, and in the upgraded version, you can add a poll for viewer response. The company has partnered with Flickr and YouTube to make importing these files seamless. There are additional tutorials to help you get started, but it’s an easy program to explore and experiment with on your own. For educators, the company offers a preferred pricing plan or a free plan for Google Apps Education members. In the basic, free version, you can’t use some of the more interesting features. For instance, you can’t add your own audio to slides, users can’t leave comments on the presentation, and you can’t insert a poll. These are all features that are available for free on other similar platforms, like VoiceThread. That said, the SlideRocket presentations look more polished and seem easier to assemble. There are several tutorials, you can watch other presentations for inspiration, and when you publish a presentation, audience members can access it at its own URL. The self-help section is fairly comprehensive and, if you can find an answer to your question there, you can submit a request via email. The potential for educational use is big, particularly with the educator or professional version. Teachers can present on any topic in a dynamic way that involves live content and interaction through the use of the comments and poll features. Students, likewise, can easily create dynamic presentations for any subject area, and the enhanced versions of the platform even include a collaboration feature which may facilitate group work. I would use this platform in the classroom much as I would any other digital storytelling software. As I teacher, I would use it to engage students, activitate prior knowledge prior to reading a text, hear more voices through the comments and polls, and deliver all sorts of information. Students will probably love using this product as well to create their own inquiry-bsed presentations. In general, it is appropriate for middle and high school students. There may be too many features and options for the elementary set. || Kate Kennedy ||
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Animoto || http://animoto.com/education || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Animoto is a very simple presentation tool to use. The steps are basic: One, choose your style or theme and upload your images and photos and add text or captions. Two, select the music to accompany the video from your own mp3 collection or from the music available on Animoto. Three, complete and preview your video. Four, share your video on a website or blog, through Facebook, YouTube, or on Animoto.com itself. This site is appropriate for students in upper elementary through middle. High schoolers could use it, but may find it a little too tame.


 * Embed your screencasts here. Be sure to add your name above your embedded work:**
 * (example: "Margaret's Screencast on ___"**

Angella Mullins' Screencast on Kerpoof- the narration for the screencast is on the "Pages and FIles Link" "Kerpoof narration"

Kerpoof is an animation site for elementary and middle aged students. It allows users to create original works or art, digital story books, and short films. It is easy to use and fun.One of the best features is that it allows students to share their completed learning products with their class, family, and friends via the website's easy posting and emailing features.

<iframe width=724 height=609 frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="[]>

// Great job Angella! The screencast is a very helpful visual tool for introducing Kerpoof, which by the way I think looks like a really good site. *Melissa //

//Xtranormal is a site for creating 3D animated videos, appropriate for upper elementary//

//through high school students. Teachers too will be able to find many uses for this tool.//

//Users have the capabilities to create imaginative and fun videos choosing from a//

//variety of features, from characters to camera angles. Published videos can be//

//embedded or uploaded to other sites such as Facebook and Twitter.//

<iframe width=502 height=324 frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/embed?sc=clffVmk2d&w=500&v=3"> media type="custom" key="13961442"

@Xtranormal screencast script.doc // Melissa Gaeta's screencast on Xtranormal- the script for the screencast can also be found on the "Pages and Files Link" //

Sliderocket is a dynamic, easy-to-use tool that allows users to create polished, interactive presentations. You can add different actions to slides, embed Twitter feeds, YouTube videos and Flickr images, and even take polls and have audience members add comments (in an upgraded version). Educators could use this tool in class while teaching and create presentations for students to watch independently.
 * Kate's Screencast on Sliderocket**

Screencast script

[] media type="custom" key="13971704"

// Very nicely done Kate! Sliderocket does seem like a simple tool, but very effective for presentations. Melissa //

David Staub Screencast on PhotoPeach. (Closed Captioning is included in the presentation) Photo Peach is a presentation tool that allows you to enhance your slideshow presentations by combining photos, text and music into one presentation. This will make your presentations be more engaging to the students. The presentation can be used instead of your normal powerpoint presentation and hopefully create some diversity in your lesson plans. As you we all know we need to have as much variety as possible to keep our students engaged. []

<span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; line-height: 150%; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: absolute; top: 8896px; width: 1px;">// Xtranormal // is a site for creating 3D animated videos for students from upper elementary through high school. Teachers too will be able to find many uses for this tool. The site gives users the capabilities to create imaginative and fun videos using a variety of features including choice of characters, gestures, sounds and even camera angles. Videos that are published can be embedded or uploaded to a variety of other sites, such as Facebook and Youtube. // Great screencast David! I am thoroughly intrigued by PhotoPeach now and cannot wait to try it myself. I think this tool could really be an engaging resource in my middle school classroom. Melissa //