Monday, February 21, 2011

Xtranormal video

So Evan and I are the discussion leaders for the Web 2.0 information this week and I made the following Xtranormal video as an example of Web 2.0 tools. I hope you like it and that you all have fun participating in this weeks discussion. I think that web 2.0 really is pretty fascinating stuff.


9 comments:

  1. Haha! I love this videos - they are so funny. The voices just crack me up. Why do you think tools like these are important for Web 2.0? How effective is this medium in communicating ideas in comparison to other tools?

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  2. I think part of what is appealing about this, is that it is easy, it is easily distributable, and it allows kids (and adults) to make a finished product very quickly. It takes a lot of the work out of making a traditional animated video (lowering the costs of production as mentioned in the articles).

    I definitely wouldn't try to use this tool for anything very substantial as I think it only works for a minute or two, but I think it can be effective if used in this way as a quick humorous intro video.

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  3. I thought this was so much fun and engaging! I even tried my hand at making one last night!! I have yet to introduce it to my kids, but I know they will love it - I also recommended it to a friend that teaches in a school nearby - I envision short introductions about books read or reports about chapters read in science or social studies! Making the reading a little more engaging for those not motivated by reading text! Bravo!!

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  4. Oh my god, I just love this video! :) It is so fascinating... to be able to make "Dull things" into more participatory. Do you think that people take this up easily?

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  5. I introduced it to my pupils today (Sam and Olivia) and Samantha took to it ver quickly - created two "movies" - which encouraged the "art" of spelling! Olivia on the other hand still isn't reading yet - but aside from that - she quickly took picking a setting, her characters, and sounds. I typed while she narrated. The only problem is that it requires $$ to publish and we don't want to spend any money -so we just save them.

    I found it easy as an adult to learn, also. However, I like the scratch and LBP2 and atmosphir more because I think it requires more "critical thinking" skills. This is definitely a great platform to practice easier concepts of new media, though.

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  6. As mentioned previously, if you want to make many changes there is a charge for the videos. If you just keep the default settings, it will let you export the video. I don't know how much it would cost to do very many videos, but I think these can be very effective as introductions for concepts. I also do think that it can be beneficial for students to think about writing a script for something like this.

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  7. Woo! Web two point zero!

    Great job, guys!

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  8. This is pretty cool. I've seen Geico commercials made using this software. Do you have to install any software or is it all in the cloud?

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  9. Xtranormal is all web-based and you don' need to install anything. The only thing to be aware of is the typically you can only make one movie for free, then you need to buy points. And for the first movie, you pretty much need to keep the default options that it gives you, otherwise you have to pay, but it is kind of fun.

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