Animations have already been so popular even before internet; and with the developing Web 2.0 applications, it has become an  effective and an engaging tool in the classrooms. 

ZimmerTwins is a simple site to make great and fun animated stories. You can start making your animation from scratch or you can create your own using one of the story starters. You choose the characters, settings, transitions, actions and emotions by using drag-and-drop feature. After, you only write the text in bubbles. You don’t need any drawing skills to make animations with Zimmertwins. 

You can create a mini animation with DVolver by pointing and clicking. You can choose the setting, characters, music at the background and how the chosen characters interact in your animation. You write what you want your characters to say and it shows up in bubbles in your animation. When you finish, you can mail it others, get a link for it or simply embed it to your blog.

Xtranormal is a site where you can create animations using text-to-speech application. You choose your animation styles and settings, characters and the voice for them. When you finish choosing all,you can write what you want your characters to say. When you have finished writing your text, there are some directions that represent cameras, looks, points, pauses etc. You can insert them into your text. When you finish your movie, you can publish it, get a link, embed or directly upload it to Youtube.

Fuzzwich is a site that lets you create 20 second animated movies. You can choose the setting, choose among ready characters or customize them by uploading your photos, text, music and movement as well. When you finish, you can get a link or embed it to your blog. 

With GoAnimate, you choose your theme and characters or you can even create your own animated characters by changing the size and colour of their body parts and clothes. You set up your theme on the timeline. You can change the background, add characters and prompts. Characters can do different actions such as walking, dancing, talking. You can use text to speech application to make your characters talk or simply record your own voice using your microphone. You can also use zooms in/out or colour effects on your video. You can upload your own music or sound effects as well. You can post them on  social networking sites or upload them on Youtube.

Domo is another site that GoAnimate features. You can create animations and slideshows. All the animations are reviewed and appropriate to use. You can add music and text to your animations.

Doink is site that lets you create flash-style animations. You can create your animations from scratch or reuse the work of others. You only have to draw the pictures step by step to animate them.

Animasher  is another site to make animations by using pictures from the gallery or you can use your pictures too. You can add music, some sound effects, text or record your own voice for your animation.

You can also use Memoov to make animations. You choose the background from the gallery, add different characters to the animation. You can change the colour of the characters or give them different emotions or movement. You can add objects too. You can write a text or make the characters speak with your own voice. You can add music and several effects. When it is done, your video will be directly sent to Youtube for easy sharing.   

Using animations is  a great way to improve different skills of kids such as reading, writing, storytelling, decision making, problem solving as well cognitive, social and innovative skills. It’s sure to facilitate learning of the kids and boost the way you are teaching.

Cross posted on TechLearning.

I’ve made three animation projects with 6 years old kids for the last two years. MEDEA Awards awarded “Daisy and Drago“ cartoon that was animated and dubbed by 6 year old non-native students with “Creativity and Innovation” award in Online-Educa conference last year. I had written a guest blog on Ken Wilson’s blog about this project. If you are interested more, you can also watch my interview about it and watch the film here. The kids also animated the second story of Daisy and Drago. You can watch it here.

This year, we’ve been working on a new animation story with new and very cute characters “Bubble and Pebble”. The aim is to teach colours to the kids. The recordings haven’t been completed yet so I’ll share it later on a different blog post. By the way, you can have a look at the short summary of the story below:

At school, we’ve collaborated with the IT department to create digital games for kindergarten students to reinforce what they learn in English lessons. This year, we’ve decided to create digital games using our new characters to teach different topics to the kids. For this project, children have drawn the pictures for the game. I’ve recorded their voices and IT teacher  has put the drawings and the recordings together using Flash. You can play the demo of one of the games below:

Children do love playing with Bubble and Pebble games!! and it’s amazing to see how much they enjoy the material they have created to learn English. Let’s give them all a big hand!!

We are all familiar with the word ‘Portfolio’.  It’s the purposeful collection of one’s work that exhibits the efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas of the curriculum. (source link) or we can define portfolios as the tools that can document all aspects of one’s professional and personal growth as you progress through your career.

With growing technologies, Web 2.0 and the increase in the number of online teachers; portfolios have a new face today: Electronic portfolio, that is the collection of  electronic evidence, evolution of thoughts, competence and reflection on one’s life long learning. It can be considered as a response to the shifts in learning, technology, teaching and the 21st century!

Here are some of the reasons why to have an e-portfolio:

• It shows others  what you have achieved up to now,
• It makes the link between you and the organizations, what you can do and what they can expect from you,
• It builds confidence and it’s a proof of what you can achieve,
• It helps you to remember what you have done and what you will do in the future,
• It helps you to create and develop new ideas and show the best package of your whole work,
• It shows your personal and professional achievements in a concrete way,
• It highlights your skills, shows your experience and demonstrates the result of one’s learning,
  
• It supports the ability to collect, organise and reflect,
• It enhances the technological skills,
• It’s the best tool for the continuing professional development,
• Last but not least it helps you to stand out of the crowd and you get the attention that you deserve!!

Here is the video that I’ve created two years ago that tells us why to have an e-portfolio,visually =)

While our students are all creating their portfolios, are we doing the same thing as well; as teachers? Are we documenting our professional and personal growth which is the evidence of our career where we are now, or the way which shows where we will be (want to be) in the future?

Do you have a portfolio that you keep record and the evidence of your educational background, explanations of achievements and your reflections of your profession?

I’m sure each one of us has a story behind our career and when we start creating our digital selves, this should be the first question to answer ‘What’s your story behind it?’

and here comes my story which is narrated by Ozge’s perspective: http://www.ozgekaraoglu.wikispaces.com