Animation+Tools

For activity 5-B-1 of the course, our groups were instructed to look for different animation tools for use with a project in the classroom. I had the opportunity to "play with" two online digital animation tools: Fuzzwich.com and Toondoo.com. Fuzzwich is a "point and drag" animation tool that could be great for political cartoons, and Toondoo is a three-panel comic book style illustrator that can be used for a number of things, including illustrating vocabulary words.

I created a short cartoon entitled "Pugs Love Ninjas" (don't ask) using Fuzzwich, but I'm not sure this tool suits my needs in my own classroom.

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However, I found that Toondoo could be good for illustrating vocabulary words or literary terms. I created a sample illustration for the word //automaton//, and I was happy to discover the variety of images that Toondoo provides for use. This is a simple tool that can be used to motivate students and allow them to share their own work online.

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Our group found that Toondoo would work best for our purposes; it is easy to use, and despite the three panel limit, it is a great way for students to create smaller projects and homework assignments.

Finally, for activity 5-D-1, I had to choose between trying out Animoto and [|Xtranormal] to create a short animation. Unfortunately, I chose Xtranormal and tried to create an animated video depicting Act I Scene 1 of //Hamlet//. The video took hours for me to correctly produce, and I was unhappy with the end result. I learned that not all digital tools necessarily work with my classes. The characters never did exactly what I wanted them to do, and it seemed to be too much effort for the mediocre result.

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