Flixtime is a great tool for fast and easy digital storytelling. The free version allows you to create a fast 60 second digital story. You can add photos, your own music (or use the ones provided), and text (either as a separate slide or on each picture). The free version also allows you to embed or share your video, but doesn’t allow you to save it to your computer.
The paid version obviously has more features. Some of these features include being able to save the finished version, as well as edit the transitions, add your own voice and obviously increase the length of the video.
I was playing around with it and in 10 minutes created the video below out of some of my April 366 Challenge photos.
There are many other digital storytelling tools on the web, this is just one. Animoto and PhotoPeach are also two of my favorites. (You can see an example of a video created using Animoto below.) When using many of these web tools in the classroom students will need to create their own accounts. That really is the only drawback I see. If they are old enough this is fine and they can continue to use the tool as they grow and advance through school and beyond. PhotoPeach now has an educator’s account where you can manage student accounts on a dashboard. This does come with a fee, but looks very promising. If you are concerned about using web tools for digital storytelling, don’t let that slow you down. Free storytelling applications can be used, such as Movie Maker, Photostory, or iMovie. Remember it is the purpose, not the tool that is important. So, start with your objective or outcome of the lesson/unit and decide ways students can show you evidence of what they learned. If digital storytelling fits, then go forth and create!!
Here’s my Animoto example. The free version only allows for a 30 second video, but there are more themes to choose from.
Try our slideshow creator at Animoto. Educators can apply for a free upgrade to Animoto Plus.