Review by Patricia Monticello Kievlan, Common Sense Education | Updated November 2016
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Animoto

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Create snazzy video slideshows with simple, flexible features

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Creativity
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
7–12
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (73 Reviews)
Privacy (See details)
Use with Caution Full evaluation
Price:  Free, Free to try, Paid 14-day free trial. Special free teacher subscriptions available; three pricing tiers for consumers ($8 to $39 per month).
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

5 images
Animoto is a digital slideshow creator.
Users can add up to 20 photos or video clips to create their own video slideshows.
Users can choose photos and music from their own devices or online.
Pick styles to add effects to your slideshow.
While there are several paid pricing options, educators can request a free account to share with their students.

Pros: Eye-catching final projects are fun to make and simple to share.

Cons: Lack of features means presentations won't have much depth.

Bottom Line: Slick music videos and slideshows are easy to make, but students need more controls to personalize them.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Your best bet for Animoto is to draw on its strengths and recognize its limitations. For an art project or maybe a book report, it could be useful and engaging. It's certainly fun to create slideshows and satisfying to watch the finished presentations. Also, it's a bit of a primer on video-editing software. Choices are limited, which makes the site easy to use, but it also means the teaching potential is limited.

If you're using a lot of video in the classroom, you might be interested in our teaching tips and resources here: Get Students Thinking Critically About Video.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

Making flashy video slideshow presentations with Animoto is simple. First, select Create a Project, and the site walks you through each step. Choose a theme, and then upload short video clips and your own images or images from a Creative Commons site such as Flickr. Then, upload your own songs or songs from the site, and add text if you'd like. Like magic, the site creates a video and publishes it to your Animoto account. The finished product is a modern and engaging presentation that's appealing for kids and adults. 

Once a video is published, users can share the link, grab an embed code, export it to other video sites including YouTube, or download a version to the desktop. New themes for projects and new music tracks, sorted by genre, are added regularly, so there's always something new.

While Animoto is cool, it won't let teachers or students express their ideas in a complex way. For teachers trying to engage students in digital storytelling, Animoto might not be the best tool; creating a slideshow is simple and straightforward, but the ease of use means that you automate a lot of the creative process and don't have much editorial control. The main problem is that you can't adjust transitions; the site syncs them to the rhythm of the song, which is fine for a vacation slideshow but has limited potential in the classroom. Also, you can't add your own voice narration, so the emotional resonance of digital storytelling gets lost. 

It takes a little doing to get free access to Animoto. Educators have to apply to request a free account, and then they have to set up special Gmail addresses for their students to grant them access. While that's a great way to get access to an otherwise paid tool, some teachers may not feel that jumping through these hoops is worth it. Still, if you're willing to take these steps, Animoto is an awfully fun way to make a professional-looking slideshow.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

A highly satisfying and easy selection and upload process for music, images, and video clips means kids will have fun creating slick-looking content.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

You can't control transitions or add narration to stories, so there's a lack of depth. However, arranging images and videos to music is a great way to hone creativity and storytelling. 

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Simple videos on the developer's website show how to build a video project, and the home page offers plenty of advice.

Common Sense Reviewer
Patricia Monticello Kievlan Foundation/nonprofit member
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Writing

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 73 reviews) (73 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Erin W. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
With a little practice students can create gorgeous and creative videos
It will take some time to set this resource up and additional time to teach your students how to use it- but once you've done these two tasks, this is an amazing resource for students to synthesize and demonstrate their learning. Great tool to play around with during the summer break to familiarize yourself before the school year starts! :)
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