Blog #7: Wix

Link to the Website: https://www.wix.com/

The tool that I will be sharing with you this week is Wix.  This site is a cloud-based development platform that allows the user to create a professional website.  It can be used to promote a business, showcase your art, set up an online shop, test out new ideas, or in this case it can be used as a classroom website and a way for teachers to communicate with parents and the community.  The site is free to use and all you need to do is sign up for an account.  This site can also be linked to an existing Facebook or Google+ account so you really can get started with the click of a button.  Once you are logged in there are many great preexisting templates to choose from that can meet any of your website creation needs.  Almost anything can easily be customized.  

Here is a short video clip about Wix:

One of the things that I love that I learned from the video is that all of the websites that are created on Wix are automatically compatible for mobile devices so the site really could be accessed from anywhere.  This would be helpful for parents who might want to keep up on what is going on in their child's classroom.  Since many parents have very busy lives, having the extra options for accessibility are very important.  This tool falls under the communication category for communication with parents and in some cases the greater community.

I feel like this site is very easy to use and quite versatile in the content that it could be used for.  I was presented with a plethora of options when I created my site and I liked many of the options that I saw.  I can guarantee that I will use this once I am teaching to communicate with the parents of my students.  It is very important to me that parents feel like they are included in their child's education and that they are always kept up to date regarding what takes place in the classroom.  I love that this is a central way to post about the learning that is taking place in my classroom and reach everyone who cares about the students instead of trying to communicate through individual e-mails.  I also, like this better than a paper newsletter because it allows for feedback from the parents as well.

Here is a screenshot that I took of my site which is still a work in progress:

Reflection #6: Animoto

Link to the Website: https://animoto.com/

The tool that I will be sharing with you this week is Animoto.  Animoto is a website that allows you to create professional quality videos from digital pictures and videos.  They appear in a slide show format and can be synced to music.  Also, there are many different themes and styles available as templates that can be selected to make the creation process fairly simple.  I believe that the site is easy to use for someone who might even only have some basic computer experience.  As for the versatility of the site, although there are many templates and different ways to theme the videos, the overall objective and end goal is very much the same regardless: the production of a video.  This falls under the creativity category.

Here is a video overview of the site:



One of the bummers about this site is accessibility.  When you first sign up you will be eligible for a free trial, but once that runs out the site becomes a paid site.  There are three pricing plans.  The Personal plan is $8 a month, the Professional is $22 a month, and the Business plan is $34 a month.  In the fine print it can be seen that these are just the prices per month when you pay for an entire year at once so the out of pocket expense for the plans becomes  $96, $264, and $408.  If you choose not to pay for the year up front, the monthly subscription price doubles!  Just based on price alone this site is not necessarily friendly to the budget of teachers or students.  I honestly do not know who would make enough videos with this to justify the expense.

I do not know if I would actually use this in my classroom very much.  I could see myself using the site to create videos at the end of the year to celebrate all that my students learned over the year.  If we took any neat field trips, participated in special projects or school events, I might take pictures from those events and create a slide show to show at an end of the year party to celebrate all of the learning and community engagement that took place.  I think the site would be pretty easy for 5th grade students to figure out, but I do not know yet how I would incorporate this site into a lesson.  Any ideas that any of you readers might have would be appreciated.  One of the downsides of the site also is having to spend time gathering the picture and video files to be used in the creation of a video.

Ultimately this was a very fun site to work with and I could see myself using it for personal reasons, but I do not know how practical this site would be for classroom use.  Regardless, here is a video that I made showcasing my time spent at Eastern.  :)