[Larry Ferlazzo] Boy, there sure are a lot of web applications that let you make free slideshows. Because of this glut, I thought it would be helpful to my students, readers of this blog, and me to do a quick review of many of them, and identify my picks for the best ones. So, here’s another “The Best…” list.
In order to make it on this list (there is one exception), a site had to…
* be free.
* be simple. There are a number of web tools that just have too many “bells and whistles” for me, and they certainly don’t improve accessibility for English Language Learners.
* allow you to grab images off the Web, and not just from your computer.
* not have content inappropriate for classroom use readily available, at least not during the multiple times I visited the site.
* allow for the creation of captions and other writing.
I’ve come up with nine web tools that I think are worthy of being on this list. They all have some unique qualities, though, that make them ideal for different projects. So they are not ranked first-to-ninth. Instead, I’ve put them into different categories.
AUDIO-NARRATED SLIDESHOWS
VoiceThread (http://goo.gl/D6cbl), the best site out there, period, for English Language Learners.
Show Beyond (http://goo.gl/xSeok) is another option. It’s not as easy to use as VoiceThread, and doesn’t allow you to leave audio comments, but it’s certainly accessible to English Language Learners.
Slide Six (http://goo.gl/iI468) is a new web tool for audio slideshows. You can read my post about it here.
Yodio (http://yodio.com/) is a relatively simple web application that lets you create a slideshow — either with your own photos our their stock images — and then record the narration by phone.
My Brainshark (http://goo.gl/FE7Hv) has recently added the capability of recording by microphone or by phone, but I haven’t really checked them out thoroughly.
Little Bird Tales (http://goo.gl/5RNsj) lets you easily make slideshows where you can add text and, more importantly for English Language Learners, provide an audio narration.
Present Me (http://present.me/) lets you upload PowerPoint presentations and easily provide audio/video narration.
Hello Slide (http://www.helloslide.com/) lets you upload a PDF of your PowerPoint. You can then type in the narration and it will use a text-to-speech feature to provide audio to your slideshow.
SITES WITH A FEW BELLS & WHISTLES & LET YOU COLLABORATE
One is Mixbook (http://goo.gl/4bgT1), which I think is very accessible (though I wish their tool to write text was a little bit better).
MentorMob (http://goo.gl/0sjkM) lets you very easily create a slideshow. Webpages, videos and photos can be grabbed from the web and added, along with notes. It’s easy to use, very intuitively designed so just about anyone can figure it out, and attractive.
OTHER PICKS FROM Larry Ferlazzo
Knovio (http://www.knovio.com/) might end up being one of the best Web 2.0 applications of the year. You upload a PowerPoint presentation, record a presentation with your microphone and webcam, and then it’s done!
Slidestaxx (http://goo.gl/7kmF7) is a new tool for creating online slideshows. The nice feature about it is that it’s designed to easily grab videos, images, and websites (among other things) off the web to incorporate in the presentations.
Storify (http://storify.com/) announced some major changes, and its now one of the easiest tools to use to create a multimedia digital story. You can search the web for just about anything, including images, tweets, webpages, photos and videos, and use their “drag-and-drop” interface to add your own text and create a story.
Rewindy (http://www.rewindy.com/) is a new and easy tool to make slideshows. It really doesn’t require much explanation — you click on “create new story,” upload photos or paste the url addresses of ones you want to use off the Web, add text (if you want) to each one, and then you’re done.
Read more to find many more slideshow creators : http://goo.gl/elqTf