Simple Show T3 Technology List

 This blog entry is about a tool of my own interest from the list of T3 Instructing Technologies provided by Dr. Wang. I chose to explore the website: Simple Show. This tool can be used to achieve the Instructing aspect of Teaching (T3) by allowing teachers to create animated videos to present content to students. However, I also think it could be used as an informal assessment tool, to have students create their own animated videos about what they learned.

When you login and begin creating a new video you are asked if you are writing your own script or uploaded a PowerPoint file to use instead. This is a neat function because if you already have a PowerPoint finished about the lesson topic and just wanted to convert it into an animated video, you could do so without having to start from scratch.

There is an explanation video that explains the 4 steps of creating your video:

Draft, Write, Visualize, and Finalize. To draft you choose a pre-made template (which they have a set of templates specific for education), afterwards you write your script for each "chapter" in the template, which becomes the voice over for your video. Another neat thing is that Simple Show will analyze the key words in your script to find visuals that will become animated in your video. This is great because it saves you time when trying to create your video. You can choose out of the visuals they provide, or upload your own if you don't like them. The final step allows you to add subtitles, choose a "speaker," adjust the speed, and much more.

Overall, I found this website to be very easy to use. I really like the option to upload a premade PowerPoint as your script, and that the website will populate visuals for you. This website is also very easy to navigate.

I also think this tool has a lot of versatility. You can create videos about absolutely any topic you want, and it isn't restricted to only teacher use. I think this could be a great method of assessment for students if they were each to create their own videos.

And finally, I think the overall likelihood of using this tool in my classroom is high. I think this is a very cool and easy to use tool that could be utilized in many different situations! I'm glad I discovered this tool and had a chance to explore it!