This week I am reviewing a web2.0 tool called XtrNormal. This site is an animation site. I enjoyed watching the short movie clips they had made and displayed. This site turns your typing into a movie, in just a short period of time. This claim may be true if you are able to download it onto your computer, however this program is like a lot of the program I have encountered that it is not set up to run on MAC when downloaded. I have contacted the owners to see if there is a MAC version available. I was able to use the program on the site. My first attempt was okay, but took about forty minutes to work. The clip was 2.25 minutes long. This seemed like a long time until I explored further. To develop the same length of movie it would take a month or more to write the script, draw and paint the characters, record the voices and put it all together. I am looking forward to trying it a second time.
The first movie I put together was an attempt at a tutorial on how to add three digit numbers. The characters are two friends; one is down because of a test. The other walks the first friend through the steps of solving the problem. For this to work, the student would need to be working the problem and following the movie since there is no way to demonstrate. So this concept would not work well for math without further knowledge.
As a classroom project, this site would encourage students to write stories to see them acted out by different characters. They have nine different settings for your story to develop in from robots to teddy bears to people in offices. The site seems to lend itself more towards communications such as stories or presentations than to tutorials. I know from experience working with upper elementary and middle school students they would soon have the expertise to make movies using this site.
XtrNormal.com is a free site for the basics, but has more characters and sites to use with the purchase of the premium program.
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