E-learning
Tools
Review
Adriana Guzman
Ash Patel
HST 860
June 11, 2014
Table of Contents
Powtoon ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Description ................................................................................................................................................ 2
Advantages................................................................................................................................................ 2
Disadvantages ........................................................................................................................................... 2
How to improve it? ................................................................................................................................... 3
How is this tool important when building my own E-learning course? .................................................... 3
Voki ............................................................................................................................................................... 3
Description ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Advantages................................................................................................................................................ 3
Disadvantages: .......................................................................................................................................... 4
How to improve it? ................................................................................................................................... 4
How is this tool important when building my own E-learning course? .................................................... 4
Bitstrips ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Description: ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Advantages:............................................................................................................................................... 4
Disadvantages: .......................................................................................................................................... 5
How to improve it? ................................................................................................................................... 5
How is this tool important when building my own E-learning course? .................................................... 5
Powtoon
Description: Powtoon is an online tool that allows you to create animated presentations. It is an
alternative to present material using animation. It can be used by either students or instructors. It
accessible to anyone that has access to the internet.
Advantages:
There are many different advantages of using powtoon. To start, Powtoon uses the standard functions
that any presentation software has. It is very easy to use, it requires minimal amount of training. Anyone
who has difficulties in using computer programs will find it this tool very easy to navigate through and
learn how to use it in a few minutes. This means that anyone regardless of their age or experience with
technology can take advantages of what Powtoon has to offer. Once people get comfortable and learn
how to use it correctly, this tool has a variety of different animations, text choices and clip arts that can
be used to build their presentation. Allows people to be very creative, they can create presentations
that will attract all sorts of audiences, not just children but adults as well. For example, classrooms in
small children using all kinds of animation will allow them to make it easier for them to pay attention
and retain more information. In the business world, presentations that have more animation, will allow
employees to be more engage by being able to listen and stay engaged for a longer period of time. This
tool is very powerful when it comes to teaching new skills or being informative. It helps to integrate
emotions and humor which is a great technique, to get a message across. It can be played without and
instructor since audio can be added to the presentations.
Unlike regular presentations, they don’t have to listen to one person speaking the whole time or just
seeing different pictures on PowerPoint slides. This gives them something to watch and be entertained
for a few minutes. This will help to retain information since viewers unusually tend to forget context
they just read. Reading a slide will just keep information for a few minutes and will be lost by the time
they move along to a different activity. Lastly, Powtoon is completely free to use for anyone that has
access to the internet. As well, anything that is created on Powtoon can always be uploaded to different
social media such as Facebook and Youtube.
Disadvantages:
Powtoon is not suitable for all types of presentations, due to only having the option of making animated
characters. Although, they have many different styles to choose from, serious scenarios are not an
option. Additionally, since there are many different options to create a presentation it may be time
consuming perfecting every detail. Secondly, during presentations there is not an option that allows you
to pause on a slide. This can cause that the audience may not retain some information. When trying to
explain an audience with more detail the presenter will have to wait to until the end of the presentation
to explain. As well, if anyone has questions while watching it, they cannot pause to answer any
questions. Lastly, the free account requires the use of a watermark.
How to improve it?
Some ways to improve Powtoon is to allow the instructor to pause on the slides which can make the
presentation more effective and allow time for clarification. As well, since the tool is new it still has a lot
of development to do, such as creating more options for different characters. Although they do have a
fair amount there is always room for more.
How is this tool important when building my own E-learning course?
This tool can be used in my own e-learning course by using all the animation and the variety of options it
offers to be creative. I can use this to be creative, and tailor it according to my own topic. The animation
on the presentation can be used to engage the audience and retain peoples interest in continue to
listen. I can integrate humor to engage my audience. This could be a good transition between explaining
something serious to change and start a new module with a new idea.
Voki
Description: A tool that allows the user to create personalized characters.
Advantages
Voki is tool that can be used in many different scenarios. Whether, it is a fun activity to explain to a
group of people or a serious informative presentation. It has a variety of options to tailor a character to
match with the appropriate scenario. Not only can you make up a character and incorporate your own
voice in it but you can also edit it to make it look like yourself. There is also an option to change the
characters language which means that it can be used for many kinds of audiences.
This is perfect to use for anything that has specific requirements to follow or to give out a set of
instructions. This allows instructors to organize thoughts and to choose words more carefully. Unlike,
someone with the job to present important points a Voki character will be able to say everything that
has to be mentioned in a detailed and slow manner. Since everything that the character says can be
written down, it allows to have a more meaningful and informative message. Voki has four different
ways in which you record a voice. It can be done by typing out the message and use a computerized
voice, call in with a telephone device, use a microphone connected to the computer, and upload an
audio file. This is very important since not everyone has access to a microphone people have many
different options to continue using Voki. Once the character is created it, they can be emailed, shared
on social media, and inserted on websites.
Voki also has an option for educational institutions. They can open up a Voki classroom account in which
allows the instructor to manage the students Voki assignments and quizzes. This allows students to take
some work home and work on different learning material without being present in a school classroom or
a meeting room. This will be a more engaging way to getting students to do their work since it is now
online and it is a different method than the traditional way of doing “homework” The most important
advantage of Voki classroom is that it allows instructors to track students’ progress.
Disadvantages:
To start, Voki has a time limit of speech. The max recording time is 60 seconds. This means that one the
Voki character is done speaking there has to be another presenter to continue any presentation. Lastly,
Not all characters are free to use.
How to improve it?
Voki characters only mother their mouth and eyes. Having them move their hands and do some
movement can be more eye catching. This will result to get audience attention for longer periods of
time.
How is this tool important when building my own E-learning course?
When building my own e-learning course I can use Voki to conduct quizzes with students, allow the
character to read out the instructions of the quiz and say the questions. This will engage the students
into answering the questions and give them a break from just listening to my voice repeatedly. Use voiki
to create more interaction. Having a different voice with different accents can involve the audience
more in presentation, identity themselves with the character.
Bitstrips
Description: is an online comic strip that you can create and run as a serious. It allows you to create
a cartoon of themselves and their friends or random characters.
Advantages:
Bitstrips allows you to create different characters adjusting them to any scenario. There are many
different options to choose from, you can create different backgrounds to demonstrate different events
and situations. This allows the audience to be able to visualize a message. This can help people
remember important parts of a presentation. They can make a picture of what they are listening to
instead of just hearing a voice, helping them visualize a situation.
The comic strip creator is quick and easy to use. There is no need of special training or to download any
special software’s. The only thing need is access to the a computer and internet. It is completely free to
use. Once the comics are created they can be saved and shared on social media such as Facebook or
other websites/blogs.
Disadvantages:
Some drawbacks that Bitstrisp encounters are the characters can only be humans which means that all
comic strips will be scenarios with humans speaking which limits many other options. Such as having
animals, or objects talking. As well, the characters have a limited range of facial expressions. This makes
some comics not be effective to the audience. This method also does not have an option to add audio to
scenarios which can create some confusion in the audience.
How to improve it?
Bitstrips would be a much more effective tool audio can be integrated. Combining music for different
scenes can send a different message. For example, since there is a limit on the facial expressions of the
characters, some background music can help to get the audience to understand what is going on in the
comic, instead of them guessing. This is very important when trying to integrate humor in learning
techniques. In order for them to be effective they have to make sense to the audience. Since the
audience is just getting familiar with the context. Having a catchy song will help them retain more
information.
How is this tool important when building my own E-learning course?
Adding humor to a presentation will always engage a student. Anything that has animation and colour
will always catch peoples attention. This means comic strips are a good way to get people to visualize
context. When building my own e-learning course I can use a comic strip to summarize an informative
point or end a module.