Pre-planning is a helpful first step in creating your video project. Gather all images and video clips and save them in a desktop folder. If a particular soundtrack serves the needs of the project, make sure the sound clip or song is in .mp3 format. Finally, on a piece of paper, sketch out the storyboard for the video—in particular the placement of text in the video. Animoto offers a handful of different account types that vary in price from personal to business.  The "Professional" account priced at $22/month ($264/year) is the most common and offers HD quality videos, more than 25 professional fonts, and pre-built storyboards.

After users open an account, the first step is to upload photos and videos via three options: from files on the computer, from Animoto's own collection of photographs, or from another website. Uploading images and videos from the computer allows users to select multiple files and conduct a batch upload. Once images and videos are uploaded, users can click and drag images at will in order to construct a desired sequence. Other features allow users to spotlight certain images or videos for a more focused display during the final presentation, add text slides, rotate and/or duplicate images, and delete any unwanted selections. It is worthwhile to note that one of Animoto’s biggest drawbacks is the limit placed on text entries. Text restrictions may prove to be frustrating for users, but one simple way to bypass these limits is to create a PowerPoint slide with the desired text, save that PowerPoint slide as a .jpg image, and then import the file as a picture into Animoto. Step two directs users to add a music file, or soundtrack, to the video either through Animoto’s own selection of songs or your own .mp3 files. Users can also select at which point the music begins. The final step is the editing process and finalization, where users can establish the speed of transitions, the design template, and select whether the video is short (30 seconds) or full length. After all selections are made, users go to the final section where the credit information is provided for the title of the video and the creator(s). Here is where Animoto users will find a second frustration: once everything is ready to go, users select “create video” and the process of finalizing the video can often take quite a while. Nevertheless, Animoto emails video creators once the video is finalized . . . so you don’t have to wait around. (Update: Animoto’s site updates may have fixed the speed delay in finalizing videos.)

Registering is a breeze, needing only a valid email address. I created a flowchart in LucidChart to detail the steps for getting started with the tool. Many of the boxes are hotlinked—run your mouse over the textbox, and if a hand appears there is a link to explore. (Make sure you have popups unblocked to view the included links.) The tour, examples, forums, and tutorials are appropriately helpful and clear. If you believe that this is a tool that would suit your educational pursuits, there is an educational version that is available free of charge to K–12 teachers and students. For the more tech-savvy, there is also an integrated function between Google Apps and LucidChart. In an email exchange with David Grow of LucidChart he stated,

“For K–12, we are committed to always providing LucidChart free of charge so there is no expiration. Also, an educational account is essentially the equivalent of a paid Team account which has all of the premium features! We are eager for more teachers and students to be using LucidChart.”

I cannot stress enough that with a tool like this, it will take you a bit of time to feel as though you are a “master,” but you can feel functional almost immediately. The drag-and-drop-style features make it quite intuitive. I created the Getting Started flowchart to demonstrate my own willingness to create and play a bit in the pursuit of encouraging more teachers to do the same.

The first step, once activation is complete, is to create a room and set privacy stipulations (an important consideration for school policies). After setting up the room, users arrive at a blank canvas—a plain whiteboard. The menu items on the right include a pointer/selector, various geometric shapes, and writing tools: drawing, text, highlighting, and stamping. Also to the right is a microphone button to start an audio conference and a space below for text messaging with other group members. Horizontal buttons along the top include the usual word processing and photo editing features: cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, delete, flip horizontally and vertically; additional tools include lock, unlock, clear page (and all pages), take snapshot, equation editor, shared pointer, page background (with numeric color value), and page draw mode. At the bottom of the screen, users can select line color, fill color, and line thickness. To write on the whiteboard, users can either use the text button or the pencil button for freestyle writing. Shapes can be brought to the front for layering purposes, by right-clicking the object (text or shape).

In many ways, Scribblar merges the skills of word processing with the purpose of whiteboard instruction and planning. Users can also build graphic organizers easily and the "alpha/wolfram" button, in Beta mode, has potential for future social studies table elements. One limitation, however, is that all operating features are controlled through a mouse or trackpad, not with the keyboard. In addition, an "arrow" button is missing and currently users would use a pencil button. Another limitation fails to make the best use of the Web's potential: hyperlinks, interactivity, and multitasking tools/features—which classroom tools such as SmartBoard put to good use—are underdeveloped in Scribblar. Flip horizontal button does not seem to work well, and some objects can't be flipped vertically or horizontally. Lastly, text font options only number between 9‐12 fonts (serf and non-serif) with bold, italics, and underline buttons, while the stamp tool is limited to six options. The current version of Scribblar is perhaps of better "curriculum" use in a math classroom than a history classroom. Still, the ability to import images, such as maps and graphs, help Scribblar serve effectively in a social studies classroom if careful planning takes place first. For example, in the right section (where the list of participants is listed), under the assets tab users can click on the "+" to add a feature or image (file types: PowerPoint, .pdf, .jpeg, .gif, .png—maximum file size is five MB.) Users can also download a file and decide whether to add the item to the whiteboard after upload is complete (only the first five pages of a PowerPoint or .pdf file will be converted in addition to pictures, maps, and other visuals . . . but not audio or video files). Other features in the assets tab include adding a webpage snapshot (it takes about a minute to appear in the "Assets" panel; it is worth noting, however, that adding a webpage snapshot as a background may produce a repetitive image that can be fixed by resizing the target window and then re-taking a snapshot). A great feature is the ability to add a Flickr image because you can search online and immediately paste to whiteboard as an item; also useful are the abilities to create a numeric list for ranking, to use the snapshot button in order to preview the whiteboard in an html window, and to print the whiteboard by right-clicking canvas and selecting the print option. In all, Scribblar offers great potential for online collaboration, planning, and teaching. Classrooms separated by distance would benefit greatly, as well as inter-disciplinary collaboration within a school. Most importantly, Scribblar extends learning outside of classroom hours and is thus well positioned to provide teachers and students flexibility and an online pace for increased engagement in the history curriculum.

The first step is to make sure that all Internet requirements are met before enrolling in Prezi. After you've decided which plan works for you (students are fine with a free basic plan; teachers and students should take advantage of the "EduEnjoy" plan), you will begin with a pop-up window where you can create a title and description for your project. While tutorial videos can often be long and of little value for web-savvy users, Prezi's tutorial videos—found in the Prezi Academy section—are excellent, succinct, and definitely worth viewing before playing with a new canvas.

Orienting yourself with the various menu options is another useful step before working on your presentation. In the left corner, you will find several options and tool options: Write (default tool), Frame, Path, Insert & Shapes, Show, and Colors & Fonts. The top bar menu allows users to save as needed, undo or redo an action, print, exit, seek help, and also facilitates collaborative efforts through the "Meeting" functions. The buttons on the right of the screen allow users to zoom in and out, as well as return "home" (which provides a long-lens snapshot of the entire canvas).

As you begin, you may want to head over to the Colors & Shapes tool and select a design template with specific colors and font styles; the Theme Wizard provides additional personalization options for colors and fonts, including the ability to insert a logo that will appear throughout the presentation. To insert text, begin with the Write tool and type; you can resize text by extending the textbox and position your text with the options at the top. Before selecting "OK" to finish your text, you will want to decide whether the text will follow the design options for a title, subtitle, or body. After finishing your text, click on the object and you will see Prezi's unique features appear as striped options in a bulls-eye design. The outer ring allows you to reposition your object diagonally, while the center ring allows you to drag your object to any location on the canvas. The middle ring is perhaps the most useful feature because users can click, hold, and drag out (or in) to resize the object. The sizing of objects on the canvas provides users a simple and easy-to-edit way of prioritizing elements on the Prezi canvas.

Inserting images and videos is fairly simple. Most files are acceptable in the Load File tool—.pdf, jpeg, mp4, mp3, etc. In addition, any video on YouTube can be easily inserted through the YouTube tool and the Shapes feature allows users to insert arrows, draw freehand, and use a highlighter.

Before determining your presentation's pathway, Prezi's strength as a visual medium is the ability to group objects on the canvas using the Path tool. In this regard, Prezi breaks away from the constraints of other tools like PowerPoint and functions much like a graphic organizer that moves, zooms in and out, and embeds multimedia elements. (Note that users can, however, upload preexisting PowerPoint presentations to Prezi.) After creating text, inserting images, and framing/grouping elements on the canvas, the final step is creating a pathway. Although some users might prefer to present without any pre-determined structure, the ability to create a determined path is useful in Prezi because it allows the presenter to go “off” the pathway at any moment (and for any duration) and on the next click (or right arrow button on the keyboard) the presentation resumes where the presenter left off. Whether a user follows a pathway, or uses the canvas much like an iPad canvas, Prezi facilitates a back-and-forth dialogue between presenters and the audience.