Creating a Powtoon has certainly been an interesting feat. The app is really simple to use, resembling a mashup of Power Point and Windows Movie Maker. And the cartoon itself is certainly more entertaining than a regular Power Point presentation. The time constraint it puts on assembling a short video is a fallback though. My video was a little over two minutes and yet it took me almost 4 hours to make. While the layout concept is easy enough to follow, the way the program functions is incredibly inefficient. For example, I had to scroll between "styles" every time I wanted a simple rectangle if I was on a different style layout. A combined master layout would have made the process much easier of assembling characters and props. I also felt like it would be a bit difficult to come up with a science themed cartoon as their props were definitely geared more towards business than a Science classroom.
Because of the ridiculous amount of time the very short cartoon took to make, I probably wouldn't frequently use Powtoons in my classroom. The app could be used once in a while to make mundane or dry topics a bit more interesting with the animation and added humor. I do feel that the cartoon would be better suited for younger students, maybe fifth and sixth graders rather than high school students who might see it as insulting to their age. Another way the app could be used is if I had my students use the app in school to present a project in place of power point. This scenario would play out much better in a school who's students have internet access at home rather than a lower socioeconomic status community.
All in all the app is creative and fun to play around with albeit very time consuming. I enjoyed my finished cartoon product and I hope you do too!
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