WeVideo
WeVideo is an online, cloud-based video editing platform that works in web browsers and on mobile devices (Android and iOS). For our December 2021 Digital Storytelling HTLab, Professor Charlotte Keniston provided this basic tutorial on how to effectively use WeVideo for digital storytelling projects.
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Tumult Hype
Tumult Hype 4.0 is an affordable web design platform with a focus on animation and interactive web content. Using HTML5, the content you create on Hype 4.0 can be used on desktops, smartphones, and tablets. This platform goes beyond standard website building and can be used for animated banners, infographics, presentations, and ebooks/iBooks. Check out the Tumult Hype’s YouTube channel for demonstration videos and tips.
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Scalar
Scalar is a free and open-source web publishing platform that allows authors to “structure essay- and book-length works in ways that take advantage of the unique capabilities of digital writing, including nested, recursive, and non-linear formats.” This platform supports media imports, so building a site that uses archival collections is easy and intuitive. Its built-in visualizations tool is also a unique way to allow readers to navigate through a project’s contents. Check out this excellent Scalar project from Dr. Lisa Brooks at Amherst College titled, Our Beloved Kin, a companion resource to her printed book.
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Twine
Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories. Used by makers of games, hypertext novels, and other forms of interactive narratives, Twine can inspire students to build and enact connections in course content, while also connecting with broader communities of creators and gamers. Visit https://twinery.org/ to learn more and download the free software.For ideas from HT Lab presenter Dr. Anastasia Salter on using Twine in the classroom, see her ProfHacker article, “Games in the Classroom with the Twine Cookbook.”
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Smithsonian Learning Lab
The Learning Lab is the Smithsonian Institution’s open access collection of millions of digitized images, recordings, texts, and videos. You can create and share curated collections of materials for any class unit or assignment. To set up a free user account, visit the Learning Lab.
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Adobe Express
Adobe Express, formerly Adobe Spark, is a free program for designing blogs, media posts, multimedia stories, and videos. Using the web pages feature, students can design magazine-style blogs or essays that can be used for public-facing course assignments. This program is intuitive and user-friendly and the free, entry-level version includes an array of templates and tools. To set up a user account, visit Adobe Express.
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Audacity
Audacity is a free multi-track audio editor available across platforms. Students can record or import sounds and then layer them with music, additional voice tracks and effects. For instructors interested in composing with sound, creating podcasts or digital stories, and conducting interviews, Audacity is an intuitive and accessible platform.
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Mentimeter
Mentimeter is a presentation software program for creating interactive presentations and meetings, with features such as live polls, quizzes, word clouds, Q&As and and other feedback tools.
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Slack
Slack is a communication platform that can be used for organizing class discussion. Using chat room functions called “channels,” users can communicate through modes organized by topic, private groups, and direct messaging.
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Flipgrid
Flipgrid is a social learning app that can be used for recording and sharing short video responses.
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VoiceThread
VoiceThread is a cloud application program for recording, sharing, and commenting on presentations and oral assessments.
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Hypothesis
Hypothesis is an open source software for social reading and collaborative annotation. (Here’s a tip for integrating this tool with Blackboard).
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Panopto
Panopto is a video platform for training, teaching, and presenting online. It can be used for recording and sharing short video lectures. (Here’s a tip on integrating Panopto with Blackboard Ultra).
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izi.TRAVEL
izi.TRAVEL is an app that enables you to visit and explore tourist attractions or museums through audio and travel guides. It was used to create the Govans Urban Forest audio tour project.
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i-Tree
i-Tree is a collection of urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools, which helps citizen-scientists produce and analyze data showing how trees improve communities and environments.
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StorymMapJS
StoryMapJS is a geographical storytelling tool which helps you to tell stories that highlight the locations of a series of events through maps. StoryMapJS has been used to illuminate the background of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
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Padlet is collaborative project and organization app where users can create virtual bulletin boards with a variety of template options. Users can upload videos, text, links, documents, images and see additions from other users in real-time. Click here to watch a “How To Get Started Guide” for Padlet.
