Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Creating Instructional Gifs

I have been working on a research PD session for high school ELA teachers and I wanted to try out instructional Gifs after seeing them on Alice Keeler's page. I love that it is little bite-size instructions that loop automatically for learners. I feel that this is less intimidating that a long Youtube instructional video.
I had to alter the creation from her original instructions because Snag it is no longer a free Chrome extension and I don't have the extra money to buy the full version right now. I will consider it for next year though.

I used Screencastify Chrome extension to record how to save files from our state DISCUS databases and how to use the citation tools in the databases. Then I uploaded the recordings to Youtube, used the Youtube editing tool to trim the clips, and then used the MakeGIF video capture Chrome extension to create and download those clips into Gifs.

Here are a few examples.
This is a loop showing how to use a PDF printer to save articles from the database into Google Drive.



This is a loop showing how you can send some database articles straight to Google Drive.


My main issue is that I am not sure why they show up so small with a big gray border. I may purchase Snag it next year and try making more of these to insert into hyperdocs, Google Classroom, the library website and other instructional delivery methods. I think if I can figure out how to enlarge them they will be very useful for helping teachers and students use tech tools.
If you make Gifs, I would love to hear about how you make them? What tools work for you? How have you used them in instruction?

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