When I show this on that first day, I am hoping it will spark a good discussion from the visual seeds I have planted. I know this will be a much better use of time than standing in front of the room yapping about my syllabus for 45 minutes (which simply bounces right off their heads when you get to the periods at the end of the day anyway, because, by that time, they're pretty much ruled-and-regulationed- out).
I used Animoto to make this (and signed up for a one-year Animoto Plus account that is free to educators), and I have to say I am impressed with how easy it is to make a quality-looking video. It's really as simple as uploading your pictures, picking the animation scheme, and some music at its most basic level. The one thing that I don't like is how little control you have over how long each picture is displayed; I would have liked a feature that let me customize how long some pictures were shown. (There is a speed setting right before you finalize your video, but it's the equivalent of the windshield wiper speeds in the old 1982 Buick Regal I used to own: slow, a little too fast, and so-fast-the-wipers-are-rubbing-against-the-glass-and-making-that-annoying-sound). Other than that, the other features of the Plus account allow for great customization: the ability to choose from several animation schemes, adding text, uploading pictures from other sites as well as your local drive, as well as inserting videos and effects that Animoto has on hand.
Enjoy my electronic syllabus, and please feel free to leave questions or comments.
2011-2012 Syllabus Version 4.81 by mrsebiology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at animoto.com.