There are many great apps, software and online solutions you can use to make presentations and demo videos. The main problem will all of them is they have a steep learning curve. Well, I am here to tell you that is all about to change. Powtoon is a next generation online service that allows anybody to create awesome presentations that can be shown in presentation mode or as a video.
They have simplified the presentation storyboarding process. You can build a presentation in minutes by using a series of drag-n-drop toon-objects that include; text holders, images, character, props, markers, transitions and backgrounds. There are no dizzying effects like in Prezi or complicated menus like those found in GoAnimate and other web tools. The PowToon scientists as they call themselves initially thought of this concept as a way for businesses to put together marketing presentations, promotional and training videos.
The one thing they did not count on was the ingenious minds of connected educators. We all know who they are they are always looking for creative ways to engage their students. In order to satisfy educators requests they decided to release an educator version. PowToon4Edu allows any educator to create an unlimited amount of presentations online.
The service is not free, but it is reasonably priced at $6.25 mo. or $75.00 per year. What you get is a bundle of 5 PowToon Styles one can use to create an unlimited amount of presentations, videos up to 25 minutes in length and the ability to export 15 presentations a month. These presentations can be uploaded to YouTube, embed into an LMS, Blog or school website. One also gain the ability to share presentations on all major social networks which is a standard feature of the service.
This week I sat down with Daniel Zaturansky, Co-Founder of PowToon to talk about the company’s vision for education. During our interview, we talked about PowToon features and how does it compares to other products. Please watch the videos below for our interview and a PowToon4edu demo.
After working with PowToon for couple of months now I found it very intuitive and with many appealing animation styles. They definitely put some time thinking about the layout and features for the service. The only thing missing in my opinion is the ability to import YouTube clips into your presentation and to be able to record your voice while putting the presentation together. During our conversation Daniel told me these are all features we might see in future releases of the service. PowToon has partnership agreements with Edmodo and the Discovery Channel Educator Network both of which are great additions for educators looking to expand their presence beyond the classroom.