Have you ever seen some whiteboard animated videos that bring the message intended to come alive simply by using animation? I used to be fascinated at how they are able to do this and what skill level it would require to even do one. Well guess what, over the years, various tools and apps have been developed that anybody these days could come up with cool whiteboard animations all with the click of a button. Easier said than done as it really does take a bit of time and practice.
Here is several proprietary whiteboard animation software that you may find on the market.
- VideoScribe
- Powtoon
- Moovly
- VideoRobot
- Prezi
- Adobe Animate and there's just too many to list all of them here.
Yes, I listed VideoScribe top of the list because that is what I have tried and have liked.
Generation Z - Digital Natives
While millennials were introduced to technology relatively early on in their lives, Gen Z don’t know life without it. Since social media and Google have been at their fingertips, students are used to instant information and teaching themselves anything they want to know with YouTube.
With that in mind, students often expect instant results from teachers and find it much easier to learn from video than they do books. While this shift might take a bit of adjustment, it’s a great opportunity for teachers and students to develop their video skills.(2020, Educator’s guide to using animated video in and out of the classroom)
What is VideoScribe?
VideoScribe is the name of the software for creating whiteboard animations automatically. It is easy (trust me after several attempts), quick, and pretty inexpensive also for a very powerful and resource-rich tool. It was launched in 2012 by UK company Sparkol. After only two years on the market, it had more than 250,000 users in 135 countries around the world. It has remained since as a very popular whiteboard animation tool that is used for instructional videos to advertisements.
Here is a one-minute overview by VideoScribe.
I first downloaded a trial copy of this application back in 2016 and have been teaching myself how to use it by watching tutorials online and of course trying my hands at making short instructional videos. It really does require a bit of practice for those without any previous knowledge of using similar tools.
You can begin by watching this short tutorial from VideoScribe.
Here is the link to download a 1 week free trial. You may purchase the single user license for $14/month (approx. K50 monthly). Best option would be to get a team license (in an educational setting) as more members would mean less cost.
Since then I have learnt a few things about the tool and have managed to create a few short whiteboard animations to explain some basic concepts for my classes.
The fun part is the learning process. I've learnt to create a script first, organize what I like to call assets (images, text, transition, timing etc) in the script. Once you have this laid out then you can record and do the voice-over.
Here are some sample videos I have created. (Please note they are the results of my 'learn-driving' this application :). I am still learning to do this properly.)
Hope this will inspire you to try out VideoScribe or even the other apps listed above.
Comment below if you use a different tool that achieves a similar or better result. Also let me know if you would like me to do a video tutorial on VideoScribe.
With that, keep tinkering with technology!