As I looked through the different Web 2.0 tools, I was looking for something fun and creative to use in my Art classes and I came across Creaza.com. Creaza.com offers the ability to make comics, movies, mindmaps and audio and then share them with others. There are several different tools as part of the free version of the site. I was disappointed to find that to use all the options in the MovieEditor, you had to pay, as well as to have all of the comic attributes available in Cartoonist.
The Mindomo tool was very easy to use, has images that can be used and would be an effective concept mapping tool to use in the classroom. The MovieEditor and AudioEditor allow you to upload movies and music or sound effects from you computer, which would be helpful since there were not any included movies and a limited selection of music.
Cartoonist mode offered eight different sets of characters, settings, and props with the same cartoon effects for each set. The characters available were very whimsical and could easily be manipulated to create a story. I wish there had been more historical characters, because I could see my students using those especially when we are studying Greek, Roman, and Medieval Art.
The fact that you can save your cartoons, in the full version and then import them back into the MovieEditor would be one way for students to create videos of the cartoons they created. A different option could be to take a screenshot, if you can. So while I'm disappointed that more is available in the premium version, I found the free version to be fun, engaging, and could definitely be implemented in a variety of classrooms.
All images created by Heather Taylor at Creaza.com.
