Animoto is certainly a quick way to slap together an attractive, succinct slide show. Every part of it is easy to use, and the templates give a fairly wide array of possibilities (although they are mostly geared towards vacation, holiday or event photos). I do not think I would use this a lot, as there are more versatile programs that do the same thing, but I can think of a couple specific uses.
I would use this in class if I had an array of photos I wanted to present in an eye-catching manner, so it's something nice to have if that occasion were to come. An introduction to a unit that has a lot of historical photos would be a good example. I could get several photos of the way people dressed, the technology they used, etc. and couple that with some music from that time period. This way, students get a visual and cultural idea of the way people lived in a different time. This does not have a lot of advantage over slapping pictures on a posterboard and playing music on a CD player, expect that it is much easier and accessible.
I think having students make their own 30 second videos is another viable option. I think I would have them do this as an exercise coupled with practicing using the Internet for research. My time using Animoto was mostly spent combing through photos on Google image search and I think the ability to research is tremendously valuable. Another possibility would be for students to take photos on a field trip to a museum or historical site (like the Flagship Niagara), then compile them into an Animoto video. In both cases, while Animoto creates the final product, most of the student time can be focused elsewhere because Animoto is so quick at putting videos together.
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