Get Involve in Dvolver!

Assalamualaikum and Hi to all.


This is my first entry for this blog and I am going to share a website which I find it interesting. It is called Dvolver.  Dvolver is a website where the users can make a simple, cartooned movie. This website is very interesting because it allows you to narrate a simple movie of you own based on the scenes and characters provided by the website. There are several backgrounds and characters to choose from and users can edit the dialogue according to their own script. The organization of this website is simple and is not complicated which makes it user friendly. Apart from that, it only requires the user to sign up (which is free) in order to make a movie and then share the movie with their friends by embedding it into their own blog or just email it.

Dvolver and language learning.

In my opinion, this website is useful for language learning because it allows creative writing. Traditional writing exercise may sometimes be boring for the students as they have been exposed to the same way of writing (using pen and paper). This seems rather unfortunate for the students as they do not have the opportunity to manipulate technology in language learning which sometimes will enhance their interest towards learning the language. Therefore, by using this tool, students will be able to incorporate technology into language learning and make the lesson more interesting. They can write about whatever they like for their own movie in order to make it more interesting. This is because they can share the movie with their friends which certainly motivate them to make it interesting so that people will enjoy it. Apart from that, it also promotes personalisation because students can make a movie based on their own experience. This will lead to authenticity because the movie that that they created has relation to their own life. In my opinion, Dvolver is suitable for primary school students, aged between ten to twelve years old who have an intermediate level of English. Although it may be interesting enough for advanced students to use this tool, I think, in terms of language learning, it is less challenging as it only involve writing and does not really promotes other multiple skills. The frequency of using this tool amongst students may depends on various factors such as syllabus coverage, facilities, students sociocultural background as well as resources. For example, teachers might want to consider covering the syllabus first before attempting to use this website as it is rather time consuming. Apart from that, the facilities play an important role because if the students are not equipped with computers, then this activity cannot be done.

How to do it?

As I mentioned, you have just to sign up in order to use this tool. And then just follow these steps:

Step 1: Select background that you prefer and click 'Next' 

Step 2: choose your preferable scene.

Step 3: Select Character in your movie

Step 4: Add dialogue to your movie. This is limited
to 100 text per character line.

Step 5: Select background music that suit the theme of
your music.

Step 6: When finish, you can add title and your name
as director. you can also add title design to your movie.

Step 7: Share it with your friends!

I have also made one of my own. 

The advantages of this tool are:


1. It allows students to express themselves without having a face to face interaction with the teachers. This may be a factor to increase their confidence to improve their language.
2. Students can also express their creativity in writing as they can write whatever they want about their story. Creative writing is likely to be more interesting and motivating with visual aid.
3. Encourage fun and autonomous learning. Students can use the website without the presence of their teacher
4. It is not complicated and easy to use which is suitable for students of beginner and intermediate level.

The disadvantages of this tool are:


1. Some of the characters might not be suitable for children as it portrays negative influence. For example there are character that smokes and as well as sexy which may influence the children.
2. Might resulting in inappropriate use of language. This is because students can write everything they want therefore they might write something which is offensive. For example they may write something bad about their friends which may resulting in dissatisfaction.
3. It is time consuming. If the teacher want to do this activity in class, it may take a longer time and the students might be carried away and does not follow the instruction given by the teacher.

Here is the link to the website:
http://www.dvolver.com/moviemaker/index.html