It has been quite a while since I've been so excited about the mass appeal of a newly licensed software title by the Ministry of Education.

But, Frames 4 is such a title.

I really like a piece of software that engages the imagination by allowing students to create multimedia productions. When the resulting product has so many applications, it becomes all the more attractive.

The titles falls into the area of digital story telling and it's the perfect platform for many of the types of projects that we've created over the years plus even more.

Of course, claymation and/or stop frame animation have been such fun and engaging story telling activities for students. We've created many a production in workshops and they continually turn up in classes in the form of web page videos or productions on CD-ROM. They've even been known to be used in graduation vides.

There is a certain contemporary attention to being able to create videos with the popularity of websites like YouTube. Frames 4 has you covered in that area as well. For the next great 3-4 minute video, it's the perfect authoring environment for students of all ages.

We had a great introduction to the program at the February CIESC meetings. While I tried to keep everyone on task, the program was so intuitive that the group was off and flying with minimal assistance. There were some great productions at the end.

Frames 4 made the January installation deadline and so should be available now or soon in our elementary schools. Give it a shot; you'll be glad that you did.

To help the cause, look for a couple or workshops in the PD Calendar, available through BookIT, at the end of month.