Detroit Schools Choose Innovative Movie Maker to Fuel Creativity and Boost Test Scores

Aug. 26, 2011 - PRLog -- Xtranormal™, the revolutionary online approach to movie making, has announced that they have joined forces with QWK2LRN in their nationwide efforts to turn around underperforming school districts. Known for their technology-based education programs, QWK2LRN provides low-income school districts with effective one-on-one educational solutions that improve writing skills and raise comprehension test scores. Leveraging the Xtranormal movie maker platform, QWK2LRN has designed a brand new pilot program that will debut in several Detroit schools this September, including the K-8 African-Centered Nsoroma Institute, Bath Middle School, and Highland Park Schools. Following Detroit, the program will move on to Saint Louis and Oakland schools. The new technology-based curriculum is designed to engage students through rich visual instruction; providing each classroom with on-demand workstations loaded with simple-to-use video creation tools from Xtranormal.

“QWK2LRN has been working with many facets of education since the mid-90’s. We’ve seen great success with our pilot programs, raising both Math and English Language arts comprehensive scores all over the country,” comments James Hare, QWK2LRN CTO. “By providing the students with the ability to visually explain their thoughts and understanding, we are engaging them at a much deeper level. We have found that students retain more, and are more invested in classroom assignments when they are having fun creating animations with Xtranormal’s movie maker.”

“Xtranormal is an exceptional tool for motivating our students to write and rewrite their short essays. QWK2LRN consistently brings compelling tools to our teachers that allow us to effectively use technology to motivate students,” says Edith Hightower, Superintendent at Highland Park City Schools.

Initially developed as storyboarding tool for film and TV professionals, the company changed strategy in 2010 to focus on Consumers, Educators and Small Businesses. The “Xtranormal Video Revolution” ensued, with over 4-million people worldwide making movies – spanning consumers looking to have fun – to educators looking for new, creative teaching methods – to businesses generating user content for private brand labels, like Toyota’s current Auto-Biography Facebook Campaign.

“Thousands of schools are currently using Xtranormal across the country – students as young as elementary school levels are easily creating high quality movies for their classrooms,” says Graham Sharp, Xtranormal President and CEO. “The beauty of our movie making system is that you do not have to animate every frame – users literally just type text and drag icons to produce their animated movies. This is why it’s so perfect for programs like QWK2LRN… they can quickly make lessons more fun and students can use it to better express themselves – we aim to make it ubiquitous – the visual equivalent of Word!”

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About Xtranormal
Xtranormal brings movie-making magic to the masses. Their motto, “if you can type, you can make movies,” inspires creativity and transcends generations - from a 4th grade student completing a video project, to an affluent advertising firm creating a private label for a B2B client. Xtranormal’s contagious technology has made it a viral sensation with millions of users playing out their movie-making dreams through the simple act of typing. To learn more, visit www.xtranormal.com, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.