PrimaryAccess

PrimaryAccess is a suite of free online tools that allows students and teachers to use primary source documents to complete meaningful and compelling learning activities with digital movies, storyboards, rebus stories and other online tools.

PrimaryAccess MovieMaker

PrimaryAccess MovieMaker enables you to combine text, audio and images into compelling personal narratives and digital stories, with a simple movie-making process. Steps like scripting, recording and saving are entirely Web-based–no software to install–and the movies are easy to retrieve and share.

PrimaryAccess StoryBoard

PrimaryAccess StoryBoard enables you to create comic strips and slideshows by combining images, thought bubbles, props and actors. All steps are entirely Web-based–no software to install–and the comics are easy to publish and share.

PrimaryAccess Rebus

PrimaryAccess Rebus makes it easy to create a Rebus using primary source documents. A Rebus (Latin for ’by things”) is a written story that uses pictures as parts of the text. PrimaryAccess Rebus encourages students to explore primary sources by creating crops of those sources and using them to tell a story.

PrimaryAccess TeacherTools

PrimaryAccess was designed for use in K-12 classrooms to aid in teaching content knowledge, critical thinking skills and even writing or storytelling skills. Teachers can set up and manage class activities and materials with ease using TeacherTools. Students then access the activities using MovieMaker and StoryBoard.

About Us

PrimaryAccess is an initiative at the Center for Technology & Teacher Education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. PrimaryAccess is intended to serve as a catalyst for using effective technology-based tools in the K-12 classroom.