Storyboarding

Storyboarding is used in Web design, Film and Animation. It is the process of visually planning your story whether it is a website or a full length feature film. The Storyboard Artist interprets scripts or web design concepts to create storyboards.

In Web design, storyboarding helps to develop a clear specification of what the site will do and how it is structured. In film or animation it is a vital tool in pre-production that can spot any initial problems, give the director a feel for the various shots required, helps keep focus on the story, reveals what props might be needed, etc... The storyboard will be referred to throughout the shooting of the film or development of the animation as a point of reference. Storyboarding is a great process for students to learn either individually or in groups.

Anthony Zierhut who is a freelance storyboard artist describes what his job is like and the skills that are needed. Interesting interview if you have students that might be interested in this field.

Tools:

Storyboard Pro by Atomic Learning (free)
While not as flash as some of the retail versions below, it does a great job to introduce storyboarding to students. There are free tutorials on the website as well.
http://www.atomiclearning.com/storyboardpro

Springboard 0.8.0 (almost free) You can download it for free to try and if don't want the hassle of downloading every couple of months just pay the $35 - quite a good little program.

http://www.newfreedownloads.com/Multimedia-Graphics/Video-Tools/Springboard.html

Gliffy (free)
The free online diagramming tool.....would work great for storyboarding websites.
http://brenniesbytes.blogspot.com/2007/02/gliffy-draw-share-diagrams-on-web.html

Storyboard Artist
http://www.storyboardartist.com/
Educational quotes available.

Frameforge 3D Studio 2
http://www.frameforge3d.com/
(the demo version is quite useful)