Managing E-Learning Assessment Task 1-5: Reflection on ZOOBURST!!!

Managing E-Learning Assessment Task 1-5: Reflection on ZOOBURST

This week I have chosen to tell you about my attempt at creating a story. I experimented this week with Zooburst. I had never seen this before so was not sure what to expect but it was..........while not being the most graphically outstanding tool (may get better with the paid for version).....a great deal of fun.

My simple creation of exploration is here:

http://www.zooburst.com/book/zb01_5292ce5883a83

I was easily able to get into the program with this one and set up the account. From there the tutorial guided me through how to add pics (clip art and private), text, etc. I managed to make a brief story come to life in minutes after going through the tutorial which leads me to believe that to set this up in a classroom the initial time consumption would be minimal. Because of its simplicity, Zooburst is ideal for a lower school application. Students can explore and create their own examples of this pop up book style presentation with with minimal supervision and guidance.

As a tool in a classroom it is a great way to form a basic presentation. Its engagement factor alone would entice students to be creative and engage in learning experiences as they presented information. It could also be a great way for LMs to give students feedback....through creating a personalised story about an individual student.
Narrative writing, reports, poetry from the English KLA.......problem solving in Maths .........storyboarding for a drama class......All of these could be done with the incorporation of this tool into the classroom. As a LM and a student that would be extremely exiting and the creative aspects are endless, allowing for each individual student to form a book in their own individual time and way.

Of course like other tools explored during this course, the supportive pedagogy and scaffolding must be in place to allow this to be incorporated into the classroom, but I can't wait to set it loose in mine. I believe that the restrictions of some of the other tools that have been explored are solely based around the time needed to set the students up to be familiarised with the tools to enable their use. Without obviously exploring all of the options that are out there, the simplicity of Zooburst, and its minimal set up time, make it my choice over a lot of the tools that I have encountered and explored.