This week we have been, yet again, exposed to a heap of digital tools which we could implement into our classrooms to assist learning. I am so stunned at how many digital, or online tools there are which could be used in an educational way. I had no idea of some of the stuff you could do on the internet. I am learning a lot in this course.
This week I had a look into 'Glogster' and 'ZooBurst'. I'll start off with explaining Glogster and then head into the ZooBurst information.
I LOVE Glogster! It is so much fun to use. Glogster is an online site where you can create your own account and generate posters from scratch. This program allows you to add your own video, photo's, text, audio and offers graphics and other text type tools for you to make your own poster about anything you wish. I found Glogster to be a very user friendly site (I didn't watch the tutorial on how the operate Glogster, I just figured it out for myself and it was simple).
The list could go on and on about how Glogster could be implemented into the classroom. It is such an adaptable program. I had a little play around with Glogster and made my own poster (seen above) with photo's which showed some parts of my holiday to Thailand. Glogster could be used in the classroom for a day-to-day activity, or for an assessment item. The Glogster I made is a very basic poster and would be used more as a day-to-day activity, rather than an assessment piece. When relating Glogster back to the learning theory I found that it scaffolds a very constructivist learning environment and may also relate to the cognitive thinking of the learners. This program is very learner-centered and encourages them to think creatively. The other good thing about Glogster is that you, as a teacher, can make a class account and give the students generated usernames and passwords. You as the teacher can view all of the Glogster's your students make and can monitor their creativity and progress.
"Glogster goes beyond being just another scrapbbooky" tool -- it introduces students to 3-D communication skills, requiring them to merge the left and right sides of the brain as they seek to communicate and evaluate both information and meaning. The visual, audio, and textual capacity of Glogster not only will appeal to digital learners, it has the potential to support the visual literacy skills that are becoming essential skill sets for 21st century learner."
(Brenda's Blog about Glogster)
Below is another way in which Glogster can be implemented to assist learning. This example shows a Glogster made to inform people about the Tiger. This shows how adaptable this program is. You can have your students create their own Glogster about almost any topic you give them. The bonus to this program is that it is FREE!!!
(Brenda's Blog about Glogster)
Below is another way in which Glogster can be implemented to assist learning. This example shows a Glogster made to inform people about the Tiger. This shows how adaptable this program is. You can have your students create their own Glogster about almost any topic you give them. The bonus to this program is that it is FREE!!!
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The other tool I had a little play with this week was ZooBurst. I had never heard of this program before looking at the course material for week 5 and felt the need to explore it more. This tool is also a really fun and interactive way for students to create their own virtual story book.
I found ZooBurst to also be very user friendly and quite simple to use. I found that I enjoyed creating a Glogster more, because there was more animations and tools which I could use to personalize my poster. ZooBurst produces a blank story book for you to create your own story. You can change the colours of the book and add your own pictures and text to tell your story, but this is about it. This program would be a good tool for students to think creatively and produce a finished product which they can take ownership over. ZooBurst, like Glogster, can also be used in many different ways - meaning that you could provide your students with many different topics to create their book on. The complexity of the book could also change as the age of the students increase. This type of activity could be used as a day-to-day activity or could be used as an assessment piece with strict criteria in place. Glogster is my favourite out of the two tools I have explored this week because it is very easy to set up a class account and is the most teacher-friendly tool I have examined so far.
The ZooBurst I created is a very simple example of how you could ask your students to recall a holiday, or recall something exciting which has happened in their life.
I have also found another example of how the use of ZooBurst could be used in a more informative way, and using a very different topic.
(http://www.zooburst.com/zb_books-viewer.php?book=zb01_515e4f9bbce57)
I also forgot to add that both tools are very easy to embed in your blog which would allow the students to share their work with others.
Well that's me done for another week. I hope you enjoyed reading. I RECOMMEND HAVING A PLAY AROUND WITH GLOGSTER, IT IS REALLY FUN!! :)
(http://www.zooburst.com/zb_books-viewer.php?book=zb01_515e4f9bbce57)
I also forgot to add that both tools are very easy to embed in your blog which would allow the students to share their work with others.
Well that's me done for another week. I hope you enjoyed reading. I RECOMMEND HAVING A PLAY AROUND WITH GLOGSTER, IT IS REALLY FUN!! :)
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