I chose Zooburst for my Web 2.0 tool this week because I am interested in coming up with alternatives to present visual content. With Zooburst, you can create and manipulate digital Pop Up books. I love the extra dimension of Pop Up books in real life, so I knew I would love it online. It turned out to be very easy to use, and offers a great variety of editing options. I can see it being great as an alternative to “everyday” tools such as Keynote or Powerpoint. With Zooburst, the images actually advance towards the viewer, and occupy a space similar to a gallery in each page. Plus, each page or the entire book can be commented on, embedded, or shared.
I really liked how the background can also be changed, not just in basic color but imagery can also be added. You can make the images in the background more “fuzzed out” if you want more focus on the book pages. It could be all photographs, all 3D objects from the Zooburst library, or a mixture of both. The text could tell an actual story, or just describe the images. I thought it was a perfect format for presenting an art portfolio, so I started adding a few of my works, and put images of me in the original galleries in the background. As I watched the final results, I realized that Zooburst would be wonderful for digital storytelling, as the background, text, links, and 3D object library can really form a rich, multi layered progression of events. I think students would be highly engaged in either watching content being presented using Zooburst, or creating their own Zooburst book.
Tricia, this looks like a very engaging and fun tool. I tried it out and started my own book. I think this could be very effective as a tool for visual literacy and would help with creating narratives, especially at the elementary level. And who doesn't love a good pop-up book!
ReplyDeleteHi Tricia,
ReplyDeleteThis seems like it will be a lot of fun to use with my students. My goal this year was to publish more often. I have taken the route of online publishing because of all the great sites I have found for this purpose. This is the first time I have seen this site and it may be my favorite so far! I have bookmarked it and hope to start experimenting soon! Thanks and have fun with this, I know I will!
Ashlee
Tricia,
ReplyDeleteZooburst looked like a pretty exciting Web 2.0 tool for my math students to use during their upcoming projects. This could be used in real world math with different types of real life objects to display.
Although my math students can talk about different types of subject matter materials while doing their project, this would be a great tool for them to use. Thanks for this awesome idea.