I found Zooburst a really simple digital tool to use. I am studying Primary Teaching and I think that the simplicity of the presentation and the ease with which you can use it would hold great appeal for small kids.
The benefits are
- creative writing skills are enhanced.
- students engage with ICT and learn how to navigate the technology.
- students could work on a story together making it collaborative.
- it could be used across all of the Key Learning Areas.
Practical applications in the classroom
- getting kids to write their own story about a particular topic.
- create their own textbook with factual information.
- They could work with colour and images.
- the end result can be shared with the class.
Issues
- The only really problem I came across was that I had planned to write a small book about dinosaurs but when I searched for a dinosaur image within the Zooburst website I was unable to locate one. Kids imagination might be limited by what can be accessed on the Zooburst website.
- However this could also be seen as a positive as the students could choose to search and upload and image from somewhere else enhancing engagement with the technology.
- I also spelt dinosaur incorrectly in the book but when I went back to edit it I could only correct the title page and nothing else so now my poor effort at spelling is on display for all to see. I did read a post from another student with the same problem. See the link here. http://biancanolan.blogspotzooburst.html
Hi Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI just had the same problem but when you get to the page that says edit, click on "build" instead and this will allow you to go back and correct the other pages:-)
Thanks Kyley,
ReplyDeleteI'm going to leave it like that for now and leave your comments here for the world to see. It shows we now know all about a constructivist style of learning and that help can come from your teacher and your peers. Thanks for the advice. Flagging up when things go wrong and finding answers as a group can only enhance our learning experience.