Week 6 Assignment 1 - Digital Technology 4 - ZooBurst

This week’s blog was supposed to be a ‘Museum Box’, well that was my plan.  I am now going to share with you my experience using a ‘ZooBurst’ instead.  My goal was to package my life journey (history) around this great nation we live in, Australia.  I have been fortunate to live, work and study across three states, three capital cities (Sydney, Canberra & Brisbane) and numerous townships.  The following ZooBurst ‘My Australian Tour’ presentation (digital popup book) attempts to provide you with a snap shot of my journey to date.






ZooBurst

I stated earlier I wanted to use ‘Museum Box’, I so wished I had or could have for a better word.  I had an idea to create a History lesson and wanted to stay on that topic.  I discovered ZooBurst in our list of options and thought this would be the best option to cater for my set topic of History.  The presentation you just saw was my second attempt as my original book became in-depth (lots of me, me, me, look at me stuff) and something I thought became too personal for this audience. 

However, both works took some time to create and not the visual display I original hoped or set out to achieve.  I think you would agree that the book you just read in ZooBurst didn’t quite capture that visual bang, especially if you where to compare it to tools like Power point, Prezi and Glogster.  Overall I found ZooBurst not a great tool for a number of reasons which I will highlight further when I review ZooBurst in a Plus, Minus and Interesting table. 

 

The How, Who, What and Why of ZooBurst for this book?  I initially used a number of methods as follows:

 

Google Maps –

·       display a map as a popup in the book

·       provide a visual for the reader of the location and next port of call if you like, and

·       screen captured each map, opened and crop the map in Ms paint, saved the file as a JPEG image ready to embed or upload.

 

 

 

Google Images –

·       display a road sign with my information as an effective visual

·       save the image into Ms Paint ready to add text.

·       create text boxes in Ms Word and set colours to match sign, and

·       copy and paste formatted text boxes into road sign (Ms Paint) and save as a JPEG image ready to embed or upload.

 

 

 


Plusses, Minuses and Interesting


I have highlighted above some concerns I had using ZooBurst and I would like to now reflect on these using the following PMI table. 

Table 1: PMI using Zooburst:                            

Plus	Minus	Interesting
Easy set up	Time consuming with styling	Import Power point
3D digital popup book	Visual display lacks clarity and quality	If you have a camera installed experience any ZooBurst in Augmented Reality.
Upload your own pictures or art	Only 10 page book on trial version	School Licence for multiple users
A variety of Designs	Text for each image needs to be selected	Classroom management functions
Anyone can create a video - tutorials if required	School licence requires a minimum of 5 licences at $29.99 each	iPad or PC compatible
Easy sharing
Rotate your view in 3D
Sound and voice for characters

 

 

SAMR model  - ZooBurst

ZooBurst provides learners of all ages the opportunity and tools to create and experience a 3D story using a popup book format.  ZooBurst provides the necessary digital tools for learners to take part as the creator or the audience.

Let’s take a look at the following SAMR table and look at how ZooBurst can potentially impact on a students learning in a positive manner.  I will use the example of a History lesson where I would ask my year 5 class to provide a 10 page maximum ZooBurst popup book on their own education history.  Each student will need to dedicate at least 1 page to each year (Prep – Year 5) which may include Kindergarten.

 

SAMR	Learners
Substitution	Learners visit ZooBurst Website and view other books for examples and inspiration for their story.
Augmentation	Students log in and set up their book.
Modification	Learners enter text and images into their pages
Redefinition	Learners present and share their story with the class.

 

I enjoyed playing around with the ZooBurst product; however I didn’t capture its true potential due to a number of reasons which include my book design and access privileges.   However in saying that ZooBurst does have potential to be an effective digital tool in the 21^st classroom.  Zooburst and other digital technologies will require me as a Pre-service Teacher and classroom facilitator in the future to expand my experience with products like ZooBurst, and even those products I perceive to be more suited to ICT’s KLA’s in my classroom.

 

Geoff