Web Tool Exploration

I tried out several of the web tool links in our resources this week. I found most of them were similar to powerpoint presentations, just with some added tricks and features. I did sign up for a ZOHO account and will experiment with this presentation tool. It is a powerpoint type program that included many features and cool animations, but it definitely will take quite a bit of figuring out. Not much seemed obvious. Has anybody used this program before? And can share any secrets? I also experimented with Museum Boxes. I loved the idea, and enjoyed looking at ones that others created. This is a program where you choose information to be included on the six sides of a cube. You can include text, pictures, graphs, charts, videos, music, etc. You click on a cube, it is enlarged and you rotate through the six sides. I think this would be a good tool to have my students use to show what they have learned. As a presentation tool, I think it might be cumbersome to switch between cubes. Since it takes up to fourteen days to receive authentication, I was unable to try and make my own museum box yet. I will definitely try this tool out, either for the course project or for school projects. I will create one to introduce my students to and then include this as a choice in the element project that they will be doing. Even though, I have used Prezi before, it is what I am leaning towards for the course project. I was introduced to Prezi last summer in a one-day technology workshop. Of all the web resources introduced that day, Prezi was the one that became a part of my teaching. I found it easy to figure out and was more appealing to my students than a typical powerpoint. I included creating a Prezi as a choice for the element project and a few students choose this medium. Other than having seen my first Prezi and a quick introduction, they ran away with the project and had excellent presentations. I stole some of their ideas in my next Prezis. Last week (before this course began) I introduced my nephew to Prezi and he was impressed and is planning to use it when he has to present his research for his PhD in chemical engineering. Even though I have used Prezi, there is more I can learn to better utilize this tool. Every time I have used it, I have figured out some new feature. Periodically, I get an email that introduces some new feature the company has added. Some Prezis that I made this past school year: (Hope the links work. Let me know if they do not and I will try including them in a different way. You may have to copy and paste the link into your browser). http://prezi.com/moclz2-q8pr1/levels-of-classification/?auth_key=d598d42a545e3156ec54a434b32dc2ae55eb51b5 http://prezi.com/5wf8rinthhi3/periodic-table-familes/?auth_key=6e5b2869affd9603dbd46b52e2f35010427b2622 My first one: http://prezi.com/be3pw-ppaefo/history-of-the-atom/?auth_key=4924ed18fb3f8ce36269a686715980583f05bedc Some that my students created: http://prezi.com/qrawogflmmye/zirconium/ http://prezi.com/hjdpjjnjmefb/p7nitrogenmakayla/