ZCubes

Allow me to introduce ZCubes. I stumbled across this little site while trying to find alternatives to Prezi as a presentation format. I must say that while the interface is a pretty difficult to grasp, the app does produce some pretty attractive presentation designs in a nice tidy little web app.

The idea is similar to Prezi in that you are allotted a virtual space to fill with with "slides" or photos or whatever your heart desires. Editing and adjusting how your presentation looks can take a while to master, but once you find your way around the weird radial interface, you can spit out a neat little online presentation complete with visual effects in no time at all. I'm sure that with some more experimentation, I could create something a little more attractive and with a little more pizzazz.

How does it work in the classroom?

Basically, your students can do the same types of things with ZCubes as they can do with PowerPoint or Prezi. One thing I did notice about the app was that kids were turned off by the operating interface just like I was. I usually include ZCubes as an option as opposed to a carved-in-stone requirement for little class projects.

Scoop.It

Scoop.It is a great way to organize any content that you or your students could ever possibly want to organize. The idea is simple. Scoop.It creates a fairly cookie-cutter, magazine-style layout for any relevant items that you may uncover whilst scouring the vastness of the internet so that you may keep them altogether in a single location for sharing, viewing, or just fun.

It's totally free, so all you need to do is register and follow a few simple instructions to add your "Scoop.It" bookmark button to your browser, and you're ready to go.

How does it work in the classroom?

If your students are trying to find a way just to organize countless resources regarding a particular subject, have them create a Scoop.It "topic" for that subject to serve as a cache for any online locations that relate to the unit, lesson, class, or topic.

Math: Have your students create a topic for trigonometry or the Pythagorean Theorem or solving two-step equations or whatever. Every time they come across a relevant or useful web page that would make the process of solving those problems a little bit easier, Scoop It. If they find an instance where those principles come into play in the real world, Scoop.It too.

Science: There is a mountain of information about topics like the Periodic Table, binomial nomenclature, food chains, physics, etc. that students could see to better understand the real world implications of what they learn in science classes. Have a Physical Science Scoop.It or a Biology Scoop.It.

English: Any time a student encounters a cool critique of Hamlet or The Lord of the Flies, then Scoop.It.

History: You think that maybe there are a few online resources about World War II out there?

The usefulness of Scoop.It doesn't end there. Theoretically, any teacher in any discipline could create a Scoop.It just for the sole purpose of promoting what he or she has done in class all year. It's also a cool way for a coach to show off his team's accomplishments using online newspaper articles and photos. This site is just a tremendous way to create a chronicle.

Click here to see an example Scoop.It that I created for my baseball team's 2012 season.

enThread

If you're looking for a quick and easy image editor that requires little to no knowledge about anything other than the internet, then enThread may be just what you need. There is no software to install or anything. Just visit the site and start editing. It's all in your browser. In order to use the service, you simply drag your photo that you wish to edit into the interface which is a simple script embedded into the webpage. Using the provided tools for color, hue, saturation, etc., you can improve your photos and give them semi-professional quality.

In order to save your edited images, registration is required, but never fear. Users aren't even required to enter any information at all beyond an email address, and it's totally free. This is definitely a cool little web app that is worth a look. It takes hardly any time at all figure out and master.

Below is a look at the clean design of the interface. Controls for editing are categorized on the right.

SmileBox

If you're looking for a fun alternative to MixBook or a simple, straightforward digital scrapbooking program that yields eye-popping results, you should definitely check out SmileBox, a free downloadable program for Mac or PC that will turn your photos and even videos into a sleek digital keepsake.

You start by downloading and installing the program, and don't worry because it's not a RAM hog and runs fairly quickly and smoothly even on an older machine. Right when you start up the program the first time, the interface feels very familiar and easy to operate. Just upload your photos and even your videos into the project and simply begin inserting and arranging all your stuff until you're ready to finalize it. When you're finished, you can export your SmileBox to DVD or email it as a video file (my personal favorite), or even send SmileBox a little money and get an actual professionally printed copy of your scrapbook sent to you.

How does it work in the classroom?

SmileBox provides students and teachers alike with a great way to chronicle everything that happened throughout the course of a project, a class, a school year, a sports season, or even something as simple as an assembly or any special event. Students will have no difficulty at all picking up the fine nuances of getting the most out of the program, and their creations will be sure to raise some eyebrows. And remember if a student's work is truly worthy of high praise and lasting admiration, you can even cough up a little cash to get it printed and mailed to you.

Click here for a sample of what you can do.

Hipstamatic

Hipstamatic is an iPhone/iPad app that is an alternative to Instagram or any other photo capturing/doctoring tools that you may use. You can, of course, take photos, store and organize them, and apply filters that are provided in the app. One of the coolest benefits of the app is that you can shoot layered images with ease from within the app. The cost is a mere $0.99, which is worth it for the tools you get, and plus, it's not Instagram, which is a good thing.

The app was optimized for compatibility with the iPhone 5, and has exclusive features that work with iOS 6, but there are several reports of bugs within the app when it runs on those platforms.

One True Media

If you're ever wanted to experience the excitement and features of Apple's iMovie but don't have access to a Mac or you're a PC die-hard or maybe you just don't have the spare time in your schedule to learn how to use iMovie, One True Media may be the answer to high quality video production you're looking for.

First of all, understand that this service is not free. In fact, it's a little steep in the cost department, seeing that it's a subscription service ($3.99 a month or $39.99 annualy). However, if you're just looking for a quick option to make a video with some pretty fancy fixin's, head to One True Media and sign up. You may even discover you want to pay them a few bucks to send you a DVD.

How does it work in the classroom?

The similarities between iMovie and One True Media are not very apparent at first, but after a few minutes playing around with it, I started to notice that the two programs are really trying to do many of the same things. Students can import video or pictures into the project and add some fairly impressive transition effects and screen captions. You won't be able to share your file without paying of course, but if you're will to whip out the rubric and grade what students produce from the One True Media preview screen, you may be impressed with what they can create. I don't think the service would be worth the subscription cost since there are many other practical and better options out there, but it is at least something different.

PowToon

If you're sick of PowerPoint (and if you're not, you should be...'cause your kids are), check out PowToon. PowToon is an extremely easy-to-use presentation app that gives you only the coolest and most effective options from the presentation heavyweights like PowerPoint and Keynote and wraps them up into a nice tidy little package for you or your students to utilize quickly to create a sleek, visually appealing self-playing presentation. You even have the option to insert video.

You'll have to register with an email address, and you'll only be able to export five of your presentations to video before being cornered into choosing to purchase their premium services or not. Whatever. I guess we can make as many email addresses as we need.

How does it work in the classroom?

PowToon is a great way to introduce projects or even basic assignments because it allows you to create a self-playing presentation that can be viewed time and time again and paused on whatever content needs to be seen again for a longer period of time. You can create a presentation that outlines the steps to beginning a new project as well as a checklist of the items that are required to be completed by the first checkpoint and maybe even a rubric. Post that video in a place where your students can access it, and they'll be able to refer to that presentation throughout the duration of the project. If nothing else, it provides the students with a different method of getting that information than having to listen to you, the teacher, just preach it or by reading it from a sheet of paper.

Students can also create their own PowToon as a simple product for a project. The interface is so easy to use that kids will pick it up in no time, and the finished product looks so professional that it surely will wow anyone who views it.

B-Movie TV

I'm convinced that Hollywood (and Bollywood) only churns out B-Movies in order for the rest of the world to have fun ridiculing them and making Youtube clips from their most hilariously bad parts. Now your students can enjoy those fine nuances of the lousy B-Movies of yesteryear and learn a little something in the process while they create their own subtitled or voiced-over clip of their own.

Grapheine Design, the comedic geniuses who brought you the classic Bombay TV, have also added B-Movie TV, a different, yet all-too-similar version of Bombay TV with clips from unintentionally hilarious low-budget films from half a century ago for your students to use as the backdrop for whatever material they wish to insert into them.

How does it work in the classroom?

By just visiting the site, your students can choose the video clip they wish to use and simply type subtitled text that will show on top of the video. If your class has access to microphones for student use, they can also use them to add their own voices on top of the video clip to "put words in the mouth" of the speaking character from the film. Hilarity will ensue. And so will information retention.

Why is this useful in a class, you ask? It simply serves as another option to help students to remember important information. Instead of just saying to themselves "Remember the Quadratic Formula," students can say to themselves "Remember that ridiculously awesome video of the 1960s spaceman telling me how to use the Quadratic Formula?" That could make the difference between remembering it and not remembering it.

Look.

Personalize funny videos at Bombay TV by Graphéine - Agence communication

That took, like, 45 seconds. Seriously.