Cool Tool Review #1 Emaze

Be prepared to be “emazed”!

Today I will be reviewing my first cool tool for the pros and cons of its ability to be used in the classroom.  The cool tool I have chosen for this week is called Emaze.  The tool can be found online at this link.  Emaze is basically a presentation tool with a multitude of functions.  The creators of the tool provide well rounded templates that permit users to develop online content in a short amount of time.  On Emaze, users can create a presentation, website, blog, e-card, or even a photo album.

The tool even gives the option of uploading previously created content into their system which automatically begins the creation process for the user. 

The tool could be applied in the classroom in many ways.  With the tool I created a presentation on an 8^th grade American history lesson that I would use the day of the class.  Emaze allows users to stretch beyond the somewhat mundane nature of showing a Power Point presentation.  To begin you select a template that is appropriate for you use.  Each template has unique characteristics.  For example, one template is a newspaper and when content is added the content would be presented just as one reads the newspaper.  It slides and moves to each column and can even turn pages if the presentation has enough content.  It has all the capabilities that Microsoft products offer such as font, color, adding pictures, videos, and links.  As I stated before, I would use this tool to create a more interesting presentation for presenting a lesson. 

Students could use this tool for creating classroom presentations or even creating websites for a long-term project.  The tool is easy to use because it follows a similar creation method as the classic presentation tools such as Power Point.  If the students are able to use Power Point, then using Emaze will be a walk in the park.  If the student has no prior experience with presentation tools, Emaze is very teachable and the tool is accompanied with tutorial videos available right on the website.

 

The challenges for the students would be simply getting use to the interface of the software which occurs in most cases of using new technology.  Another challenge would be, Emaze is a free tool but with limited access to all the content, so the teacher would either have to invest in the tool or only use certain features. 

You can check my created content here: https://www.emaze.com/@AOLOQLZFC/the-road-to-revolution

All in all, give Emaze a shot and comment below on your experience! #staytuned