Capzles Connections in the Classroom

In our class this semester we were broken up into groups to present in class on a “tech tool.” My group was assigned Capzles. Capzles is a time-lining tool that can be used to organize and express ideas linearly. There are a few different features of Capzles that I particularly enjoyed. For one, it is free to join and the steps to insert picture, text, music, and backgrounds are outlined clearly. The ability to put items in order and tag the date for each item within the timeline is a feature that I found neat. Since our last class focused on building student portfolios, I noticed the potential that Capzles could provide for this. It automatically tags the date for you (helps you to keep track of everything in the portfolio) and is easy to navigate in order to look for a particular assignment or photo that was posted. Cazples also provides a unique feature because you can put in music (or any sound) to play throughout the presentation. As a world language teacher, I thought this would be useful for listening activities in the classroom. Some of the Capzles I found on Spanish topics included native voiceovers that narrated the pictures. In my World Language methods class, we recently talked about how allowing the students to listen to authentic materials, even at an introductory level is important; however, if the text seems overwhelming to students they will try to translate everything in their head and thus they won’t be actually paying attention to the details of the narration. Therefore, Capzles offers an opportunity to have students listen to a narration, but will also have photos to help focus in their attention to the more important details of the speech.

During our presentation we had our colleagues get into groups based up their teaching areas and create a quick Capzle. Although these are rough outlines of how it could be used because of the time that was given to complete it, our colleagues were able to become familiar with the way that Capzles functioned. Here is what they came up with:

Math: http://www.capzles.com/c942d186-97ba-4dcd-96fe-389587690e31

Science: http://www.capzles.com/c5612468-cdf5-4715-a921-2d9d9e255ecf

Social Studies: http://www.capzles.com/#/e98d7199-34bd-48b2-834a-0345e2a93e2b/

World Language: http://www.capzles.com/#/3b87b585-b8d3-48a9-ac4a-0d43aaa93aa7/

English: http://www.capzles.com/#/dfb17fbc-bbad-4696-8f79-187f781e858a/

Overall I think Capzles offers an interesting tech tool because it provides yet another way for presentations and projects to be done in the classroom. When asked, 6/11 of our colleagues would use Capzles in the classroom. Some of the ways they suggested they would do this were:

• "The stacking feature! It would be cool to organize units with a few documents or key media. If we ever went over a systematic or procedural topic, Capzles would be perfect."
• "It could be useful as a way for students to aggregate their notes (in science) since science notes tend to be rather dense. Having the dating on each thing could be used to create a chronology of developments of science on a timeline that is seldom made so students may be able to see how developments build upon each other." 
• " It would be good for creating a character map or plot structure review-we could go back after each chapter as a class and add new info."

But as always, there are pros and cons to using any technology in the classroom. Like any technology, it can decide not to function properly. During the work time in the presentation, many of our colleagues experienced difficulties with the website loading slowly. They also found that finding videos, pictures, or documents and then uploading them to be a long process. One main takeaway I had from learning Capzles and giving our presentation is that Capzles is a quick and easy tech tool if you have all the adequate materials already saved on your computer, otherwise, the hassle of finding them (especially videos) can be daunting and time consuming. Given our short time, and some technical difficulties, Capzles didn't appear to be the best tool for many of my colleagues. The time it took to create and its strictly linear presentation made many of our colleagues share that because Prezi could provide a more holistic representation and PowerPoint was more dependable, they would tent to stick to using those programs. Capzles is a unique tool, but it appears to be better suited for some presentations and representations of information than others - and as with any technology used when teaching, it is important to think critically about the purpose that it is serving and what the students are going to get out of it!