I’m including this post in my “The Best…” list, though it has some differences from the others. It’s shorter than most of my “The Best…” lists.   It’s also different in that I will give brief descriptions and links to the sites I’m highlighting, but I’ll also be referring you to much more descriptive posts written by other bloggers.  I don’t feel a need to “re-invent the wheel.”

I’ve already created The Best Ways To Create Online Slideshows list.  The tools listed there are very accessible to English Language Learners and make pretty straightforward presentations.  However, if you think your students might like to make a multimedia presentation that’s a little different, here are three web applications that they, and you, might find intriguing:

One is called Museum Box. With it, you can create a series of “boxes” (I don’t know any other way to describe it) connected to a theme. In addition to going to the site itself, you might want to visit the Quick Shout blog to learn more.

The second tool on this list is Create Your Own Museum. You can read about it at Free Technology For Teachers, and it, too, is a slightly different way to prepare an online presentation.

I just learned about the third one today and it’s called ZuiPrezi. It’s not yet open to the public, but it certainly looks pretty unusual. I don’t know, however, how accessible it will be to English Language Learners (the first two on this list certainly are). You can read about it at Webware. It also has some good examples and a tutorial.  (I recently tried Prezi out.  It’s cool-looking, fun to play with and, at least for non tech savvy users like me, and for English Language Learners, far too confusing to use).

Ahead is a new online application to make unusual-looking slideshows. In many ways, it’s similar to Prezi — both let you make wild slideshows, both are too complicated for English Language Learners and non-tech savvy users, and both don’t agree with my computer (I suspect the last problem is due to my Internet speed).
But some technologically-proficient teachers with faster Internet connections might like it.

This list, like The Best Visually Engaging News Sites, will definitely be growing with additional sites as I learn about them.  Suggestions are welcome.