Week 5 – Presentation Tools

Well, this week we exposed to a number of digital tools, some familiar and some (most) new. I have used Microsoft PowerPoint numerous times, mostly to create photo slide shows for family and friends or for school functions. The most adventurous thing I did was to time the music to the slides or adding transitions. I had also added animations to the slides to make them appear in certain order or direction. I played around and discovered that you can also add video, voice overs and links to make it more interactive. This week, however, I decided to keep it simple and I created a PowerPoint on One-point Perspective for a Graphics class. I added images, text and transitions. Then, I used animations on lines to create an example of One-Point Perspective. The actual PowerPoint that I presented to the class, this week, was presented ‘on click’ not automatically as I have shown here. This was to ensure the information was being digested by the students. I also added to the presentation verbally by briefly describing what each slide was about. Although, I added text to slides that was more to trigger my memory rather than to be read verbatim. I also kept the presentation to ten slides, short and sweet. Unfortunately, when I converted the completed PowerPoint to a .flv (because it included animations) to upload the presentation to Youtube, most of the animations were lost. I used a number of free converters, however, none were very successful.
UPDATE: I have now uploaded the PowerPoint, One-Point Perspective, using Author stream, with much more success!

 

To cater for all types of learners, we can add a variety of media to a PowerPoint. For example, including a voiceover would assist linguistic learners, having information in tables or data can cater to the logical learner, including a song or poem to the PowerPoint, caters to the musical learner, maybe getting a kinaesthetic learner to assist in the presentation or setting up of equipment could encourage this learner to become involved, visual learners would take to the images included within the PowerPoint. Other learners can benefit as well, giving quieter students time to digest the information that is being delivered and having the students discuss the information that is being presented.

Consideration of learning styles must be taken and planning should be done with these learning styles in mind.

Strengths Capture audience attention Private (Unless published publicly) Relevant Customisable Caters to different learning styles Ability to combine media Collaborative information sharing and discovery Assists in building technical and critical literacy	Opportunities Individual Enhancing teaching and learning Convenient Accessible Content creation Unexpected insights Ownership Showcasing students’ work
Weaknesses Time Consuming Internet safety Students may need additional guidance with usage	Threats Accessibility Awareness of copyright and plagiarism Effective use Availability of software from home Must be appropriately scaffolded

 During the week, I also created a Prezi, introducing Distributive Law and a Glogster on Mean, Median, Mode and Range. These would obviously be shown to Junior maths classes. Both of these tools could be used by students to make simple presentations on Maths rules, as I have done, and collated and then exhibited within an accessible site for all students to access as the need arose, for example for assistance with homework.