5th Wk Reflection

Hi World,
Week 5 is here, time is flying. Feels like only yesterday I started the MEL course.
This week we dove head first into Group 3 tools. They are as follows.
1) PowerPoint
2) Prezi - a zooming presentation tool
3) Glogster - an online scrapbooking tool

I will admit I was impressed with the shared resources of each tool in our tutorial this week and must thank my fellow students for this. They were truly amazing pieces they shared and I hope I can create items like this in time.
This week I will reflect on my experiences with each tool and offer my analysis of each tool.

1) PowerPoint Presentations.
Over my years I have sat through some really good PowerPoint presentations and some extremely bad presentations. The later can also be labeled Death by PowerPoint to some presenters. I had been lucky and never actually had to prepare a PowerPoint  presentations until this week (up until now I was given my resources when presenting in my current role). I was surprised at the ease of creating a PowerPoint. As usual the programs and technical manual offer all you need to master this skill. The ability to make the PowerPoint interactive to engage the audience is a leap forward, I definitely think this would have helped if the bad ones I have sat through used this technology. I have created a very simple interactive PowerPoint presentation and posted it to my Wiki. Wiki details are below. I have also posted this information on my 5th Wk Reflection Tools page. The PowerPoint in today's classroom, is it needed? For me yes it is, a good PowerPoint can engage the students. As a teacher it could be used in a steps context when conducting experiments. It may be easier for students to work at their own pace with the resource.
The next step from the original PowerPoint is the Interactive PowerPoint. This is where you can make the PowerPoint respond to inputs from the user. This can be done with the use of Hyperlinks. The hyperlink can send the user on a path through the PowerPoint. The links do not have to stay within framework the PowerPoint, you can link webpages emails and many more with this tool. Another aspect is the ability to add audio, not just sound over. We can add many different sounds and by doing this we can tap into more sensory learning for the student. This would be a Fantastic way of getting students to learn by mistakes, create your own adventure or understand the different sounds we hear in society within the PowerPoint. This type of tools would be valuable to all levels of learning from Kindergarten - University. Although creating an Interactive PowerPoint is a little more time consuming than the standard it pays to try it out yourself to ensure all your links work and you are achieving the desired outcome.

PowerPoint
userBGwiki1
passwordBGwiki1
Hope it works for you.

2) Prezi - a zooming presentation tool
What is Prezi you may ask. The best way I would describe a Prezi is it is a PowerPoint on STEROIDS. The Prezi starts off as a slide like in a PowerPoint, however you have the ability to zoom in to the slide where you may have more detail, extra images, information. I am sure we have all heard the term "you might not be able to see this " when sitting through a PowerPoint presentation. The Prezi has the ability to make all the content transparent to the audience.
Creating the Prezi was it difficult? NO. Again the website was very user friendly and I was able to create a Prezi without pulling my hair out, it did however take a little time but it was well worth the effort. The site had many different templates to use and loads of tutorials to help along the way.
The use of the Prezi in the classroom will have a place like all technology. I can see students using this tool to re-tell excursions in a time line or visual assignments. I personally can see the use of this tool in ITD. Class demonstrations, diagram overviews and then breaking down the steps more in depth before moving to the next step will be a valuable tool. As students are individual and their needs different we can cater for all levels with a little planning. I have created a Prezi and embedded to my 5th WK Reflection Tools blog. I have also added a link to the Prezi website if you are keen to have a go.

5th WK Reflection Tools
Prezi website

3) Glogster -  an online scrapbooking tool
As the name states Glogster - an online scrapbooking tool is a scrapbooking site. I will admit I am a little nervous when trying out new tools and this one was no different. I have an understanding of the time it takes to create a scrapbook page the old fashioned way. The Glogster site can have you creating posters/pages in no time at all. One benefits of this digital tool is you have the ability to make interactive multimodal posters. You can use photos, video, text, audio or all if you like on your poster. The site has many templates for you to choose from or you can create your own. The site is very user friendly and your final poster can be very simple or as in depth as you like the only thing stopping you is your imagination. When I am out teaching I can see myself using these posters, they could be used as lesson plans, information boards for the students and parents, study pages for revision or feedback from students in regards to the students understanding of a topic. For students they could be used to document their journey through each week, month, term or semester, assignment timelines or as mentioned for teacher feedback. The only downside I can see using this tool is that you can put to much into the page (sensory overload). As you can only create one poster at a time the need to get everything into the one page does take over. However using the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Simon) tends to be the best solution I found.
I have create a Glogster and it can be found on my 5th WK Reflection Tools blog.

5th WK Reflection Tools

3 Key points for this week
1) The fact you can make your PowerPoint interactive, does not guarantee you are safe from Death by PowerPoint.
2) Always check your links/hyperlinks work.
3) When in doubt use the KISS principle, simple always works.

Until next week
Bill

Image Acknowledgement:
* Benjamin Franklin, http://www.funderstanding.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Quote-of-the-day-43-funderstanding.jpg