Week Five: Task 4

PowerPoint

Originally I thought PowerPoint was an easy way to create a multimodal aspect within a presentation. I thought is was simple and a little bit outdated… UNTIL, I engaged in this weeks lecture with Jacqui and oh my, there is so much more to PowerPoint. It’s almost a shame more people don’t know about the many functions. I look forward to making the most of PowerPoint in my classroom. It is an engaging learning tool and it became apparent, after my exploration and the PD (it was pretty much a PD) that Jacqui did with us, that PowerPoint is also helpful as a teaching tool as well. Here is a PowerPoint that I made for Art at the beginning of my degree (I've screen shot it as it was too is too large to upload using the council library's internet, as advised by the IT support there). 

Technical Aspects.

There are many, almost endless (im excited to find more time to explore further), technical aspects of PowerPoint. Some are as follows:

∆      Allows the user to combine text, image, and audio, simultaneously to create a professional presentation or documentation.   

∆      Able to save presentation in various formats. These allow up-loads and printable options.

∆      Able to print in various sizes (A4 and A3 etc.) and various formats (two images to a page, wallet size etc.).

∆      Able to insert image and text and move ‘boxes’ around, this is great for sorting activities

∆      Allows automatic functions.

∆      Has keyboard ‘shortcuts’

∆      Basic use is simple to navigate. More complex use of PowerPoint is easy to figure out after exploration. There are many helpful technical guides found on the Internet.

∆      Create audience interaction by enabling hyperlinks to websites or animating pictures that move, and move into place, when they are clicked.

∆      Removable background

There are many possibilities for PowerPoint in the classroom, some are as follows:

∆      Scaffold presentations

∆      Creating stories board – adding audio and video to these, reshuffling stories, re-writing the ending to stories

∆      Making brochures 

∆      Sorting activities

∆      Memory

∆      Teach the alphabet with pictures and audio

∆      Making movies

∆      Create a learning journey for a parent/teacher day

∆      Documentation of an individual reflective learning journey.

∆      Removable background and insert a picture and use as a writing stimulus

∆      Create anchor charts

∆      Create a time line with students.

∆      Promote constructivism by providing task instructions. Use PowerPoint to encourage children to research a topic (in relation to the SAMR model).

à       Substitution- Substitution of work sheet by present each step of the instruction on different slides of the power point.

à       Augmentation- Provide interactions, have a table of contents that is linked to specific slide/steps.

à       Modification- Insert videos at each step that provides further instruction, namely, examples/exemplars of the steps.

à       Redefinition- Provide hyperlinks to suggested research platforms, eg credible sources etc.

Prezi

Prezi is fun and is so simple and very effective when trying to engage an audience. In fact, the style of zooming into one image reminds me of the RSA Animation theme. My personal interactions with Prezi are limited to using it as an alternative to PowerPoint when one of my presentations at university called for a multimodal aspect. However, for the purpose if this assignment I thought I’d delve deeper into what is Prezi and explore what they have to offer. Take a look CLICK HERE FOR MY PREZI

Prezi has a lot to offer and some of the technical aspects are as follows.

∆      Able to choose various layouts

∆      Able to customise layout

∆      Able to embed audio, links, youtube clips, other video,

∆      Free to use, specifically designed for education and offers to filter the search for templates for you by asking your purpose for use, eg, when I signed up I clicked ‘higher-education’

∆      Able to embed into blogging tools and or upload into youtude, vimeo, social media etc.

∆      Simple and when trying to navigate

∆      Access via internet, this means accessible from iPads/ tablets

∆      Able to add members to Prezi’s and collaborate by co-editing or present in real time, with up to 10 people at one time.

∆      Presentations are very personalized,

∆      Students are encouraged to present and explore information in their own learning styles.

∆      Encourages Online Literacy.

Prezi is great. While it is similar to PowerPoint, it has very many different functions. When the two programs are used optimally, I feel they are quite different. Some of the ways educators can use prezi within their classroom to promote learning, are as follows:

∆      Have students scaffold presentation with prezi

∆      Have students document their own learning journey. Higher order thinking can be promoted here as they reflect on a certain topic and each section of the prezi can be a different thinking hat.

∆      Promote discussion around Online as prezi is an online application it contributes to the students online footprint (more so than PowerPoint as PowerPoint may not be uploaded.

∆      Use as a graphic organizer

∆      Create timelines

∆      Having learners display different literacy, eg one slide has audio, one slide has a picture of writing, one has a video of speaking/reading. They could also document their process and their improvement. This is a good way for students to recognise their success within learning.

∆      Have children write a whole class story or rhyme by writing a sentence/ paragraph each, insert an image to match.

∆      Present various writing stimulus (in relation to the SAMR model)

à       Substitution- Provide two or three pictures for the students to use as stimulus

à       Augmentation- Edit the stimulus pictures using the edit function to provide a different take on an image, eg edit a modern image with the black and white filter, or negative filter.

à       Modification- Provide audio to enhance stimulus, especially effective when teaching fables or reversed roles

à       Redefinition- Set the scene/ provide writing stimulus by displaying the first half of a video.

Glogster

Before now, I had never heard about Glogster. When I heard the about it, the name made me think it was something to do with monsters, oh how wrong I was. Now I have made one of my own , I realize that it is so much more, interactive, multimodal and engaging. THIS IS MY GLOGSTER Glogter’s cool! I would have loved working with something like this as a student. Especially because when I was going through school, they teachers were crazy about poster making as I had to make AT LEAST one a year.

Glogster has a lot to offer, here are some of the technical aspects:

∆      Glogster is free for the first 7 days and then the user has to upgrade to a paid subscription.

∆      Glogster has privacy settings

∆      Offers embedding function where user can embed video, image, youtube clip, iMovie, prerecorded audio, text and document. It’s important to note that these can take a while to load (this can be very frustrating), however is a great way to personalize, create authentic learning and encourage motivation

∆      Different themes offered. This is engaging.

∆       Program doesn’t work outside of internet

∆      Able to explore other Glogs. There is a search tool and discipline areas tabs, to streamline this,

∆      Able to save multiple Glogs to personal account, or to share it with other Gloggers.

Upon reflection it has become apparent Glogster is as much of a teaching tool as it is a learning tool. It can be very effective in the classroom- here are some ways how:

∆      Creating posters and anchor chats

∆      Creating an interactive story

∆      Creating timetables

∆      Have the children creating newsletters

∆      Promote higher order thinking by having students analyse and synthesis information for and create an interactive poster in a research based project

∆      Learners can document their learning growth and journey

∆      Glogster could be used as parent support for homework tasks

∆      Teacher could create an interactive ‘go to’ poster for online educational games for teachers and students.

∆      Leads to authentic opportunities to discuss online ethics/ etiquette in a meaningful way 

∆      Great way to document autobiography’s and biography’s (in relation to the SAMR model)

à       Substitution – Have student document their autobiography on the web poster

à       Augmentation – Have students embed pictures to match their text

à       Modification – Have students upload their autobiography into a blog.  

à       Redefinition –  Have student extend on their information provided for the autobiography by recording an audio that reflects on the image, ie drawn picture of them starting school and a recorded reflection of how they felt on the first day they started school. And then upload into a blog.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these three presentation tool are all very effective ways to enhance teaching and learning. Some similarities and difference are as follows. Their similarities include multimodal aspects such as functions that enable embedding of images, links, video, and audio. These functions encourage interactive opportunities. They promote quality learning, engaging each learning style and each learner, as they are encouraged to personalize their work to their specific interests, individualizing learning opportunities. They all also promote structure to presentation (PowerPoint and Prezi a little more than Glogter). PowerPoint and Prezi are similar in the way they are organised by slides, this encourages step by step structure. PowerPoint and Glogster are similar in the fact that they are just as helpful to teachers as a teacher tool as they are as a learning tool. They promote organization and interactive learning experiences. And Glogter and Prezi are similar in the sense they are modern and provide template that are themed and engaging to the view. They all have different functions to offer and if selected appropriately have the potential to really enhance learning experiences, especially with the teachers selection is influenced by the SAMR model. (http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/08/27/SAMRInTheClassroom.pdf)

When using these learning tools it is fundamental teachers engage their students in learning opportunities which promote skills and knowledge around online practice which is safe and ethical (DETE, 2012). This is achieved when schools provide, safe, respectful and caring learning environments (DETE, 2012 ). Educators can use these learning tools as a platform to discuss individual online foot print and the importance of appropriate language, appropriate levels of personal information disclosed, i.e keeping full name and identity private, school policy, protocols and netiquette, as well as the repercussions (DETE, 2012).

Reference:

Department of Education and Training (DET). (2012). Ethical and Safe Online Communication. Retrieved from: https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/Pages/2012/august/online-communication.aspx

Puentedure, R. R. (2009). As We May Teach: Educational Technology, From Theory to Practice. Retrieved from: http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/08/27/SAMRInTheClassroom.pdf