This week we looked at digital presentation tools, how to physically use them and then apply them in our teaching context. In the beginning, when I started getting to know these presentation tools, I was starting to think that they were exactly as they were described, tools for presenting information.
It left me wondering how that was going to encourage higher level learning in my students. Well, if time is no boundary, the sky is the limit for being creative with these tools. I think the key is to put the tools in the hands of the students with a reasonable scaffold. The first tool I looked at was Powerpoint closely followed by Prezi and Glogster.
I seemed to have a lot to say about my experience creating powerpoints and for some reason I tended to spend a lot of time creating them, so before we go on to looking at my powerpoint experience it is probably a good idea to have a look at the following SWOT analysis, which outlines the main points to consider before integrating powerpoint into my learning design framework.
SWOT Analysis - Powerpoint Presentations
STRENGTHS
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WEAKNESSES
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OPPORTUNITIES
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THREATS
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Powerpoint
I created two powerpoint presentations this week. The first one was a basic powerpoint presentation which could be used to present information to my learners. This presentation was called an Introduction to Algebra and focuses on the concept of an algebraic expression.
I embedded a voki into my introductory slide of this powerpoint presentation and it works very well while being used in power point software on my computer, but doesn't work when viewed through my wiki, even if only embedded in my wiki as a powerpoint file. My course co-ordinator Wendy Fasso has suggested I try to convert the voki to a video using Camstudio or Screencast-o-matic. I haven't had time to investigate these options as yet due to time contstraints, but will endeavour to do so prior to the end of this course as I do enjoy voki's, and if I can convert them to video there may be other uses for them in addition to including them in powerpoint presentations.
My first basic Powerpoint presentation is on algebraic expressions and is embedded on my wiki.
From my limited experience it appears to me that if you run the slideshow using microsoft mouse mischief, other features, such as audio and transitions, won't work in your slideshow when played by microsoft mouse mischief. It is a shame you can't have the best of both worlds but on the other hand you could still prepare a separate short powerpoint presentation or even use a different media such as video, to present the material and then follow it up with a focused mouse mischief presentation to engage the whole class in an interactive environment. Mouse mischief enables either an individual learner or the whole class to participate in answering multiple choice, taking polls and drawing pictures.
The following is my hyperlinked Powerpoint presentation in draft form. For some reason the hyperlinks on slide one do not work after being uploaded to Authorstream. The hyper-links on all other slides do work. Therefore if you would like to watch the slideshow direct from this blog you can view it below but will need to click to move past the first slide. If you would like to view the Powerpoint with all hyperlinks working correctly you can download the Powerpoint file from my wiki.
The storyboard is where I started when creating this powerpoint and although it took me a long time to create, it resulted in a fantastic first draft plan of where I wanted my powerpoint to go. I referred back to it several times when sorting out my slides in powerpoint. Creating the storyboard in word was very simple.
I am currently using microsoft word 2010 and found that the feature in Word of transferring the outline from word to Powerpoint didn't seem to exist anymore. I then went to Powerpoint and opened the outline from there. When I did this Powerpoint did not included all of the indented dot points as I had expected it too so I had to re-type these anyway.
Even though my storyboard was my inital plan, my Powerpoint did undergo some changes as I started to create it. I found some slides had to change levels from the original storyboard. My creation evolved and my master plan was possibly too big for the time frame of this exercise. Possibly due to the level of my Powerpoint skills to date.
It may be a case of improving my technical skills and finding ways around the limitations, for example creating a video from my voki as suggested earlier, or by using Authorstream instead of Slideshow to maintain the use of animations etc. I am not sure what the answer is to the inconsistency of my hyperlinks when uploaded through Authorstream but the rest of the presentation worked well.
I created the following basic stop-motion movie which I called "The Running Man"
I can see the potential of interactive Powerpoint presentations in learning and teaching. The options for hyper-links even include linking to outside files, web-sites etc as well as within the one file. Using hyper-links, learners can create slideshows that enable several different outcomes for the viewer. Planning and creating this type of presentation requires the learner to consider that there are different outcomes and evaluate how he or she wants their reader to get there.
Considering different outcomes moves the learner up the scale in Blooms Taxonomy, possibly into the higher order thinking areas of analysing, evaluating and creating. The learner needs to think of the possible journey someone using their Powerpoint presentation may take and what they want that journey to mean to that person.
The following slideshow that I found outlines the type of questions that should be asked when scaffolding an activity that requires higher order thinking at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy. If we are to integrate technology using Powerpoint to engage a learner in higher order thinking I believe that an interactive Powerpoint could be effective if the scaffolded questions are effective.
As per slide number 9 in the following slideshow created by Carla Piper, the types of questions that are needed by the scaffold could be:
I embedded a voki into my introductory slide of this powerpoint presentation and it works very well while being used in power point software on my computer, but doesn't work when viewed through my wiki, even if only embedded in my wiki as a powerpoint file. My course co-ordinator Wendy Fasso has suggested I try to convert the voki to a video using Camstudio or Screencast-o-matic. I haven't had time to investigate these options as yet due to time contstraints, but will endeavour to do so prior to the end of this course as I do enjoy voki's, and if I can convert them to video there may be other uses for them in addition to including them in powerpoint presentations.
My first basic Powerpoint presentation is on algebraic expressions and is embedded on my wiki.
Microsoft Mouse Mischief
Even though my first powerpoint is primarily for presenting information, I did explore the add in microsoft mouse mischief which has the potential to transform the presentation into a more interactive learning tool. The final slide of my basic powerpoint presentation above, allows students to answer a question consolidating the information presented in the presentation. The powerpoint has to be played in microsoft mouse mischief mode for this interactivity to work.From my limited experience it appears to me that if you run the slideshow using microsoft mouse mischief, other features, such as audio and transitions, won't work in your slideshow when played by microsoft mouse mischief. It is a shame you can't have the best of both worlds but on the other hand you could still prepare a separate short powerpoint presentation or even use a different media such as video, to present the material and then follow it up with a focused mouse mischief presentation to engage the whole class in an interactive environment. Mouse mischief enables either an individual learner or the whole class to participate in answering multiple choice, taking polls and drawing pictures.
Student created Powerpoints
I think the most powerful way to integrate powerpoint into my learning design framework is to have students create and present the powerpoint based around a scaffold presented by the teacher. This type of learning exercise could find itself anywhere from the bottom of Bloom's Taxonomy, simply presenting information remembered, to the top, evaluating, creating and problem solving. One idea is for the student to have an everyday problem that they need to solve using an algebraic expression or equation. This may require the student to use hyper-links to look at the problem, explain the use of algebra and then apply algebra to the problem. There may be more than one outcome.Inter-active Powerpoint
As part of my own learning experience, and my course requirements, I created a second powerpoint using hyper-links. As a whole, I did find powerpoint very user-friendly, however, the more I used it the more features I found and the clock ticked by so I had to make the decision to stop creating and reflect on what I have completed to date. Therefore, my second powerpoint with hyper-links isn't complete but I do think I have done enough to have an understanding of using powerpoint in a more interactive way with hyper-links.The following is my hyperlinked Powerpoint presentation in draft form. For some reason the hyperlinks on slide one do not work after being uploaded to Authorstream. The hyper-links on all other slides do work. Therefore if you would like to watch the slideshow direct from this blog you can view it below but will need to click to move past the first slide. If you would like to view the Powerpoint with all hyperlinks working correctly you can download the Powerpoint file from my wiki.
Storyboards
You can also see where I planning to go with this powerpoint by looking at the storyboard I created in word.The storyboard is where I started when creating this powerpoint and although it took me a long time to create, it resulted in a fantastic first draft plan of where I wanted my powerpoint to go. I referred back to it several times when sorting out my slides in powerpoint. Creating the storyboard in word was very simple.
Outlining
The next step was outlining in Word. I am in two minds about this one. I can see the benefits of creating the slides in this way but I also don't think it saved a lot of time as typing in the same headings in powerpoint was possibly not much slower.I am currently using microsoft word 2010 and found that the feature in Word of transferring the outline from word to Powerpoint didn't seem to exist anymore. I then went to Powerpoint and opened the outline from there. When I did this Powerpoint did not included all of the indented dot points as I had expected it too so I had to re-type these anyway.
Even though my storyboard was my inital plan, my Powerpoint did undergo some changes as I started to create it. I found some slides had to change levels from the original storyboard. My creation evolved and my master plan was possibly too big for the time frame of this exercise. Possibly due to the level of my Powerpoint skills to date.
Sharing Powerpoint on Web 2.0
I am not sure if the following is a drawback because I don't have sufficient technical knowledge or whether it is a justifiable limitation of powerpoint, but in this day and age of web 2.0 I found powerpoint to be more difficult to integrate into the web without losing some functions, than other presentation tools I have looked at such as Prezi and Glogster. Although, by adding the add-on authorstream to my powerpoint software, this was certainly improved but some of my hyper-links in the first slide did not work when shared.Add-ons and Sharing
It was certainly easy to improve the functions of powerpoint by downloading add-ons such as Microsoft Mouse Mischief and Authorstream which you can then apply direct from Powerpoint but it seems you do lose varying degrees of functionality when uploading slideshows to the web.It may be a case of improving my technical skills and finding ways around the limitations, for example creating a video from my voki as suggested earlier, or by using Authorstream instead of Slideshow to maintain the use of animations etc. I am not sure what the answer is to the inconsistency of my hyperlinks when uploaded through Authorstream but the rest of the presentation worked well.
Stop-Motion Movies
Another option which I played with was stop-motion movies. These are fun. The slides are preparedin Powerpoint and then uploaded into Moviemaker to create a short movie. This is certainly another medium for creative learning.I created the following basic stop-motion movie which I called "The Running Man"
Bloom's Taxonomy
I can see the potential of interactive Powerpoint presentations in learning and teaching. The options for hyper-links even include linking to outside files, web-sites etc as well as within the one file. Using hyper-links, learners can create slideshows that enable several different outcomes for the viewer. Planning and creating this type of presentation requires the learner to consider that there are different outcomes and evaluate how he or she wants their reader to get there.
Considering different outcomes moves the learner up the scale in Blooms Taxonomy, possibly into the higher order thinking areas of analysing, evaluating and creating. The learner needs to think of the possible journey someone using their Powerpoint presentation may take and what they want that journey to mean to that person.
The following slideshow that I found outlines the type of questions that should be asked when scaffolding an activity that requires higher order thinking at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy. If we are to integrate technology using Powerpoint to engage a learner in higher order thinking I believe that an interactive Powerpoint could be effective if the scaffolded questions are effective.
As per slide number 9 in the following slideshow created by Carla Piper, the types of questions that are needed by the scaffold could be:
- create
- evaluate
- synthesize
- analyze
Essential questions from Carla Piper
In summary, I do believe that Powerpoint is a very useful learning tool and one that most learners would be very familiar with. I know my daughter prepared a Powerpoint presentation in year 2 for school and still plays around on it creating pictures and slideshows. Therefore, by the time a learner is in high school, much of the time spent getting to know the tool would be less necessary than in my case, and the learner could use it to prepare presentations that may extend all the way to the top of blooms taxonomy as discussed earlier.
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