Slideshow Presentation tools! Love'em! I use them and my students use them. Which ones? And Why? Is there a Why Not To?
4) Haiku Deck promotes itself as a simple app where you can put together slide decks, which is the idea of piling slides on top of each other. When it first arrived a few years ago I was impressed with the library of over 40 million free images to use as backgrounds. Best of all was the built in copyright feature for images. It was nice to see an app that recognizes the importance of acknowledging ownership rights. The themes are simple, yet interesting and the layouts just versatile enough to make presentations unique. It can be used on a PC, Mac, Chrome OS, and the iPad.
As part of the suite of Google Apps suite of tools, Slides is an easy to use, collaborative, presentation tool for anyone, but especially, educators, students and the business world. I use this program with my Grade 5 students partly because it is linked to their Google Apps for Education account so there is no separate login or cost. They can access it at home, collaborate with other students, share projects with me, see my comments, and link videos including Youtube quite easily. I recently walked in on a grade 3 class learning how to use Slides, it didn't take them long. The teacher says they got it quite quickly, he gave them a little push and they have gone sliding!
2) Prezi Edu displays information not as a series of slides, but as one large board that zooms in on specific information or images. For a while this one was limited to students over 13, until the Education version came out. There is a free version which is what I access. It doesn’t offer features like slide transitions, object animations, master slides or timed slide progression. It does offer a few features that are unique such as a bird's eye view of your whole presentation. Check out this link for a quick sample. Link to sample Prezi
3) Explain Everything is a screen casting app. It has been popular as an Apple mobile device app, and last summer it was released for Windows 8.1. This interactive whiteboard tool lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere. You can create slides, draw in any colour, add shapes, add text, and (something I wish Google Slides had), use a laser pointer. How to Use
This app has been a learning consultant's dream as they help teachers and students with the ever pressing need to 'Explain their Thinking'. I've used this app as a next step for students who have become proficient with "Educreations". It has more tools and many more recording capabilities.
A few days ago an announcement from Haiku Deck came out that is pretty amazing. They now have a new AI (artificial intelligence) tool that I have never seen in an app before. They call it Haiku Deck Zuru. It will generate presentations for you! Upload an outline or even an existing presentation created elsewhere and it will automatically build a deck for you. New AI tool
I'm looking forward to trying this one, however it isn't free.
These are just 4 possible presentation programs. There are many, many others. Why? Because they improve learning. How? Here's a great list I found that highlights the benefits.
Are there pitfalls as well? Sure. Overuse and incorrect use would be top of the short list. But if you slip off the sled, think about what went wrong and then climb back up the hill for another great ride!
- Professional, fine-tuned presentation (especially with the implementation of peer review) for the instructor and the student
- Richer, more engaging ways of representing information
- Enhanced value of content through links to digital resources (audio files, images, web pages, etc.)
- Improved student retention of material from lectures and demonstrations using presentation software
- Broader engagement of students during a lecture through connections to all types of learners (including visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile learners)
- Address the variety of learning styles and strategies (active, reflective, sensory, intuitive, visual, verbal, sequential, global)
- Decreased preparation time through teacher collaboration
- More efficient pace to lessons by eliminating time-consuming transitions between media (which causes students to stop paying attention)
- More time for students to review instructions
- Improved computer skills, including learning to conceptually use presentation software (knowledge which should be transferable to any package)
- Increased student cooperation and collaboration
- Opportunity to practice public speaking skills while using presentation software and tools to develop their own signature style of engaging an audience
- Simplification of complex concepts or lessons
- Enhanced language learning through the engagement of the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening
- Improved organization
- Extension of learning through presentations outside of the classroom (students access presentations digitally for preview and review)
Are there pitfalls as well? Sure. Overuse and incorrect use would be top of the short list. But if you slip off the sled, think about what went wrong and then climb back up the hill for another great ride!
Wow! Thorough and informative. There are so many great tools out there for presentations. While at first glance, the presentation tools might seem to have the same intentions, however, I would argue that they can be used in different ways, not just to "present" or to "share" but as a place to store work, to have collaborative bulletin boards, a way to consolidate learning, add screen shots from games... Recently, I'm working with a group of educators and students in demonstrating how to use these tools in combination with Gaming in the classroom.
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