The use of visual presentations of content is not a new or
revolutionary concept in schools. From the development of textbooks with
information to the advent of the Overhead Projector (OHP) to the dawn of data projectors,
presenting data to a classroom has become more and more simple with these
‘appliances,’ for want of a better word.
Of course, with data projectors, the ability to have
information change automatically and digitally on command becomes the most important
facet of the presentation design. I believe that some teachers can let it
become the focus of learning design and once again, this is an example of
Technology overshadowing the pedagogy and content parts of learning experience
creation.
Of the tools we looked at in Group 3, PowerPoint appears to
be the least interactive. It has been around since 1995 (18 years ago) and in
that time has been misused, undervalued and abused. Typical slideshows are
often very, very dull, have too much or too little text in them, or are packed
full of static images that do little to engage or reinforce knowledge in
students.
In the time that PowerPoint has been around, embedding has
become a major part of the Internet, and indeed the whole computer experience.
PowerPoint has also adapted as a program and is now able to be developed for
students to interact with on both a classroom and individual level. There are
now online tools that can embed PowerPoint files in online spaces.
There are options to integrate video, audio, Internet and
basically anything you want (without letting the file get as big as a library.)
It however, is still limited by its very straightforward layout and inability
to focus on the big picture; rather the discrete slides are all that can be focussed
on.
Whenever I have used PowerPoint, I have always used it as a
forward-moving presentation and not worried about making it very interactive. I
believe now that if I can make my PowerPoint’s more interactive and engaging,
on both a classroom and individual level, I can achieve greater learning
outcomes.
This is where Prezi’s supersede the traditional PowerPoint
presentation. Prezi came about in late in the first decade of the 21st
century and enable presenters to create highly engaging and interactive
presentations using the power of flash. Herb (2013) suggests, “By staying
current with new technology, more often than not your students will appreciate
the change of pace from the tools they are seeing.”
In my interactions with
Prezi, I have found the interface for their creation to be highly enjoyable and
functional, whilst giving me the flexibility to create practically anything I
wanted. I had immense fun in creating the following Prezi. It
doesn’t have all the bells and whistles but I learnt a vast array of techniques
that I can use in the future on Prezi and I believe I will use the tool a lot!
The idea of the zooming in and out and creating the
presentation on one page with ability to focus on different things is ingenious,
and I believe gives presenters the opportunity to focus on the big picture and
move in – this suit learners of a global approach but still has the
functionality to support the opposite and let sequential learners sequence
their learning.
PowerPoint presentations have many uses in a music classroom;
here are some of the ideas I’ve come up with that are interactive and engaging:
- Can be used to create Quizzes
- An interlinked diagram with slides referring to
the parts of the diagram clicked. Maybe a diagram of an instrument?
- Well-designed ‘traditional style’ PowerPoint
presentations are still effective if good design principles are followed. An
excellent presentation on PowerPoint design can be found here.
Prezi is limited in options for use, but its main use is for
interactive presentations online. Online multimedia can easily be added to it
and its use of flash makes it ridiculously engaging. It should be noted that PowerPoint presentations can be imported to Prezi and made into exciting shows.
The following SWOT and PMI analyses are a summation of this
reflection into presentations.
PowerPoint PMI
Plusses
- As it is offline, can be used anywhere, anytime. (On a
computer)
- Lots of help available online and in hard copy. Books and
classes are made specifically for PowerPoint.
- Can be very interactive – this makes for good engagement
(see minuses)
- Can easily add multimedia
- Very helpful for sequential learners in simple forms
Minuses
- Can be extremely tedious to make interactive.
- Very static without multimedia
- Can become very big with multimedia and scores of slides
- Detracts from a global view of a concept/idea/any knowledge,
rather sequential
Interesting
- Visual displays seem to help reinforce information. If
students have individual copies of presentations chances are information may be
retained.
- Can be exported and become online Prezi’s
- Many ways to use it – Individually as a presentation or as
an interative activity, classroom presentation/activities
Prezi SWOT
Strengths
- Engaging and interactive
- Used correctly, is extremely aesthetically pleasing
- Animation adds a lot of excitement
- Easy and enjoyable to use, both for students and teachers
Weaknesses
- As it is flash, can be very big in file size. This hampers loading time depending on bandwidth
- Can only be used as a presentation, not very interactive in other
ways other than presenting information.
- Animation can become nauseous – going around and around in
circles
- Web based. Requires Internets!
Opportunities
- Multimedia addition creates a whole new level of interaction
and reinforces the point of information.
- Students can have a very engaged learning experience
creating their own Prezi. They will enjoy the technology and it can help
reinforce content.
Threats
- Copyright issues – as with all online tools.
- Students using it to create a presentation may be overawed
by the online software – TPCK Issue
References
Herb, J. (2013). Prezi
– Advantages and Disadvantages. Retrieved from http://instructionaltechtalk.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-prezi/
