Presentation Tools - EDED20491 Week 5 Post #4

Presentation Tools: PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster - Summary and reflection on Group 3 tools

This post is a reflection on using PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster for teaching. The following table summarises the main features of these three technologies.

Table 1: Main features of PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster

PowerPoint	Prezi	Glogster
PowerPoint is available as part of the MS Office Suite of programs. Works on PCs and Macs. Not yet available on mobile devices. PowerPoint reader is free to download.	Educational version available free on the Internet. Works with PCs, Macs and mobile devices. Paying an annual fee allows Prezi can be downloaded onto your computer or mobile device.	Free account available that will work on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For a fee you can obtain an account on edu.glogster.com that will allow you to create accounts for your classroom
Students are able to upload almost anything into PowerPoint.	Students are able to upload almost anything into Prezi	Students are able to upload almost anything into Glogster.
Doesn't need Internet access.	Needs Internet access if using free account.	Need access to Internet.
Fairly easy to learn to use. Has help facility.	Fairly easy to learn to use. Has help facility.	Fairly easy to learn to use. Has help facility.
Can be used as a tool by the teacher to present teaching materials. Students can create their own learning artefacts. If using interactive PowerPoints it could be used as a medium to to support transformational learning.	Can be used as a tool by the teacher to present teaching materials. Students can create their own learning artefacts. Could be used as a medium to to support transformational learning.	Can be used as a tool by the teacher to present teaching materials. Students can create their own learning artefacts. Could be used as a medium to to support transformational learning.
Linear presentation tool.	Prezi has zooming feature and everything is clickable and students are free to explore. Can create a linear path.	Electronic poster that allows students to explore in any order they choose.

Educational Principles - Learning Theory and TPACK

I have used PowerPoint for many years and Prezi for one year. PowerPoint has been a standard feature in my teaching for presenting information to the class and when students have used it for their claswork eg, oral reports and presentations. One of the drawbacks of PowerPoint is that it is linear. This is great for sequential learners (like me) but could be frustrating for global learners. Prezi and Glogster support a global perspective  on teaching materials and provide you with the ability to add minute detail if you choose. You can add detail to slides in PowerPoint but that usually makes the slide unreadable to people in the audience as the font is too small or the images too tiny. Whereas in Prezi you can present the big picture and then zoom in to expose the detail. In Glogster the initial page is a great overview and then you can explore the detail by clicking on the individual items.

My use of Prezi has been restricted to conference and seminar presentations mainly because of the time that it takes for me to create one as I have still learning how to use it. Glogsters were new to me but I can envisage using them in my teaching in the future. All three of these presentation tools have the potential to enhance the learning experiences of my students because of the ability to incorporate multi-media and their interactive features. All three tools cater for Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic learners. They support transformational learning which is very important in the 21st Century literacy set, as indicated in this paper: http://archive.nmc.org/summit/New_Literacies.pdf" (EDED20491 Week 4 Learning Materials). 

The group 3 technologies are all capable of being used in my teaching practices in a manner that encourages the students to use HOTS (higher order thinking skills) by presenting materials to the students is ways that engage their thinking or support their skill development or getting the students to create their own artefacts. These activities should be scaffolded with thinking routines to guide the learners' thought processes.

I believe that each of these tools will be useful in my digital toolbox. It is difficult to argue the case for one technology over the other two without a context for what to teach and to whom. The TPACK model is based on understanding the pedagogy, content and the technology within a given teaching context. But having said that I would argue that my pick of the tools this week would be the use of Glogsters. Because it is a simple tool to use create teaching artefacts and because it can be used to display materials. The one page interface to the world really appeals to me. The only drawback really is that the students need Internet access to use them.

Teaching context

A consideration in the choice of using these tools is whether or not the school has the necessary equipment. If every student had access to a computer or mobile device and fast, reliable Internet access (for Prezi and Glogster) then I would actively encourage my students to use these tools. be a straightforward process to ask them to create manipulate new and interesting artefacts. I would also need to enquire as to the schools' policy on use of the use of these Group 3 tools. As I have not yet started my prac teaching I do not know what equipment is available at my host school or what their policy is with respect to using Internet based software applications for learning and teaching purposes.

To use these Group 3 tools I need to ensure that the students would be working in a safe environment. This may mean using images, audio and video in restricted environments. I need to model good practice in acknowledging other people's work and restricting the amount of material I use from any site. Always model safe, legal and ethical practices in the classroom and digital work spaces.