Introduction
As a teacher, it is important to consider the way in which
we present and pass on information to our students. It is essential to present
information and content in intriguing ways that engage students, include
students, encourage students to learn and create positive learning experiences.
If teachers spent an entire lesson talking, explaining and lecturing, the
chances are students would lose interest, zone out and information will not be
retained. If teachers were to incorporate modes, use demonstrations and
encourage student participation, it would result in a better understanding of
content and an overall higher order of learning.
It is also important to encourage students to present their
knowledge and understandings in ways that appeal to and arouse student’s interests.
If students were required to write a book review essay the chances are students
would be disengaged, unmotivated, uninterested and may not strive for maximum
achievement. If students were required to create a book review presentation,
students would be interested, motivated and inspired which can result in higher
achievements and maximum learning.
With teachers presenting information innovatively and
setting tasks that enable student creativity and individualism, learning can be
dramatically transformed and maximised. This week’s studies introduced us too
three presentation tools that support the collection and collation of
multimedia resources for presentation purposes; PowerPoint presentations, Prezi
presentations and Glogster presentations. With limited study time this week and
a large study load, I have unfortunately had to limit myself to exploring and
discussing one of the three tools. After examining all three tools, I
chose to further explore PowerPoint presentations because I believe it is the
main presentation tool I will utilise and incorporate into my own lessons. The
following blog will explore the ease of use, affordances on learning and some
personal ideas for my own learning context. Power Point Presentations
My prior preconceptions about Power Point presentations are
that they were purely used to support oral presentations. This may have been
the case back which I was in school, however after exploring this tool and its possibilities
I discovered this is certainly not the case anymore. I have always seen
PowerPoint presentations as a great learning tool however I was not aware until
now of the extent to which it could transform learning. Wendy Fasso made an
interesting point that “The best use of PowerPoint is not to have it
in your hands, but to ask your learners to use it in inventive, thoughtful,
complex and creative ways!” (Fasso, 2014). This week I have learnt many
possibilities that come with creating PowerPoint’s that I didn’t previously see
possible.
A PowerPoint presentation is regarded as the most useful,
accessible way to create and present visual aids. It is basically a series of
slides that can contain text, images, audio and videos in a prearrange
sequence. They can be created through Microsoft PowerPoint and viewed on
digital devices such as computers, laptops and most commonly overhead
projectors. The software allows users to create anything from basic slide shows
to complex presentations in one of the simplest computer programs to learn. With prior experience in creating PowerPoint presentations I can say first hand that it is a very easy tool to master. It provides a very clear format and numerous features that offer flexibility and the ability to personalise presentations to suit our target audience. It is easy to customise presentations and create eye-catching designs using the various templates, layouts and themes provided and by altering colour schemes, fonts and text size. PowerPoint’s most preeminent ability is the embedding of texts, images, audio and video. It also features drag and drop tool that allows us to arrange slides to meet our visual expectations. The clipart tool also provides a search engine that contains various standard illustrations, photographs, audios and videos for easy access. The custom animation tool allows us to customise the entrances, exits and emphasis of aspects creating extra visual effect. By utilising these features in tandem, the presentation activates both visual and verbal learning, creating a powerful learning experience for everyone in any subject area.
Organising
materials in this manner is an extremely effective way for teachers to organize
thoughts and ideas and create an outline. It provides teachers with a set
layout of what to teach and acts as a reminder of what to talk about and where
they are up to in their discussion. Knowledge and information can be
arranged in narrative format, like a story; which is a good way to ensure
information is retained, gradually building on content using a series of
slides. PowerPoint’s can enrich the information in a lesson by allowing
teachers to embed files such as images, audio or videos to support information,
providing a deeper understanding of the content being discussed. It also allows
teachers to highlight or emphasise key learning points using visual effects
which may help information be retained and stored in the long term memory. Creating a PowerPoint presentation can
prove to be a time consuming task, however there is one advantage being that
teachers can continually modify presentations to be used over again or to build
on for each lesson. Teachers also have the ability to upload PowerPoint
presentations to an established learning site for students to reflect on later.
PowerPoint presentations can be a highly effective tool to engage students and
aid learning, however, if not used carefully and appropriately, it may instead
disengage students and actually hinder learning. To avoid this happening we
need to:
·
Ensure text is easily readable for all students.
Text needs to quite large, especially for younger students. Make sure text and
background colours don’t clash.
·
Avoid
using too much text
·
Use
graphics and pictures to enhance learning, not just for decoration or
prettiness.
·
Use
transitions and animations sparingly to avoid distractions
·
Use
themes, layouts and templates consistently to avoid distraction
With all of these things is mind, teachers can create some
powerful learning experience for students, that can result in higher order
learning and transformed learning. There are many ways outside of the ordinary,
that teachers can utilise PowerPoint’s in the classroom. A few ideas that I stumbled
upon and that interested me this week are to mark attendance and do exams or
quizzes, both which save time photocopying and paper printing, however my favourite
idea was the virtual museum. A virtual museum is exactly what it sounds like, a
computer generated museum. It is a creative way to present information and can
take students on a tour through historical events or facts in the comfort of
the classroom with the teacher being the tour guide. There is no easy way to
explain a virtual museum, you have to see one to understand their cleverness.
Click here to explore some example.
In order for PowerPoint presentations to transform learning,
teachers need to make learning student-centred rather than teacher-centred.
Students often learn and respond better when teachers design lessons that
encourage student and class interactions. PowerPoint’s provide teachers with
many opportunities to design slides that enable student interaction and
participation. In designing interactive tasks teachers also achieve
opportunities for feedback. This goes beyond just asking students if they have
any questions by encouraging students to put their new knowledge and skills to
practise which actively engages them in the learning process. This can be
achieved through the design of interactive quizzes, games or activities which
can not only build knowledge but also team work skills. Below are some examples
of ways teachers could encourage student participation which is also an
excellent way to check students understand content and can put their new knowledge
to practise.-
Interactive Examples from riccileanne92
There are a variety of ways that teachers could encourage students use Microsoft PowerPoint by setting tasks and assessments that require the creation of a presentation. In asking students to create a presentation instead of writing a 1000 word essay, I think we will find students show more interest, are motivated to do well and achieve higher results. This is simply because it enables student to be creative and encourages individualism. Some ideas that caught my attention to encourage the creation of PowerPoint presentation are asking students to create their own virtual bookshelf where all the books they were assigned to read are on the shelf linked to a synopsis/overview, be it brief or detailed. Have students create a virtual book review instead of a written book review by creating different slides for the stories plot, summary, character list. Encourage students to create maps possibly highlighting Australia’s major national parks or lakes which can be linked to further facts and images about each river or park. Encourage students to create timelines about historical developments, such as the development of the telephone, which can be linked to further facts and images about the development process.
After exploring all three presentation tools this week, PowerPoint presentations are definitely the tool I would use most in my classroom. I think it is a very effective pedagogical tool that can transform learning. It is the easiest, most accessible program for both students and teachers to learn and use and can be used in any subject area. It opens up many opportunities for initial teaching, for student projects, for student interactions, for games, for reviews and for tests. As much as I love PowerPoint’s, I remind myself that students get bored easily and by overusing PowerPoint’s it may intern affect learning, so it’s important to mix things up to keep students interested and engaged. This may include introducing other presentation tools such as Glogster, a zooming presentation tool or Prezi, a scrapbooking tool, both which provide different learning benefits.
There are a variety of ways that teachers could encourage students use Microsoft PowerPoint by setting tasks and assessments that require the creation of a presentation. In asking students to create a presentation instead of writing a 1000 word essay, I think we will find students show more interest, are motivated to do well and achieve higher results. This is simply because it enables student to be creative and encourages individualism. Some ideas that caught my attention to encourage the creation of PowerPoint presentation are asking students to create their own virtual bookshelf where all the books they were assigned to read are on the shelf linked to a synopsis/overview, be it brief or detailed. Have students create a virtual book review instead of a written book review by creating different slides for the stories plot, summary, character list. Encourage students to create maps possibly highlighting Australia’s major national parks or lakes which can be linked to further facts and images about each river or park. Encourage students to create timelines about historical developments, such as the development of the telephone, which can be linked to further facts and images about the development process.
After exploring all three presentation tools this week, PowerPoint presentations are definitely the tool I would use most in my classroom. I think it is a very effective pedagogical tool that can transform learning. It is the easiest, most accessible program for both students and teachers to learn and use and can be used in any subject area. It opens up many opportunities for initial teaching, for student projects, for student interactions, for games, for reviews and for tests. As much as I love PowerPoint’s, I remind myself that students get bored easily and by overusing PowerPoint’s it may intern affect learning, so it’s important to mix things up to keep students interested and engaged. This may include introducing other presentation tools such as Glogster, a zooming presentation tool or Prezi, a scrapbooking tool, both which provide different learning benefits.
With prior experience in creating PowerPoint
presentations, I decided to further develop these skills by creating my
own interactive PowerPoint. Later on in this course, when
the work load isn’t as overwhelming, I aim to experiment with creating a
virtual museum, as I think it is a fantastic idea.
More PowerPoint presentations from Ricci Barron
Reference List
Fasso, W. (2013) Creative Ways to Use PowerPoints. Retreived
from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=206521Keeler, C. G. (2005) What is an Educational Virtual Museum? Retrieved from http://christykeeler.com/EducationalVirtualMuseums.html
Videogyan Kids – Nursary Rhymes for Kids (Jan28, 2013) Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall nursery rhyme / cartoon animation song for children [Video] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp88ZzPz0ls
The Source For Learning, Inc. (2003) Humpty Dumpty. Retrieved from http://www.teachersandfamilies.com/nursery/humpty.html
No comments:
Post a Comment