Presentation Tools - An Overview

Web 2.0 Tools

One of my goals this summer is to learn more about the different presentation tools that I could use in my classroom, so this first exploratory assignment was a great introduction to some of the options that are available.

Prezi seemed like a very user-friendly presentation tool that allows a great deal of creativity. The tutorial walked me through the steps of creating a presentation, and I was able to follow the instructions easily. I also liked that there was a variety of ways to share a Prezi presentation once it was complete, since I would like to publish my students’ presentations on my website as part of our curriculum units. My only concern would be that some of the features seemed a little bit disorienting as the pages zoomed in and out and around to the different text boxes. That could get old after a while, and/or it could make my students dizzy! Still, I think that I would have fun trying it out, and my students would also enjoy it.

I really liked the PreZentit format for presentations. It was very easy to use, with a lot of great features to “jazz up” the different slides. Another bonus that I thought was an excellent feature was the fact that each presentation has its own website address, so accessing it would be very simple. You can also download your presentation so that it can be viewed without an Internet connection, which makes it convenient if you want to put it on a flash drive.

Google Docs has some interesting features, like building your own website and creating a presentation. The presentation feature seemed pretty basic but easy to use and easy to share. I tried creating a website, which at first seemed very user-friendly. I thought the template was great, but then I tried editing and modifying portions of the title page and I ran into a couple of glitches. For example, every time I tried to edit the title bar, it would revert back to the sample title bar. Instead of saying “Mrs. Cruise’s Class” it continued to say “Mrs. Smith’s Class” and I tried many different strategies to change it. This could be user error, but at the same time, it should be a simple matter to edit a website template.

I thought that the VoiceThread had some great features and I can think of many different ways to utilize this Web 2.0 tool in my classroom. I would like to try using it with my students because it would be an excellent way to increase reading fluency in a fun, engaging manner. It reminded me a little bit of PhotoStory; however, I think that VoiceThread is a more sophisticated presentation tool with more features and abilities.

Lastly, I have to say that I absolutely love the iMac because of the iMovie and Keynote applications. Both allow for a great deal of creativity and are very easy to use. My 12-year-old son has already created several very cool iMovie presentations with pictures and videos that he took using his iPod during a recent hike and a trip to Sea World. He was able to choose different music tracks to play over the pictures, and it was very easy to edit with a variety of transitions, animations, etc. The only problem is it has to be emailed in “chunks” because of the size of the presentation, and thus far we have not discovered a way to post a link to access the presentations. More exploration is needed!

As I investigated the variety of presentation tools, I realized that there are so many opportunities out there that I was not aware of until going through this research process. I am very excited about these presentation tools, and I am looking forward to exploring them further with the goal of integrating them into my classroom. I know that my students will love having the chance to use more technology to enhance their learning!