Presentations with New Media
Presenting content plays a very important role in today's classrooms. In every subject, students are supposed to present their working results in front of the class or to give longer presentations on a certain topic. Since 2005, it is possible for schools graduates in Hesse to give a presentation instead of having an oral examination in their A-levels. And not only on the Gymnasium, students have to achieve presentation skills but also on the middle schools giving presentations is an obligatory part of the final exam. Indeed, presentations are meant to be oral speeches held by a person. But it is very common to support the spoken word with visual input. In the past, people used overhead projectors to show pictures or diagrams. Today, the most common way to support presentations is the microsoft software PowerPoint. This programme is well known since most of the school's computers work with microsoft. It is also easy to handle and students can prepare their presentations at home. Unfortunately, there are different versions of PowerPoint. Thus, not every file is compatible with every computer which often causes problems and frustration!
Besides PowerPoint, there is a huge range of other presentation tools. Some of them are available for free and easily accessable on the internet.
Below, I prepared a list with links to different presentation tools. I also took a look at these tools and mentioned some advantages and disadvantages.
Besides PowerPoint, there is a huge range of other presentation tools. Some of them are available for free and easily accessable on the internet.
Below, I prepared a list with links to different presentation tools. I also took a look at these tools and mentioned some advantages and disadvantages.
- www.prezi.com: Here, presentations are not structured by slides but on an unlimited surface on which the user can arrange the information individually. The presenter defines the order in which the details are shown. When giving the presentation, the monitor "jumps" from detail to detail. Thus, prezi-presentations consit of much movement and animation.
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- www.docs.google.com: Here, the microsoft office tools are provided as collaborative tools. You can store you data files online and thus, share it with other users. Therefore, you can collaborate on the files. PowerPoint basically works the same way as it works as offline tool. You can either start the presentation online or you can download the finished file.
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- www.prezentit.com: This tools is pretty similar to PowerPoint: you structure a presentation slide by slide and you change the slide by clicking. Prezenit though offers a more creative approach to presenting content as it it very easy to add images in a very good quality or to create an individual background for each slide. The tool also provides a gallery of images. Furthermore you can store your presentation online and work collaboratively.
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- www.voicehtread.com: This tools provides a very different approach to presenting content. Here, you can upload images and post an audio-comment on it. In doing so, you can record your presentation. You can also invite others to comment on the pictures, either via voice-record or in written form.
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Different Tools for more Variety in Class
All these presentation tools offer a lot of opportunites in terms of presenting content - and of course there are many more tools which can easily be accessed. I think on the one hand it is important to chose the right tool for the task given. It doesn't make sense to confront students with a tool like voicethread.com when they give a presentation in a foreign language for the first time. In that case they should rather use a tool which they are familiar with. But on the other hand it is also important to offer your students alternatives to already known tools. The more they are used to give presentations the more they can try out new tools to get new challenges. Furthermore, I think that it is important to support their creativity. Thus, students should get the opportunity to create new ways to present content and to produce their very own and individual piece of work.
Therefore, teachers shouldn't be afraid of trying new tools and get familiar with modern approaches.
Therefore, teachers shouldn't be afraid of trying new tools and get familiar with modern approaches.