An Adventure in
Exploring On-line Presentation Options
As a teacher always on the prowl for new
and innovative ways to engage my students, I happily checked out a few on-line presentation
options.
My students have become proficient at
creating PowerPoint presentations so earlier this year, I introduced them to
Popplet.com which is a free presentation program wherein the user creates what
appears to be a graphic organizer made of bubbles. You can input videos (including
YouTube videos), images and text into a bubble. At any point, the user can
create a presentation path, connecting bubble to bubble. When in presentation
mode, each bubble enlarges and swings into view until the arrow button is
pushed changing to the next slide. Popplet.com is free. Each of my students
needed an email address to set up an account. They could allow their partners
access to the project so they could each work on it at home. They enjoyed the
novelty of a new project making tool and the presentations turned out great.
One drawback I faced was being able to access the students’ Popplets myself.
When the students create a PowerPoint, I can copy it to a flash drive and take
it home to grade, but not with the Popplets.
Last Sunday, I gave
Prezi.com a whirl by creating a presentation to use in my classroom on Monday.
It was not difficult to figure out how to make the program work. I liked the
end product better than the Popplet, but it was more challenging to navigate.
The students enjoyed my presentation and I was able to update and expand it
between classes. I could share the presentation and have them write things down
without their realizing they were actually taking notes. The premise is the
same as Popplet.com. You have bubbles in which you can add text or images. The presentation
mode is more fun. It makes you feel a little like you are on a rollercoaster.
I went to both websites,
Web2.0: Cool Tools for School and Web Tools 4 U 2 Use to check out some prospective
on-line presentation tool, looking for one to use for my endangered species
project. I read the blurbs promoting
each option. Many of the choices, like GoogleDocs, emphasized the opportunity
for collaboration, which I do not need for this project. The fact that it is an
on-line writing tool piques my interest in sharing it with one of my teammates.
The majority of options promoted themselves as being able to create slideshows,
add music or sounds, in addition to having the capacity for being uploaded and
shared with friends.
What I want is
something different, and I think I found it with Glogster.com. It seems to be a
site where you can create a poster of information that includes text, pictures,
images, and video links. If I am right, I should be able to use my scrapbooking
skills to make something intriguing. I have barely started and may crash and
burn, but I like a challenge. Have any of you out there had any experience with
creating glogs? Let me know.
