PowerPoint

Powerpoint presentation

I have created a very simple PowerPoint on Weather and the Seasons. Through this activity I learnt a lot about PowerPoint that I was unaware of, such as the ability to add a transition sound as well as manage the speed of that sound. I have had a lot of fun looking through animations, pictures and colours in order to ensure that students are engaged in the lesson. It is common knowledge that a PowerPoint presentation full of content is not going to keep student attention, even if the content is important to understand. Visual learners especially require learning techniques such as interesting, animated slides.

I have in my previous roles, presented many PowerPoint presentations for the purpose of providing statistics to staff but the emphasis on creativity and interest has never been required. It was always important simply to get the facts across. I see a new side to PowerPoint and one that is very exciting. However, I am also extremely conscious not to overuse this tool as too much PowerPoint, no matter how creative, can become boring.

I tried to create this presentation based on Kearsley & Shneiderman (1999) framework for technology-based teaching and learning. This engagement theory emphasises the importance of ‘relate’, ‘create’ and ‘donate’.

This presentation is not a full lesson but is the introduction to a lesson based on this theory as a full lesson utilising only PowerPoint would not be effective. Students are automatically engaged with the content due to the interesting, animated PowerPoint. The content is relevant to them as everyone needs to be familiar with the changing seasons. During the presentation there is time for students to discuss together the answer to a question. However, this presentation is used more as an introduction to their collaborative project, creating a seasons poster.

Within groups, students create a poster (one season) based on the introductory knowledge they have learnt, the pictures, sounds and colours provided in the presentation as well as further research. They then present their poster to a younger class for them to display around the room or even present them to another school. This will give the student a sense of making a positive contribution to younger children by giving them visual understanding of the seasons.

I utilised SlideShare to upload my presentation.

note: after finally playing this published PowerPoint presentation (as I had massive troubles in importing onto my blog), I have noticed that all of my animations and sounds have disappeared which is a real shame. A lot of wasted work.

Kearsley, G, and Shneiderman, B. (1999) Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.