Perfecting Power Point Presentations

For my computer skills students, I've been working on improving their Power Points. My goal has been for them to not only improve their topic choices, but just as importantly, their actual presentation skills. I will show them a number of slides and slide shows that worked well versus those that didn't and I want them to be able to critique what worked well and what didn't. In addition, I've decided to introduce them to Slide Share and some You Tube videos, so that they can visually understand some of the key points I'm attempting to get across. To that end, I have attached the following links that I plan on using during these PowerPoint lessons.



Slideshare



By sharing slideshare with my students, I want them to be able to see the "world that is bigger than they are". I am requiring them to pick topics that are greater than themselves -- not the typical musical artists, sports icons, celebrities, etc., but things that will matter and should matter to this generation. When we looked at the Shift Happens video, it was definitely an eye-opener for me. It not only made me think (which of course was the point), but it reminded me that the true art of a PowerPoint is the PASSION FOR YOUR TOPIC. I'm working with my students about truly getting that message and hope this will aid me in that pursuit.



In regards to working through the perils of bad PowerPoint presentation skills, I found a few webcasts that I thought were valuable to the age group I'm trying to target (high school students). Also, I really liked the humorous one, because as many times as I talk to them about it, the comedian was able to put a funny spin on what I'm trying to get across. The links are listed below:


Don't Read Your PowerPoint Slides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVKfz0J_mPA&feature=related

How NOT to Use PowerPoint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLpjrHzgSRM&feature=related

Killer Presentation Skills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTwjG4ZIJg&feature=related

Penn State Blogging

I was trying to look on the Internet for instances where Web 2.0 using blogging, podcasts, webcasts and so forth were actually being used in the classroom setting. As a high school computer teacher, this form of technology that I'm starting to now understand more is definitely something I would like to use and share with my students. To that end, I found a great resource article about a project that was done at Penn State University. PSU is near and dear to my heart, as I graduated from this great university in 1989. There is a program that introduced students during a 5-week summer course to using blogs, podcasts and so forth. I was pleasantly surprised and of course, very encouraged, by what I found through reading this article. Take a look at the link below. It even contains audio tutorials that the students were given to facilitate their process and progress. This gives me incentive to work through this type of information now with my own students.

Blogs at Penn State
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=1004

Current Events

In my opinion, one of the greatest advantages to the Internet age as related to the classroom are that it allows students, teachers, etc. to have immediate access to the realities of world issues. When most of us think back to our own youth, the Internet was not yet in use by the public, there were no MAC/ATM machines, cell phones were certainly never heard of and the idea of walking around with a gadget smaller than a playing card that could hold 1,000s of songs, videos, movie was unthinkable. On this entry, I've linked to two sites I thought were very topical for students...especially those who might actually be old enough to vote in this upcoming presidential election. Please find the links listed below:

http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/resourcelinks.aspx
C-Span Classroom – 2008 Campaign Videos

http://www.youtube.com/youchoose
You Tube- You Choose

Happy New Year!

I'm back on the trail of finishing up this "blog in progress". I had no idea honestly until I started working on this capstone project how many awesome projects that are out there for students. These include real life experience trips, labs, etc. that are out there for all different ages of students, as well as a variety of subjects. I am going to link to just a few of those that I found particularly worthwhile. I stronly encourage you to visit these and my hope is that, it will then springboard you in to many others. It was hard to pick just a few to list honestly. I was so excited by this find that I am working a number of them into my curriculum for next semester. Although I've been working with computer technology education for quite some time, I am stunned at what is out there if we just have the time to look and of course, the time to try these types of experiences with our students. I did my best to select suggestions that are supportive of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences.

The links are listed below:

About: Greatest Living Writers Project
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=10734

Developing the Listening Mind
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=11251

Let's Go Global
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=8818

Locations for Learning
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=12056