Prezi Presentations

After using PowerPoint presentations in my classes, I researched elsewhere to see if there were presentations I could use that offered more. I came across a site called Prezi.com. The word prezi is the Hungarian short form of presentation. This presentation is different to the ordinary slide-based presentations. Prezi also offers an educational license for students and educators. Instantly, the site shows you how to use functions to create a professional and eye-catching presentation that makes my PowerPoint slides look rather bland. The site helps you create your presentation easily, and this is the link to view it:http://bit.ly/1gdiEJG

The tool palette allows users to pan and zoom, rotate, and edit an object. The user has a blank canvas to work on and can navigate between text, videos and other presentation objects. I found some really good examples of Prezi Presentation in the following link: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2012/10/29/example-presentations-using-prezi/

However, there is a lack of colour and font option with this device. Also, there is a drawback that it is more time-consuming to create a presentation as opposed to the Microsoft PowerPoint software. This could be a case of practice makes perfect, with more time a really exciting and personal presentation could be created. Therefore, I would have to have more practice to feel confident to use this device to teach and introduce to students.

References:

https://ballaratcrtnetwork.wikispaces.com/Web+2.0+tools+and+researchers [Accessed 14 November 2014].

http://blog.crazyegg.com/2012/10/29/example-presentations-using-prezi/ [Accessed 14 November 2014].

Discovering Bubbl.us

I have to admit, I have always been one of those that use mind-maps during revision. Sorting through notes and simplifying them into mind-map format worked effectively for me. However, that was usually hand-drawn mind maps, which I could stick up onto walls and into files to add instant colour as opposed to all of my written notes. I only went so far as to dipping into my pencil case of felt-tip pens to create my mind-maps, I didn't venture into the world of computer-crafted mind-maps. That was until we looked at a site called Bubbl.us in our PGCE lesson. 

Bubbl.us is a software that is simple and quick and creates information in a neat and clear format. As quoted from Lifehacker.com, 'Don't let resistance to learning new software stop you from doing it. Bubbl.us is speedy, free, and requires less than a minute to learn.' Therefore, I thought I would ditch the felt tips and use a Bubbl.us mind-map in my English class. What I created can be seen below:

I found the software really easy to use, and it was nice to try something new to apply to my lessons. Admittedly, I do enjoy the creative part of drawing my own mind-map and it is an easy way of adding ideas to the mind-map as revision goes along. However, when it came to teaching, the bubbl.us methods looks more professional and it was a good site for me to suggest to students as it is quick, easy and also free. I would like to use computer-crafted mind-maps in the future when teaching. My next aim is to look for a mind-mapping software that offers more variation when formatting. This means more shapes, colour, background setting etc. Discovering bubbl.us was a great way of setting me up on my methodological adventure of finding new ways of resourcing material for teaching. 

References:

https://bubbl.us/ [Accessed 5 November 2014]

Lifehacker.com found at https://bubbl.us/ [Accessed 5 November 2014]