Effective Presentations

     It is becoming increasingly common to view a computer presentation in buisiness meetings, social programs, and in the classroom. Microsoft powerpoint is one of the most widely used formats for computer presentations, however, there are several online presentation sites such as prezi.com and Google Presentations. There is an endless amount of ways that a presentation can be designed and one of the biggest flaws is that it is too easy to over design a presentation. What I mean is that there can be too many pictures, or the color scheme is over or under contrasted. Perhaps there are distracting animations or the font is too small to read. One of the easiest ways to make a successful presentation is to simplify, simplify, simplify! As an example I will use the prezi presentation I created called "What is Effective Technology Integration for 21st Century Learners?".

https://prezi.com/secure/3876c89009fbd7355eae69ed69a9b9784ce51ffa/

    In my presentation I do several things to keep things simple and effective. One thing we cannot forget that this is just a visual for an actual oral presentation that would be given in front of an audience. The audience must not be distracted by:

     DON'T
                       - use complicated images and graphs
                       - too many images,
                       - too much text
                       - a wide variety of slide backgrounds and colors
                       - distracting animations.

There are many different things that can be done to simplify a presentation. Including:

     DO
                      - Use large font
                      - Choose an easy to read font
                      - Keep visuals simple and easy to interpret
                      - Use minimal visuals
                      - Keep colors consistent (Backgrounds and fonts)
                      - Use logical transitions from topic to topic and from slide to slide
                      - Limit the text to the bare necessities.

In my presentation I attempt to utilize many of these techniques. I kept the images and text to a minimum. I attempted to have my topic flow from one point to another in a logical way. I made the font large and easy to read. And finally I kept the colors consistent in text and backgrounds. I believe my presentation is interesting without being too distracting. As a presenter I would be able to discuss my topic without loosing the audience in what was going on behind me in the presentation.

What does a blog do anyways?

     In my mind blogs are very personal and we can put as much or as little effort into them as we want. Do I really believe that blogs are a valuable tool in the teachers little bag of teaching tricks and materieals? Not really. For elementary students the idea of creating a blog is out of the question mostly because they don't have the technology skills to build one in a reasonable amount of time. Also, their computer time at home and in the classroom would be very limited. Blogs are more plausible for the junior high and high school grades mostly because by then they will likly have extensive experience with computers and perhaps even with blogs. I think my biggest issues with blogs as a teaching resource is that students would have to have both the time and computer access both in class and at home, and even today there will be some students without computer or internet access.  

    On the other hand, for the purpose of this blog post, I have recently looked at a website which lists several ways in which blogs can be utilized in the classroom. Some of the more interesting ideas for using blogs in the classroom include: keeping an online journal, continueing class disscusions, creating a class archive, writing book reports, and collaborating on projects with other classes. I found these suggestions interesting because I don't know if I would ever have thought of them based apon my disbelief in blogs as a viable teaching resource. I think that setting up one blog would be more plausible, however, for the secondary grades it would be more valuable for the student to set up their own blog. I just don't know if it would be an efficient and beneficial use of time.

Let me introduce myself...

     My name is Melissa Mueller, I am 25 years old and I currently live in Lethbridge Alberta. I was born and raised in Swift Current Saskatchewan, where I graduated from Swift Current Comprehensive High School in 2003. Some of my hobbies include reading, watching movies, playing squash at the YMCA, and making jewellery. I have two sisters, Marissa my twin, and Krisite two years younger than myself. My parents, Joy and Lindsay, have been married for 27 years and still live in my hometown. I moved to Lethbridge in 2005 to attend the University of Lethbridge in the combined degree Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education program. I met my boyfriend Lyle in 2007 and we have been dating for over three years now. Recently I have been accepted into the Faculty of Education where I plan to complete a two year after degree program. My future plans are to become a teacher, purchase my first home, and start a family with my wonderful boyfriend.

   

     My first experience with technology began in Grade 5, it involved one computer, 30 students, and a very slow internet connection. Since then I've personally owned one desktop computer and two laptops. I probably spend roughly two hours on the computer everyday; checking email, updating my status on facebook, watching videos on youtube, online shopping, and researching for school or for personal interests. I personally believe that technology is a valuable tool for learning in and outside the classroom. In particular for checking up on current events online, this is something I did in the classroom in high school and  it taught me another use for the internet other than checking up on friends and playing games. I also started to learn how to properly research subjects online. Such as how to know whether a website will be a viable resource in essays and for projects.