Embedded Assessment Task 4

This week we looked at different types of media platforms that will help improve the presentation of learning materials to students. Platforms that we were asked to investigate included PowerPoint, Prezi, Glogster and Thinglink. Each of these programs have great features, but for me the main difference was that it only was PowerPoint that never had an ongoing fee and it also does not require an internet connection for the program to operate. It’s for those reasons I have chosen the PowerPoint to explore at a more in-depth level.

I have never previously used PowerPoint, other than reading off them in courses and quickly checking out some of their features. Needless to say it was not long before I had encountered problems with PowerPoint as well. The PowerPoint presentation on my computer looked and sounded nothing like the file I embedded onto platforms like “OneDrive” and “Authorstream”. These platforms did not have the same options for PowerPoint as my computer had, therefore when I embedded my file on these platforms it would completely change the format of my document and change the way it operates. Although I have only had roughly 1½ days experience on PowerPoint I was pleased with what I could construct on my computer but unable to replicate on my blog. There is obviously ways to do this well, as by the proof of what other students have done on their Blogs.

Upon discovering this information I would say that web based programs like Prezi, Glogster and ThinkLink would be easier to use when doing web based tasks. However PowerPoint may be easier to use when you don’t need an internet connection as you only require a memory stick and a computer?

Designing PowerPoints so they spark interest in your students is a key ingredient to getting your message across as this week’s reading of: Audience and Purpose suggests. The reading stated some basic facts about how you can strategise your message to better improve the delivery of the content you are trying to get across to your students. It was really the very first paragraph of this reading that resonated with me. I have included it below:

 
                               

Designing PowerPoints to spark interest in your students is a key ingredient to getting your message across, as this week’s reading of Audience and Purpose suggests. The reading stated some basic facts about how you can strategise your message to better improve the delivery of the content you are trying to get across to your students. It was really the very first paragraph of this reading that resonated with me. I have included it below:

When you communicate, your purpose is not what you want to do; instead, it is what you want your audience to do as a result of reading what you wrote or listening to what you said. Thus, it involves the audience. To communicate effectively (that is, to achieve your purpose), you must adapt to your audience. Therefore, you must know your audience.

I tried to follow the above instructions in my attached PowerPoint on workshop safety. I used current movie figures to quickly spark interest and to reiterate that we all think we are superheroes, but we all still can get hurt. I believe this PowerPoint can be generated so that I could provide further web links which would provide further exploring options and tests for the students that would be individually driven and paced? I believe this strategy would then fall under the red (feelings) and blue (control) hats of de Bono and would also cover each of SAMAR’s criteria. Strategising this way would help each student meet the Australian Curriculum General Capabilities in ICT.