)Gone are the days of poster board presentations or overhead projectors. We have more advanced technology like PowerPoint, which even today is becoming outdated. For this embedded task I want to focus on Prezi: “the presentation software that uses motion, zoom, and spatial relationships to bring your ideas to life and make you a great presenter.”
What is Prezi? Prezi is a website where you can create dynamic presentations. It is simple to use with basic functions. There is easy t follow tutorials and the website is fairly intuitive to use with help and support available. I have only experimented with the free trial version which is still comprehensive and doesn’t overlay watermarks or the like onto the presentations. Pro membership allows full privacy settings, offline editing, more save options, enhanced image editing options, etc. When you begin creating your presentation you can choose to start from scratch or use one of the many provided templates. You can add images, audio, voice overs, embed YouTube videos, draw symbols, shapes and arrows. Your only limited by your own imagination on how you want your presentation to look. You edit everything online, where it is stored on your account but upon completion you can export the Prezi file and if you have the software on your computer you can present it offline. While there aren’t any official multi-author options on Prezi, it would be simple to create a joint account and collaborate that way. Why it is appealing? As I’ve explored in my previous posts (here and here) we know that Middle Phase Learners are more inclined to be engaged by digital media. Prezi moves away from the typical PowerPoint presentations we all know and makes it dynamic and engaging. That being said there are further advancements in PowerPoint that I never knew about until recently, like the interactive side of PowerPoint where you can make virtual tours and quizzes. How To Use Prezi: I have used Prezi as a tool for presentation and for assignment creation and I have only scratched the surface of what you can do with Prezi. The website itself is a hub of content and the Explore option in the website lets you browse through other people’s presentations. Like I said before it isn’t specifically collaborative but there is ways around that where multiple people can work on the same project together. This is similar to websites like SlideShare where you can search for other people’s presentations (although this website is based on PowerPoint presentations). I want to focus on two possible potentials for Prezi. The first is the creation of a timeline with Prezi. For one of my assignments in my undergraduate degree I created a timeline from 1860-1960 to show the evolution of Modern Art. We weren’t given any criteria on how to create this timeline and I chose to create it in Prezi, so it could stand alone as an assignment but also could be presented to the class. I started with a blank canvas and created it on my own, rather than using a template. I had to do extensive research to get the information and I had to understand some elements of design to create something that I think was to some extent aesthetically pleasing. I think that this could be a great project to give to my own students. I have embedded the presentation below.
Another potential use for Prezi is to create infographics. As I’m sure a lot of other fellow GDLT students have written about infographics I’m not going to go into huge detail about what an infographic is. I think the key elements of an infographic are the visual literacy skills you need to view and create them and the fact that its where design meets knowledge. Below I have included just one example of how an infographic can be made and presented with Prezi. Because the presentations in Prezi are really just one big canvas it is easy to see how it can be translated into an infographic.
Below is an example of the SAMR model with Prezi as the topic.
Substitution Students are presented with a Prezi presentation in place of a spoken lecture. Augmentation Teacher creates a Prezi presentation with notes for the students to write and copy down. Modification Students are given access to a Prezi presentation with hyperlinks and key points for them to research. They are able to pace their own learning and explore topics that interest them the most. It helps hand the learning over to the students with the teacher as the guide. Redefinition Students are to create their own Prezi presentation in the form of an infographic. It will stand both as a presentation and infographic. The infographic is researched with references so the information is relevant and correct. The use of visual literacy and design elements are taken into consideration with the creation of the infographic. The final product shows knowledge of the content, visual literacy and is a collaborative and interactive project. As always there is ethical and legal obligations to keep in mind. Any information that is sourced must be properly reference, just like any video and images used. Copyright laws still apply to these presentations. Unless you pay for the Pro membership with Prezi the presentations and projects made will be public and viewed by anyone, which is definitely something that need to be taken into consideration when using this tool with students and sensitive material shouldn’t be realized into a public atmosphere. For this reflection I want to talk about video as the topic of digital media in the classroom. My teaching fields are Visual Arts and Media Arts. Of course video will be incorporated into the Media Arts content, but I strongly believe it benefits every part of the curriculum. I’m very passionate about this topic and have more to say than can fit in one blog post so strap yourself in. Digital media helps the teacher guide the student to more than just simple comprehension. Although comprehension and lower-order thinking is not useless (on the contrary it is very important to understand to be able to build upon knowledge and gain higher order thinking like problem solving) digital media can integrate new literacy into students’ education. In Multimodal Composing in Classrooms: Learning and Teaching for the Digital World the authors (and in this instance directly Mary B. McVee) say that digital media has key components that direct teachers’ attention to interaction and action and should focus on:
This book talks about the rapid onset of globalization, shifting information structures and emerging technologies leading to education that is more situated, social and collaborative. Miller, S., & Mcvee, M. (2012). Video can be incorporated in both the teaching and the outcomes in education with successful results (meaning videos used by teachers and made by students). Videos can affect people in a more emotional and sensory way rather than just information retention Miller, S., & Mcvee, M. (2012). The combination of visuals and audio into video used in a class room has been shown to aid the memory process and the recall of new knowledge ("Pedagogical benefits of video for teaching and learning - The University of Queensland, Australia", 2017). Like I have mentioned previously in another blog post the nature of the students these days is that they need to remain engaged and interested in the content to get the most of their classes. Videos are great because of the sensory and emotional elements I mentioned earlier. This type of learning also can appeal to different types of learners (i.e. visual learners). In the sense of teaching, the introduction of video content into lessons can be engaging to the students. Content that would normally be taught through a PowerPoint and a speech can be shared in a more appealing way. With videos, students can re-watch the content as much as they like an at their own pace, taking the learning into their own hands. Videos create a more enhanced learning experience. There are a multitude of video learning sources online such as the Khan Academy and Harvard Open Learning and a plethora of channels on YouTube such as VSauce and SciShow. One example of videos I want to talk about is the video essay. It is easily used as learner-access and learner-generated material. One YouTube channel in particular does it incredibly well. The first video I want to include would relate to Media Arts. It is a deconstruction of the movie Pan’s Labyrinth as a disobedient fairytale. While it includes a large amount of information it isn’t overwhelming and clear links are made. What interests me most about this sort of presentation is that it doesn’t just tell you the information it shows you the clear evidence. Especially with the arts showing is often way more effective than telling. Another example by the same creator is an essay of a Cezanne painting. This sort of video essay would be great as an assessment piece for Visual Arts. It would show creative and critical thinking on the student’s part. They would have to understand their content to be able to create it, as well as the knowledge on how to make the video itself (compiling audio and visual and editing them together. Are a plethora of ways for students to create videos in meaningful ways. It is accessible to anyone who has a camera (even one on a laptop or a phone). I created this video below using my iPhone 5 with simple editing software on an overseas study tour. This video was first inspired by the One Second A Day movement that I was completing. This concept of taking one second of video a day could easily be turned into a project with great potential to be a self assessment tool for students and teachers alike. This sort of content goes to show you don’t have to have state of the art equipment to create content. Actuallw House y thehad several episodes filmed purely with DSLR cameras (which realistically are high end photography cameras, but it still goes to show what you can do with the equipment you have on hand). Video creation can become a collaborative process. One perfect example of this is the platform Hit Record. It is a platform where anyone can post content –visual, audio, written (like illustrations, poems, video content)- and anyone can access it. Projects put out and then people are encouraged to collaborate and make content according to the criteria. This platform has grown from a small website into a Netflix series and has published books internationally. Each artist is credited and any profits are split between the creators and shared. The website is a global collaborative platform. Of course, just like I mentioned in my post about blogs, there is ethical and legal elements to be careful about. When using videos as a learning tool teachers must have discretion as to what is appropriate as there isn’t ratings on a majority of the internet where most videos will be sourced. Of course copyright issues must be kept in mind also in both learning tools and creation of videos by students. Pedagogical level in my practice as a teacher, I want to be able to use videos in my classroom to make it more engaging and fun but still informative. Videos won’t replace learning or me as a teacher but I think are an excellent tool to enhance it. I think video creation is an excellent tool for students because they will have to know the content to be able to explore and present it. SAMR – Genres for Media Arts At the substitution level I would use video content to teach the students about the topic of genres. After showing the informational video engaging the class in a group discussion about the topic to ensure the students are familiar with the content. This would be the substitution of a PowerPoint or a speech in front of the class. This next step would blend the augmentation and modification categories. I would show the students several video clips from movies and have them identify the genres of the movies. From there as a class we could identify the traits that classifies a certain genre, as well as discuss the mixing of genres. At a redefinition level I would set the student a group task of creating a 3-5minute film that represents the genre of their choice. This brings together their knowledge of genres as well as movie making skills. They would create a story board and shot list, film and edit their creation which would be further shared online and with the class for viewing. This required evaluation and critical thinking of the content that has been taught throughout the unit of work. References: Miller, S., & Mcvee, M. (2012). Multimodal Composing in Classrooms: Learning and Teaching for theDigital World (1st ed.). Routledge. Pedagogical benefits of video for teaching and learning - The University of Queensland, Australia. (2017). Uq.edu.au. Retrieved from http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/video-teach-learn/ped-benefits.html Websites like Weebly really do make my heart sing. They are websites that are easy to use, functional and available to anyone with an internet connection. They make website building accessible to people who haven’t ventured into the scary world of coding. I have had experience with other websites such as Wix and Squarespace to build portfolios, blogs and official websites. I have also built my own websites from scratch (with a lot of help from a very IT savvy friends) but I still think that websites like Weebly are amazing. For the sake of this post, I’m going to focus on the use of Weebly as a blog, although it also has the addition of static pages and the option to embed your own code to customise, meaning you can transform your Weebly site into anything you like. Simply, Weebly is extremely easy to use. You choose a theme (either from the ones that are available or you can make your own) and then you customise your website to your hearts content. The simple drag and drop tool makes it easy to arrange your blog how you want it, with additions of contact pages, galleries, image slideshows, media and ecommerce make the blog easily editable. It is simple to included content from other parts of the internet such as YouTube videos, hyperlinks and the addition of images into blog posts. You can edit the privacy settings as well as set multiple authors Blogs are an amazing tool in the classroom. They don’t have to be academic writing and can give the students their own voice without being afraid of following a specific criterion. It can encourage design thinking and well as interaction, encouragement and feedback. It opens the students to a global community and view. Blogs are a perfect way to incorporate literacy across the curriculum (Pappas, 2017). Weebly gives the author of the website access to simple functions, but websites like this can be taken even further, dependant on the knowledge. In my own art practise I created an interactive website with my artwork displayed. I was working with a web developer and together we ended up creative a completely isolated website, we began by putting code into Squarespace (which is a similar set up to Weebly). You can see below a screen recording of the interactive website, which I wanted to include to open up the opportunity to expand on a simple website into something more. Technology can be a tool to expand out minds and our skills as student teachers. There is a video in one of my earlier reflections that expands on this (Reflections 1.1). Of course, as with any web spaces and education there are legal, safety and ethical implications in creating a blog. Privacy settings can be altered to help create the appropriate environment. While embedding videos and images the original authors need to be kept in mind, and often it is easy to reference or link to the original source location, which can help abide by current copyright laws. Specifically looking at the teaching area of Visual Arts and the SAMR model blogs can be a great tool in the classroom: Substitution In the case of research for a project, the student can research online, rather than in physical books, reading other blogs and commenting on them and take notes that they post on their blog (rather than writing in their note books). Augmentation The student could keep a blog online with their research, ideas and inspirations for their physical project, instead of (or as well as) keeping a physical artist diary. The comments section can be a tool for interaction and feedback between students. Modification Students could create an online portfolio on their Weebly blog. This opens them up to an online art community and can encourage global involvement. Redefinition Students can create new content online in the form of artworks. Technology and the internet create infinite horizons. Example: The student could study code in the terms of creating an interactive website to present their artwork. References: Pappas, C. (2017). How To Use Blogs In the Classroom - eLearning Industry. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/how-to-use-blogs-in-the-classroom Productive Pedagogies 1. Facilitating deep knowledge through higher order thinking 2. Facilitating collaborative learning in which conversations are important 3. Supporting students in knowing how they learn best 4. Planning learning that is problem-based, and situated in real life contexts 5. Is relevant to students, and connects to their background knowledge 6. Supports learning that is owned, controlled and managed by students themselves 7. Is socially supportive, engaging, and values cultural knowledges 8. Is supportive of the development of active citizenship, and strong group identity. Reflections In simple terms, to me this pedagogical approach is a way for the student to begin to take control of their own development. It gives them opportunities to collaborate and engage with not only the content but the wider community. I think that it is an excellent approach to teaching because it makes the learning engaging to the student. Like Judy Willis explains in her video “Big Thinkers: Judy Willis on the Science of Learning” (embedded below) students will disengage and enter a state of hyperactivity if their minds aren’t at ease and engaged. She explains how boredom will put a students body into a sense of stress. When the body is in this state the brain will conduct the information to enter the reactive/primal part of the brain where information isn’t retained. The principles in this approach are there to engage the student in their own way of learning and having problem based learning that is situation in real life contexts. This also links in and supports the stance that Ken Robinson has in his video “Do Schools Kill Creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson” (embedded below) where each student is diverse and different. There is many sorts of intelligence and each brain is different in their curiosity, individuality and creativity. Education should not be a based on conformity as humans are diverse. I think an interesting point that both Ken and Judy make are on the state of boredom. Ken states that if you put a bunch of students to work on low grade clerical work, that is no surprise when the children start fidgeting. Judy also talks about her personal experience as a psychologist that she kept getting sent students with suspected cases of ADHD or other personality disorders that were really just bored and kept on going into that state of stress and fight/flight/freeze instinct that humans go into. The solution to these problems is to know that students have different forms of intelligence and the only way to engage them is with meaningful education that is relevant to them. Towards the end of my schooling there was an introduction of a lot more technology into my learning. Our school was funded for some interactive whiteboards (that my teachers never learned to use and would end up accidentally write on with them permanent marker in more than one occasion) and also enough laptops for everyone to used in several classes. The technology wasn’t state of the art or awe inspiring but it was practical and opened up our classrooms to more than just textbooks and the occasional trip to the computer room. I remember in my visual arts class particularly spending hours researching the topics and being inspired for my own projects (written and practical).
As a university student I was exposed to a lot more technology. Our lectured were help in computer labs and as a New Media student we were encouraged to explore new technology on a daily basis. Our spaces became interactive with the other students and technology became second nature in our classrooms. I am a fan of power points (which I know is not the case for everyone) and I think that they can be an excellent tool when, and only when, they are used properly. Some of my most interesting classes in university were ones that used technology to deliver the information simply and effectively. Having dynamic media and a stimulating speech are the tools that are often lacking in boring PowerPoints. I am definitely committed to delivering information in the most engaging way possible, because I think it can be the difference between forgetting the information as soon as the next slide is on screen and engaging in the information and being able to remember a PowerPoint on the FedEx logo 3 years later. That being said, I am not opposed to giving up control and allowing students to direct some of their own learning (within boundaries of course). Each student is unique in the way they learn and I think technology can aid in the teacher and student exploring alternative ways of learning and teaching. I would rank myself around a 5 in my ability to teach ICT in my own classroom. As a 23 year old technology plays a part in every aspect of my life and I feel like I am technologically literate. I wake up to an alarm on my phone, read the news on my phone while drinking my coffee in the morning, look up recipes online for lunch, watch Netflix on my smart TV while eating dinner to unwind, and use an app to help track my sleeping patterns. While I feel like I am confident with my use of technology, I feel like knowing and teaching are two VERY different things when it comes to ICT. My undergraduate degree was a Bachelor of New Media Arts and there was a heavy emphasis on teaching us how to learn how to use technology, not how to use specific software. I think in a world where technology is changing daily that this was a vital tool that I was taught, and that is definitely something that I want to try and embed into my teaching. We were taught how to learn, not how to use. When looking at the ICT general capabilities outlined in the Australian Curriculum I feel as if I would be confident in several areas, such as creating and communicating with ICT, and less confident in some areas such as applying social and ethical protocols and practices while using ICT. I feel as if the latter is something that needs very specific research on a case by case basis. Even though I feel confident in my own use of ICT’s I think that I will need to learn a lot more to become confident in using it fluently in the classroom and make sure the students are using it to the best of their abilities. ICT’s should be there to enhance to students learning and the teacher’s teachings. In the video below it talks about how the cognitive philosophers Andy Clarke and David Chalmers describe technology as a scaffolding that extends our thoughts, our reach and our vision. I think that this video is a really good description of how technology opens up a whole new world to us and can extend the boundaries of our thinking. |
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June 2017
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