Reflection 4, Week 5

For this week’s task I chose to find out more on PowerPoint by Microsoft and it’s application within the classroom.

I remember using PowerPoint presentations as early as 2000 for a class in IT. In fact, the subject was brand new that year in the school and I remember getting my “subject wish list” for year 9 and 10 in at 8:00 am and getting stamped 1 just so I could get into the subject as it had limited placement. 

Image Source: http://www.bbhcsd.org/start/t4t/

                                   

The task we were to do in 2000 was to choose something that interested the student. They were to lightly research it then conduct an aural presentation on the slides they created. Mine was about a movie that was coming out at the time, U-571 that turned out to be a terrible movie and a disappointment. 

 

Image Source: U-571

PowerPoint has come along way in the last 15 years since my introduction to the program. The program has evolved into a simple yet powerful easy to use program. The user can make charts of all sorts, graphs and pie charts. You can upload music, sound clips and videos to the PowerPoint with an extensive range of themes, fonts and customization that no one would have believed. With programs like Mouse Mischief that allow students to interact with the teacher on screen no one would have ever thought it possible.

For my PowerPoint presentation this week I decided to create a power point to incorporate into a class lesson. I would scaffold the students for this task by starting the lessons with the presentation I have started. The lesson would be held in the library at the computers where I would show the students the type of information I have researched and added to my presentation. I would then ask them to lightly research one or two jazz greats, create a PowerPoint slide, include some interesting facts about the musician and finish it with a tune the jazz musician recorded. 

Once they have created their slide they can email it to me and I can add it to the slide. At the end of the lesson I will give all the students a choice as to who they can study more in-depth from the lesson’s research and conduct a 5 minute aural on their chosen musician using the combined students slide for their assessment. 

Jazz greats from Wesley Samuels

PMI Chart for PowerPoint

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING
· Program has been in use for 25 years · Many new features added over that time · A versatile program with the use of audio, images and video in the slides · Most students and staff own a copy and know the basic functionality of the program · Use with programs such as Magic Mouse	· With the age of the program the user runs the risk of their PowerPoint presentations becoming stale · If a student misses a class with the aural presentation which expand on content of slides they miss out on that information · Audience becomes distracted with reading the slide instead of listening to the speaker	· Visuals · Look and stimulus to the eye · Links to websites and youtube videos · Ease of sharing presentations with anyone who own the program · Wide range of building themes and slide layouts