Microsoft's PowerPoint tools have been in my quiver of presentation tools since I was a wee lad in high school, alongside tri-fold poster board and... ? Really, as a student, it had fulfilled my need to type out text and show pictures and graphs in a very linear way. Last week I learned how to make a non-linear "hypermedia" presentation using PowerPoint which really opened my eyes to a new dynamic level of online presentations. I created a short math quiz of multiple-choice answers. By choosing the correct answer you are directed to the next question; when you choose an incorrect answer you are directed to retry the question. In my quiz, each correct answer moved a cyclist forward in a race until he crossed the finish line, signaling a completed quiz. To create a 5-question quiz, I needed to use 16 slides. Pretty intensive but effective. The other thing I learned in that project was that I still have more to learn about PowerPoint. Overall, my impression of PowerPoint is that it is largely two-dimensional.
Here are some alternative presentation tools for comparison:
VoiceThread is an online presentation tool that its creators describe as a "verbal interaction" using a cloud-based application for different types of media (pictures, audio, etc.) that allows an "asynchronous conversation." (Click HERE for a video introduction to this tool.) It presents like a slide show but guests can insert comments, which include text, audio, and video commenting. This is important because it adds a dimension of accessibility which has the power to benefit deaf/hearing-impaired and blind/visually-impaired guests. I say "guests" because this online presentation tool can be used by students and families, as seen in this presentation below. (Check out a detailed description about this particular project HERE.)
The teacher presents a tool that is useful to Kindergarten students and their families. What is most powerful about this presentation is it teaches a useful tool to parents, exemplifying how they might expand on books while teaching concepts about print. I would use this, or something like this, to help connect students to books and reinforce these concepts at home by sharing with families. Unlike PowerPoint, VoiceThread gives a voice to guests (figuratively AND literally) to comment and ask questions.
WOW, and then there is Prezi which is described by its creators as the "vizualization of thoughts in motion." (Check out this video introduction HERE to see what that means.) Think of your last PowerPoint presentation, but with all the slides laid out on a giant poster. The presentation screen zooms in and out on particular pictures and concepts, connecting them in important ways that are not linear. Here is an example of what I'm describing:
This presentation is a lesson about money for a second grade class. It would be a useful review tool about the monetary value of different coin and bill types. At the same time, unlike an ordinary PowerPoint presentation, users can scan freely, zooming in and out to compare different thoughts, ideas, concepts, and media. The background designs are similar to the design you would find in PowerPoint; however, they are the single poster page like I described earlier and they serve as a "visual metaphor." For example, your background design could be an illustration of a tree; the presentation itself could climb up along the tree to fortify a metaphor about growing. This tool is very artful in the way it unfolds and I really like it.
Third, and last, I'll discuss SlideShare. This is another slide program with certain functions added to it to make it fairly dynamic. After perusing the site, it's apparent that the main draw to SlideShare is its functionality within social networking sites and its inclination toward a web presence and promotional draw. I was less impressed with this site but was interested to learn about capabilities to created webinars, recorded lectures, and musical slideshows. Apparently, with "Zipcast," you can combine slides, video, audio, and chat to create what its creators call a "1-click meeting." Also, where enabled, presentations can be reused and remixed which allows a new dimension to the sharing process, and seems conducive to information synergy. Though, some of these functions may be less applicable to elementary students. It was hard to search out elementary school level presentations, like this one below:
It is pretty simplistic and is essential a PowerPoint presentation. I could see using this program in the same way--as a way to promote student writing, presentation, and multimedia technology skills. Perhaps the difference is that SlideShare enables a more powerful web presence.
Conclusion:
Overall, the four tools have varied strengths. If i had to choose a favorite I'd probably go with Prezi (though I have yet to create my own Prezi project) since it appears to be the most artful, logical, and visually impressive.
