The Use of PowerPoint

Hi Fellow Bloggers,

Welcome to week three! 


This week's content on Moodle has been discussing the positive aspects of the well-known 'Powerpoint'. The first activity has presented the following question:


"Can you identify the ways you could use PowerPoint in your classroom beyond a mundane presentation of content?" (Courtesy of Moodle - week 3).


Response: When discussing PowerPoint, I think of three things; 

• User friendly
• Quick and visually appealing
• Endless possibilities 

I would like to discuss the first point which is 'user friendly'.  In grade 6 or 7, I clearly remember having to create a 30second powerpoint. Even being so young, I do not remember stressing over the process of creating a Powerpoint. To me, Powerpoint (PP) is of a second nature. What I do remember is the excitement and enthusiasm that we had when creating our PP's, and actually having the opportunity to create such work using ICT's. It was something completely different to writing an assignment etc, it was fun, interactive and educational all at the same time!


Secondly, PP is a quick, easy and visually appealing program when created successfully. Personalising a powerpoint is fun and promotes creativity among students. At the touch of a button, a picture can be added, the page can change colour and animation and sounds can bring a PP to life! So simple!


There are endless uses for a PP in a classroom context. For example, a learning manager can create a quiz, information source or assignment using a PP. To do this, a teacher could create the structure of the assignment (using questions and a layout from PP). The students then must search the web (safely), to find the answers to the assignment questions. Not only would this be a fun and interactive way of learning, but it would break down the assignment into steps and questions for the students to follow.


Furthermore, as a beginning assignment for the year, students could collect pictures of their holiday break, and create a powerpoint to display their journeys. The students could also create a "who am I?" assignment, where the students must guess which PP belongs to each student! 


The LM could also create a 'class PP', where the students can add information about the unit in which they are learning. Students could be given 1hr or more per week to work on this 'class PP', and at the end of the unit, the LM could put the PP on a disk, as a source of accessible information for the future!








Thank you,
Brid 




References: Moodle - Managing E learning, Week 3 Learning Activities. 
Powerpoint is courtesy of Microsoft.
Courtesy of  instructify.com for using the image