Wednesday, August 19, 2009

SlideShare – Presentation Fun!

I have just created a SlideShare account where individuals & organizations upload presentations to share their ideas and connect with others. Anyone can find presentations on topics that interest them. They can tag, download, or embed presentations into their own blogs & websites (Slideshare, 2009).



I can see how this tool would make life easier. It removes the need for everything to be on a USB. SlideShare stores your slides online; you can embed it onto your class wiki to share with families or for children who may have missed out on the class. I like the fact you can download slides of all topics to share with your students. You could use a picture slide, like the one embedded here, to engage your students into a topic. Or share an information or documentary slideshow with them, a bit like a YouTube clip.

This tool would have benefited my year 7 class, who made and presented PowerPoint displays on Global Economies. Students could have uploaded their slides and presented from the SlideShare site. Instead of students writing comments and feedback to their peers on paper, after watching the presentation, they could jump online and leave comments directly under the slideshow. I like that the Learning Manager can set up a class group on the site and the accounts can be set to private to protect the students’ identities. I also think the students would enjoy putting music or a voice recording with their slides. Prensky (2005) says that all of the students we teach have something in their lives that’s really engaging. So I think it is important to use tools such as this one which can be engaging, has a creative component to it and allows the digital natives some creative freedom.


Til next time,

Cheers,

Bec


Prensky, M. (2005, September/October). Engage Me or Enrage Me. Retrieved 19th, August, 2009, from: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf

SlideShare. (2009). SlideShare, About Us: Retrieved August 19th, 2009, from: http://www.slideshare.net/about?PHPSESSID=cdcd1c967d45a922f503f2147b6d3902

2 comments:

  1. Hi Bec,

    I have found this to be a great storage tool - no more lost or unreadable USB sticks!

    It is also great to not have to download a PowerPoint presentation that you may have uploaded to your MediaFire account. It also allows you to access it no matter where you are!

    Within the classroom it would allow students to research and find presentations/documents about their chosen topic.

    Talk to you soon,

    Mel :)

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  2. Hi Bec,
    SlideShare is an awesome technology tool which would work extremely well for those learners who are continually away from sickness or have just taken a long holiday. It is such a great resource that enables learners to access any where, day or night. Good thinking Bec, I will definitely put these uses for SlideShare in the build up of my professional pedagogy strategies.
    Kind Regards
    Lizzy

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