Presentations. Formative Task 3 :)

 Presentations - Why are they great?

PowerPoints are one media tool in which can be utilise within classrooms to expand, elaborate and visualise an idea to students. PowerPoints are simple yet effective, they are a great beginner tool and are easy to understand as a media tool. Personally I have experienced the use of power points in school, and they are extremely effective both for teacher presentations or student assessment tools. What can be implement into a powerpoint? Well, images, videos, texts and sounds can all be placed into a powerpoint presentation instead of just reading plain text from a screen. This makes it more fun and interactive for the viewer, in this case a class who may not always be interested, however with a presentation on PowerPoint it increases the chances on interaction. 

PowerPoint allows presenters to translate complex ideas, facts, or figures into easily digestible visuals. Visual representations of information activate the right hemisphere of the brain, which allows viewers to interpret, expound, and engage with what they're seeing (ESlide, 2023). Most students learn through visual representation, meaning when a topic is visually portrayed it digests and they understand the concept deeper. And using PowerPoint it gives the ability to visually portray the learning to students in an interactive and structured manner. This is just one positive of why PowerPoints are crucial for classroom activities and learning.

PowerPoints can be saved and sent through different emailing streams, making it easy to share and obtain feedback on your presentation. This meaning it makes it an easy yet effective tool for classroom use, allowing students to view and comment on their peers presentations or the teachers presentation as well. This initiates classroom discussion, ultimately helping students understand the concept deeper. 

There are aspects of legal and social conducts imbedded into using Power Point, this meaning it played positively towards classroom use. Powerpoint allows students to use audio and video footages during a presentation, however this feature can be turned off or even deleted from the software in which the PowerPoint app is being used, there are also safety and share features in which the user can enable and dis enable to make the PowerPoint software safer for use of children. There are also code of conducts in which must be followed whilst using the software and community guidelines are also present as well. 

This is all positive news in relation to using this media tool in the classroom, it ultimately turnsPowerPoints into a safe and effective classroom tool. 

SAMR and how does it work in relation to PowerPoints in the classroom? PowerPoint has already been embedded into the Australian Curriculum and is utilise for students nowadays through assessment pieces as well as classroom topics. With PowerPoint already being implemented into learning there isn't much room for growth, however there is a chance for modification, substitution and augmentation. This meaning all three of these aspects of the SAMR model could be implemented into learning for students in relation to the PowerPoint being used. 

The PowerPoint could still be used to Modify and Substitute assessment pieces within the school system, instead of a basic report a powerpoint presentation could be made. This could give the chance for students to be more creative, implement speech and video into their assessments instead of just doing a simple report on a topic. 

Augmentation: Using a PowerPoint presentation allows students to take out unnecessary information and focus not he informative points, ultimately making it easier to understand and follow. This allows students to improve on their learning comprehension and implement a fun and creative media style. 

PowerPoints are a great media tool for students in the classroom, they allow creativity and understanding through media and should be widely utilised in schools. PowerPoint is easy to use and implements a range of skills for students to develop whilst using, as well as a new and fun way to digest and undertake new topic in the classroom. 

References:

BookWidgets. (2023). What is the SAMR model. (IMAGE). Retrieved from https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2022/03/what-is-the-samr-model-of-technology-integration 

BUHAY TEACHER. (2023). Educational expert. (IMAGE). Retrieved from https://buhayteacher.com/education-expert-schools-should-ban-powerpoint-it-makes-students-stupid/ 

ESlide. (2023). Reasons why PowerPoint still needed. Retrieved from https://eslide.com/7-reasons-why-you-still-need-powerpoint/ 

Northern University. (2020). Teaching with PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/teaching-with-powerpoint.shtml

 

Alley, M., Schreiber, M., Ramsdell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006). How the design of headlines in presentation slides affects audience retention. Technical Communication, 53(2), 225-234. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43090718 

Digital Media. Formative Task 2 :)

Digital Media

Visual media has changed the way education is provided over the years and continues to change, it is integrated into contemporary education and is applied in mostly all teaching areas. The days where projectors, books and classroom whiteboards were used are long gone, nowadays laptops, video screens and tablets are utilised for education in schools. There are many forms of digital media used by teachers and students for integrated learning t improve learning outcomes. Examples of this include social media, podcasts, ted talks as well as reality TV, all of these examples are considered forms of digital media. The foes of this blog will be on a very popular and vastly used digital media platform called YouTube. I will cover and explore the technical capabilities, copyright and legal protocols and its potential in relation to students outcomes with their education. 

Classrooms before digital media consisted of whiteboards and media projectors for students education, now digital media such as YouTube is implemented into everyday life around schools. With digital media such as YouTube being used for everyday life around schools there are a few key factors to consider, firstly, teachers need to be aware all students are different and there are three main types of learners; visual, auditory and Kinaesthetic (Birt, 2023). This meaning students can rely on different factors of learning such as some students may learn more from visual representations rather than reading from a textbook and the other way around. Auditory learners rely on having discussions and listening in order to consolidate information and kinaesthetic learners rely on more practical hands on experiences to reinforce their knowledge (Birt, 2023). With YouTube it benefits classroom settings, having the ability to display complex and in-depth concepts in a short and simple timeframe, allowing students adequate time for their understanding and execution of a subject or learning category. 

YouTube has many functions allowing people to upload their own media as well as view other creators media as well. Once a person uploads a video they are needed to meet community guidelines making sure it is safe for viewing and not inappropriate in any way, strict guidelines apply for users under the child protection laws and failure to do so can result in legal consequences. After community guidelines are reached copyright checking filters are applied making sure no copyright has been made. meaning any music, images, logos are attached to the videos, and if so these are detected and flagged, resulting in either an edit being made by the uploader or immediate termination of the video. Videos like any other media platform can be seen by your chosen audience, you can choose for a public video or just for your followers and friends. Once this step is complete your video will be saved and you can edit and finalise for upload onto the platform. Here you can add copyright free audio files, special effect filters, subtitles and other editing functions such as the blurring out faces, which may be useful should you not want the subjects of your video identified. Taking into consideration when students will be using and searching through this platform it is crucial to monitor and make sure their content is being sifted through and trusted, YouTube does a great job at making sure appropriate videos are being shown in relation to topics and learning areas. 

Youtube is a digital media platform where people can share their ideas, knowledge and skills and where users can watch, comment and upload their own videos if they want. It is an easy to use platform and can be used by anyone no matter the technology experience, meaning it is very user friendly for beginners and perfect for educational purposes. In need of a task or lesson on simple math? In need of an explanation of safety in a classroom workshop? Youtube will have the perfect video for the job. Youtube does require an email for login, making sure to filter and keep safe and relative media for the user at hand. There is an algorithm used where once a user has search a topic or an array of media it filters relative media for future viewing. This can be helpful as it can lead a larger onwards to other useful videos and resources for their topic or interest. 

Encourage collaboration, accountability and creativity are all aspects of learning in which is encouraged thpouhgt the use of media in the classroom. This is demonstrated in the SAMR model. In my particular teaching area of Industrial Design and technology a woodwork class would traditionally write down their working procedures or lesson plans in a notebook or workbook. This can be substituted by having the students type up their working procedures on laptops or computers at school. The work procedure could then be Augmented by a getting the students to create a PowerPoint presentation of their work procedure and presenting it to the class orally. 

Youtube gives students the ability to research and explore a topic using digital media that is safe, appropriate and easy to use making it time efficient and appropriate for educational use. Educators must provide clear links between the intended learning outcomes and the digital media being displayed, if this is done effectively it is a great learning tool for students and teachers. 

References

Birt, K. (2023, March 30), Digital Pedagogies Week 4 Power Point: Digital Media, [Slides 4, 5, 6 & 7], CQU Moodle. https://moodle.cqu.edu.au 

Australian Law Reform Commission. (n.d.). What is fair use? Australian Government https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/copyright-and-the-digital-economy-alrc-report-122/4-the-case-for-fair-use/what-is-fair-use-2/

Cielo 24. (2021). Retrieved from CIELO 24: https://cielo24.com/2020/10/7-reasons-youtube-should-be-in-every-classroom/ 

GCF global. (2020). Retrieved from Youtube: editing your videos: https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/youtube/editing-your-videos-on-youtube/1/

School, P. (2023). SAMR MODEL. Retrieved from https://www.powerschool.com/blog/samr-model-a-practical-guide-for-k-12-classroom-technology-integration/