Powerpoint Presentations

Powerpoint was something I had little experience with before this year in our MAT program. Hard to believe, but as i finished my undergrad, there was just not a high demand or use of it yet. So everything I saw in them was terrific! The best item I saw or took away from the presentations was the sheer multitude of uses for this tool. I think I may make powerpoint presentations on everything I do and just show them to family and friends for fun! But I really see the value of being able to organize information this way. It offers a visual reference to anything or any information you wish to get across. I really enjoyed Steve's presentation on his travels through Chile. I think this is a great way to share experiences like this and to show photos along with pertinent information for fellow or future travelers.

The least engaging thing about powerpoints could be too much text. If you take the time to create one and just fill it with words, you might as well have just created a handout like lazy PE teachers like myself. To not put to use the visual tools associated with this tool seems to render it pointless. One thing that I don't feel anyone did, but is an important factor for using this technology has to be the importance of visual stimulation. Fill it with color and pictures and limit the amount of text and words to avoid a dull presentation!

After viewing everyone's presentations, I feel I could have definitely added more. It could have been more organized as well. I did a presentation on my trip to Lao and although it may have given people a look at what I did and where I was, I could have gotten more specific. In the future I will keep that in mind, but I also figured on our 5 minute time limit and it was great just to get to use the technology!

As a lesson presenter, I feel that powerpoint is an important and powerful tool and one that our students should get proficient with. It is a great way to deliver information with the help of visual stimulation as well as text. The pros are countless, but a few cons that could be found would definitely have to do with getting the technology to work within the classroom. That is, to make sure that the technology is up and running and there are no glitches that could render a student's project or presentation useless. As of today and my own experience, these problems are sparatic at best and way to prevalent. If our schools were to get more technologically serious and have things working better, this could be a tool used everyday for any occasion.