Powerpoint!

I am an inexperienced PowerPoint user. Sure I have done the small presentations to aid a high school assignment but other than that I had little knowledge of it functions and how great the possibilities are in extending learning.

PowerPoint is one of the most popular tools in helping to present information. All through out school I was taught to utilise PowerPoint and encouraged to use it in my presentations. I did not. I am quite technologically challenged and gave up easily when it came to PowerPoint. It was not until uni that I began to get the hang of it and with the help of my friends I was able to add sound, pictures, web links and information to the slides. As I used it more I was able to manipulate the slides to appear on a timer as well as the music and pictures.

PowerPoint is a great tool to use in the classroom. Students love to get on the computer and design their own visual aid to go with their presentation. Last year in my prac I was able to use PowerPoint to introduce a new topic at the start of term 3. I was able to see that the students would rather be looking at something than just listening to the teacher ramble on about what this topic is about...

The only negative thing about PowerPoint from my point of view is that some students may just read from the slides and not use it as an aid but as their whole assignment, students need to understand that it is used as an addition to their assessment not all of it.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Ta Elise :)