Week 10:

Tis' been a good week filled with discovery.

I use PowerPoint for almost every class I teach so I decided to skip to newer presentation tools.

At first I tried Emaze. It was truly Emazing... but it was so much more futuristic than anything Iv'e ever done! I felt like I was in the Matrix. For students that learn best visually this may be a great option because it will definitely get their attention. However, for me, the one who prepares and gives the presentation, it was too much and distracting.

Then I found Prezi. Prezi is an alternative presentation tool that lets you add pictures, videos and all sonts of media, and it's all online! With Prezi i created a short presentation and i was able to design it exactly as i wanted. The main ideas is that the screen looks like a path and as you move along the presentation, you feel as if your walking down the path, moving forward, and learning things on the way. I think Prezi is the perfect combination between PowerPoint and Emaze. It let me add all the information I needed and let me present it in an engaging way that draws in the audience without disorienting them.

I also tried Takk. Feeling like an artist while online is always exciting for me because I feel like i can't always do exactly what I want the way paper and scissors can. Takk solved a large portion of that problem being very art oriented. It takes a pretty artsy kind of person to really enjoy Takk since it helps you create collages that mix color, writing and media.

Personally I'm not sure I would use this tool at this point in my education because it is meant to be part of a social network (for instance - connected and appearing on Facebook), and I'm just not sure yet how the two can produce something educational...

I do look forward to using Prezi in my next presentations and seeing the students reaction! 

I'll let you know how it goes...

Tal Berlinger