Tuesday, February 22, 2011
#5 - This Blasted Slide Show
Hi everyone. Let me start by saying that this was one of the more frustrating things that we've been asked to do so far. Granted, after talking with the professor I realized that most of my issues were self-imposed and apparently I'm not as far along as I thought I was. Still, this one had me pulling out my hair and channeling the spirit of an angry, anti-technology, TV Grandpa as I shouted at my computer monitor "why won't you work?!"
Now that I've got that little bit of venting out of the way I can admit that it was kind of important that I got this figured out, because this is a pretty useful technique to know. This is one step forward to making sure that no student, or teacher for that matter is ever out of reach. Any kid who was out sick, or on vacation, or just a little out of it one day, can go online and get the day's notes online straight from the horse's mouth. And, this even goes beyond just helping out kids. I attended a Board of Ed meeting last week, and (while I pray I never have to see another one as long as I live) I met one father who was concerned about how much trouble his kid was having in math and how he was unable to lend his child a hand. Imagine how much something like this could've helped that man, to be able go to the teacher's website and find a tutorial that would walk him through the formulas in question and help him to help his son. Heck even a teacher can be helped with this. Have your students post a presentation complete with their own voice and then you're not devoting days of class time to the live version, and the kids don't have to feel nervous about performing in front of their friends, at least not all the time.
The more I think about this type of program, the more useful it seems, even if it's not quite as user friendly as advertised. As teachers it seems we're all going to be pretty dependent on Powerpoint, whether we like it or not. It's a tool that gets our point across to the kids, their parents, might even be useful when you have to explain to the higher-ups what the heck you're doing with your class time. So, with this program being so important, I guess any tool that makes it more useful is, at its core a good thing.
That being said, I still can't believe how long I was stuck listening to myself. Does my voice really sound like that?
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I think we all feel that way about our voices. Anything new learning is supposed to be difficult and require some effort. I am glad you worked through it. The hurdles you remember provide you with the lessons and motivation for future learning.
ReplyDeleteGreat points about how this technology can be used.
Ryan, your slidecast turned out great! I also had a bit of trouble getting all of the compenents to work together properly. I like the idea that you introduced in your blog about having the students use this technology to deliver presentations.
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