Is PowerPoint Obsolete?

In our PIDP3240 class there has been a lot of discussion around the use of PowerPoint as an educational tool. The general consensus is that PowerPoint is over used and often misused.

This video presents the hilarious truths about how NOT to use PowerPoint...

And that is just it, Power Point presentations are becoming laughable. In businesses we see the projector out on a table during a meeting and it's like "oh here we go, the same old routine we already know". Power Point is often long-winded, text heavy and BORING.

There is a glimmer of hope! Pecha Kucha 20 x 20 has swooped in the save the day. What is Pecha Kucha you may ask? Pecha Kucha is a structured effective use of PowerPoint. essentially it is a presentation consisting of 20 slides and 20 seconds each slide, and little (preferably no) text. The format was originally seen in Tokyo in 2003 as a way for designers to share their thoughts and ideas in a public format. It was an architectural firm that hosted the very first Pecha Kucha event, and they invented the format because simply, people talk too much.

Now Pecha Kucha nights are hosted all over the world, and presentations are on any topic imaginable. To find more information check out this website http://www.pechakucha.org/ There are also dozens of presentations to watch. I find this format of presentation fun exciting and brief. It really lends itself well to the shrinking attention spans of students today. 

The structure of the Pecha Kucha format tends to eliminate the "do nots" listed in the presentation above.

There are other ways to update the idea of digital presentations. Take a look This Web 2.0 Tool called Prezi http://prezi.com/. Here is a sample video of a presentation made using Prezi...

Prezi is dynamic and exciting. The transitions are beautiful and music and other enhancements can be added easily. It makes the presentation much more creative. Prezi can also me used on a variety of mediums, online, offline, even on portable devices.

PowerPoint isn't going anywhere, but the way that people use it needs to change. PowerPoint can be an effective tool as long as presenters take the time and follow some "rules".

Web 2 point what.....

Web 2.0 tools

 

(web two-point-oh)

What the heck does Web 2.0 mean. I sure didn't know that the term even existed until I took this course. PIDP3240. The truth is, people use Web 2.0 tools every day, multiple times a day.

Simply, Web 2.0 is a term used to describe developements to the world wide web that have changed the way that the general public uses it. Web 2.0 makes the internet interactive. It is using the internet for purposes other than the passive viewing of content.

 

This ia an image of a Web 2.0 Map.

Go here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Web_2.0_Map.svg for a full sized interactive version of the map.

 

 

When you click on the links in the Map it takes you directly to the wikipedia page of the same title. All of the words in this map are ways to describe Web 2.0. The Map itself is a Web 2.0 tool.

 

Web 2.0 tools number in the thousands. There are many that can be used in an educational capacity in nearly any subject. I found this great image below that maps tools into catergories...

 

https://sites.google.com/site/educationalweb20tools/

 

The best Web 2.0 tools allow users new ways of collaborating and editing and creating material on the internet. A blog is a Web 2.0 tool that has all these qualities. All social media is Web 2.0.

 

I found a great list of Web 2.0 tools here http://edudemic.com/2011/11/best-web-tools/ As I read through the list, I realized that I have used so many of these, and found many others that I would like to learn to use. This highlights were as follows, click on the titles to go to the official web pages!

 

Skype: Skype has revelutionized affordable long distance education. Skype has allowed group work and collaboration over great distances to become as easy as working with our neighbours.

 

Wikispaces: Wikispaces is an easy and intuitive way for anyone to create and edit informational web pages.

 

Dropbox: Dropbox is an easy way to share documents over the internet, and access them from anywhere.

 

Youtube: Youtube is an endless educational video resource. Videos on youtube are made by amateurs and experts alike. You can learn anything from makeup techniques to advance string theory on here.

 

Amazon: Amazon has almost any piece of media for sale, and they will deliver right to your door. There are a ton of aducational and hard to find titles. Prices are often competiive!

 

These are only a few examples. Are there any examples of Web 2.0 tools that you know of? Anything that I have to know about! Let me know...

Copyright, Fair use, and Creative Commons

So Today I added a creative commons license to the ltop right corner of my blog. It was really easy. This made me decide to write my Blog post today on Copyright and how it affects us as educators.

Lots of people think that it is okay to use any material any way they want as long as it is for education. Truth is... That is not true. There are a lot of licenses and laws that can prohibit use of material, limit use of material, and govern how material is used and where. Educators must be very careful when they plan to use material that they have not licensed or created themselves. I am going to summarize the differences and similarities between Copyright, Fair use and Creative commons.

Copyright

Copyright laws were created to protect the authors of original work. It oulines who gets paid for their original work and also who has to pay for that work. Copyright lasw vary greatly between different countries, and even different forms of work. As a general rule in Canada Copyrights protect work for the life of the author and an additional 50 years after the author's death. Unless someone renews the copyright, or in other special cases the work becomes part of the public domain. Using copyrighted work without permission can result in legal action, commonly law suits, claims and injunctions.

There are some exceptions to copyright laws. Sometimes the government can give special permission to certain groups, who are generally working for greater public good.

Example:

Format shifting (reproduction for private purposes)

Time shifting

Back-up Copies

Non-commercial User Generated Content

Also educational purposes:

Publicly Available Materials on the Internet

Distance Education

Cinematographic works

Reproduction in Class

The General rule for using copyrighted material in classroom situation is to ask yourself: Am I reproducing this to save the students purchasing it? If so, then you are breaching Copyright. 

Here is a link to Canadian Copyright Legislation http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/C-42.pdf

Fair Use

The basic definition of fair use is that the use of material does not hurt the market for that material.

Fair Use is an exception to copyright laws that include:

Research

Private Study

Criticism

Review

News Reporting

Fair dealing is a very American Concept, but has been adopted by Canadian Copyright law as well. Canadian laws have more control over Fair Use. To Qualify as fair use of copyrighted material, the material can only be used for the reasons above. Not much else qualifies.

There is a 6 factor test that the suprme court uses to determine if a use is fair or not. A really good explanantion of this test can be found here http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6616/125/

The basic steps are:
1. Purpose of the dealing
2. Character of the dealing
3. Amount of the dealing
4. Alternatives to the dealing
5. Nature of the Work
6. Effect of the dealing on the work.

Creative Commons

Creative commons is a non profit organization that provides free tools to allow anyone to share their intellectual property. They provide free easy to use licences that limit the use of your intellectual property. Their website can be found here: http://creativecommons.org/

This video posted on their website is a really simple breakdown of what they do http://creativecommons.org/about it's short and full of good information.

Creative commons provides tips for making sure that the information you use is not copyright proptected, and has amazing resources to find images and music that is free to use.

Creative Commons is a great tool, and I will definately be using it more in the future

Face to Face

Well I have been a small hiatus due to a few different reasons. Oddly enough, both to do with education of some form or another. Last weekend I was in Portland Oregon, did some sight seeing and a lot of dancing. I like to social dance, mostly Lindy Hop, which is a 1940's style swing dance. A group in Portland was putting on a 3 day event, so I went with a friend to chec it out.  See the video below for a quick clip of What Lindy Hop is all about...

Now, I am by no means nearly as good as the people in the clip, but it is something I strive for. Therefore, I take lessons. I have realized that learning onlind and with media alone is not always going to work. Learning this way is largely isolated. Somethings have to be learned face to face. Some things need a partner. Some skills need immediate feedback before bad habits are learned.

In the rest of this entry, I am going to list a few examples of things that cannot be taught using digital materials or media in anyway, because there is nothing worse than using a teaching method that is completely innapropriate to the material being taught. Don't get me wrong, I really like learning through media, and online, but I thought a cautionary post was in order.

• Partner Dancing- this cannot be taught alone in isolation by videos , or online media. Sure the steps can be taught in a video, but a partner needs to be there too in order to learn the physical dynamics of the dance. technique is much easier taught in person as well. It is challenging to show all angles in a video for 2 partners at the same time. Solo dancing can be taught fairly effectively through media though, but it would need to be videos, books and drawings will never be adequate.
• Public speaking- this has to be in a face to face situation, likely even a large  group of students. An essential part of public speaking s becoming comfortable with an audience. Individuals feel much safer online (even if on video) than they do in front of a group of real people.
• Dental Hygiene- any process that requires fine motor-skills is better taught in person. Again immediate feed-back can eliminate bad habits, or acquiring incorrect muscle memory.

These are only a few examples that I came up with. I hope that readers might comment with some of their own examples.