How to Put the Power Back into PowerPoint Presentations

Up until recently, I, like many of you reading this, made mistakes when making PowerPoint presentations.  These mistakes took the power out of the PowerPoint presentations I made, and often stopped me from getting my point across too.  I made mistakes, but I made them unconsciously as I copied the style of presentation I had seen many times before, by the lecturers and teachers who had taught me.   Then I was shown the Ted Talks video, 'How To Avoid Death By PowerPoint', by David JP Phillips.  This video changed the way I use PowerPoint, by given me 5 basic rules to follow when creating a PowerPoint presentation:

1. One Message per Slide: More then one message and all other messages get lost.

2. Short Messages: Do not use long sentences or passages.

3. Size: Make sure the most important message in the largest, not the heading.

4. Use Dark Backgrounds: It assists the audience in focusing on the presenter, rather then the presentation.  

5.  Only Have Six Objects per Slide.

Following these rules will help you make presentations more effective.

You can watch David JP Phillips explain why these rules make better PowerPoint presentations in the above video.

Powerless with PowerPoint: 3 Alternatives to using Microsoft PowerPoint for Presentations

Most teachers and businessmen are aware of Microsoft PowerPoint as a presentation tool, but few are aware of the alternatives.  Below I have listed my top three alternatives and their advantages over PowerPoint.

1. Prezi

Unlike PowerPoint, Prezi is not a slide based presentation tool, it is cloud based.  This helps the presenter to create animated presentations using Adobe Flash.  As there are no slides, you store information on a canvas and choreograph your presentation.  Prezi is very different from PowerPoint, but has advantages for those looking for a different kind of presentation.  I can see the benefits of this application, with its zooming qualities, I will be able to zoom into areas of images, paintings and photographs that I want to highlight to the class, and I look forward to using this type of presentation in the future.  

2. Slide Rocket

If you want alternative slide based presentation software to PowerPoint, then I recommend Slide Rocket.  Slide Rocket has advanced animations and transitions, and I have chosen this as an excellent substitute for those looking to create similar presentations to PowerPoint, but are in search of an alternative.   

3.  Powtoon

Powtoon creates a new presentation experience, using animated characters to introduce story telling, rather than fact based presentations.  This software gives you the ability to create short animations to add to your presentation experience.  This is an excellent presentation tool for anyone who wants to bring more life into their teaching, and is a recommended change for those who find their students napping during sessions.      

Barriers to the Effective Use of Technology in Education

In modern teaching practices, ICT has become part of learning, but often barriers can influence the effectiveness of ICT, and the teacher’s ability to integrate ICT into the classroom environment.  Many institutions lack funding and resources, this stifles the ability of the teacher to integrate ICT into their teaching. Helena Gillespie states that a lack of funding can create a limited choice on how institutions spend that funding, creating barriers in the institutions ability to procure new technology and introduce new ICT into the classroom (Gillespie, 2006, pp. 30-45).  She illustrates how schools can only spend money allocated for e-learning credits to purchase new forms of ICT, but often have no resources for staff training on how to use the new equipment.   (Gillespie, 2006, p. 39). These kinds of problems with ring-fenced funding can create barriers for introducing new resources and training that are needed by educational institutions (Gillespie, 2006, p. 39).   Funding is an even larger problem in institutions that are third-sector, and have less funding and resources to begin with.   Whether it is a state or a third-sector educational facility, planning and thought need to be given on the most effective way to spend the funding available. 

But once we have the means to introduce ICT into the classroom, some teachers are still reluctant to realise the potential advantages of ICT as a resource for learning.  Lynn Dawes identifies five reasons why teachers are hesitant to introduce ICT into their teaching:

 

                        ·         The teacher does not own a personal computer or lacks ICT skills.

·         The teacher does not feel a sense of purpose for using ICT.

·         Inadequate training.

·         A belief that ICT will affect time management.

·         Inclusion into a supportive community of ICT users. (Dawes, 2001, p. 66)

For these reasons, the teacher may be reluctant to introduce ICT to assist learning.  By encouraging improvements in ICT training, and with the support networks of those teachers who already incorporate ICT in their teaching; teachers may overcome these barriers of reluctance and begin to understand the benefits that ICT may present.  However, Webb and Cox (Webb & Cox, 2007) believe that an assessment criteria for teachers ICT skills is the only way to encourage teachers to adopt ICT into their practice. (Lim & Chai, 2008, p. 825)

But even when the teacher incorporates ICT, the ability of students to use ICT can present a personal barrier in their learning. Students may not have a personal computer, ICT skills, or may be from a generation not of the computer age; these things can create barriers to learning for the student.  It is up to the tutor to encourage ICT skills and promote ICT usage in the classroom.  MacCallum and Jeffrey’s also state how students who have less skill in ICT will also be more reluctant to adopt newer forms of learning, such as mobile learning. (MacCallum & Jeffrey, 2013, p. 310)

There are many barriers to using ICT, but the advantages of using ICT in learning outweigh the disadvantages. ICT as a learning tool should be encouraged by all tutors, and tutors should try to overcome any barriers to teaching with ICT to create a more efficient learning environment for their students. 

Works Cited

Dawes, L. (2001). Issues in Teaching Using ICT. (M. Leask, Ed.) Routledge Falmer.

Gillespie, H. (2006). Unlocking Learning and Teaching with ICT. David Fulton Publishers.

Lim, C. P., & Chai, C. S. (2008). Teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and their planning and. British Journal of Educational Technology , 39 ( 5), 807 - 828.

MacCallum, K., & Jeffrey, L. (2013). The influence of students' ICT skills and their adoption of Mobile Learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, , 29 (3), 303 - 315.

Webb, M., & Cox, M. (2007). A review of pedagogy related to information and communications technology. Pedagogy and Education , 235-286.

For a Full Bibliography Please Follow the Link Below:

Barriers to the Effective Use of Technology in Education - Bibliography

Apps: The Apples of Knowledge

Mobile applications are a fairly new invention, creating the opportunity to play games, find the latest headlines or discover sports results.  But these applications also give the teacher an opportunity to create a more diverse learning environment.  I have just started to discover the benefit of the educational applications available for Android. There are applications to assist us in learning maths, languages, geography and even to help us pass our driving test.  Currently most of these educational applications are designed for children, but we can only hope that as we continue to witness the growth of mobile technologies, we will also witness a growth in educational applications designed toward the further education of adults.  But although there are a lack of applications that specialise in subject area, there are still many apps that assist the student in taking notes, watching videos and keeping in contact with other students and lecturers, so applications are already assisting in the mobile learning revolution and changing the way we learn.       

Georgian London - Blog Review

If you found a time machine, many of you may travel to ancient Rome, or travel back to Venice during the renaissance, or you may choose some war, revolution or more relaxing period in history. But I know without doubt, that I would travel back to Georgian London. You may wonder why I would travel to a time of booze, bawdy houses and bad stinks.  But my answer would be, 'I am an historian, and the period we choose to study in history would always be the first point of call for any historian'. As it is unlikely I will ever find a time machine, the closest an historian can get to their subject, is by discovering as much about their period as possible   But just because I specialise in Georgian London, I still do not know everything there is to know about the period; the historian who believes they know everything about their specialist period is not a very good historian, as there is always something new to be discovered. This is why I subscribe to the posts of 'Georgian London'.  This blog is written by Lucy Inglis, a writer and historian on Georgian London, and contains regular academic posts on the period. To be a good teacher, we need to keep on adapting our knowledge. The 'Georgian London' blog assists me in doing this, by keeping my knowledge of the period fresh and up to date.  It is an excellent academic source for anyone interested in Georgian London or the Georgian period, and the articles are often interesting and well written; it is just a pity that there are not many other blogs available that are written by academics in this style.  

To go to the blog 'Georgian London', please click on web link below:
http://georgianlondon.com/

How Technology has Changed the Way We Learn

Technology has changed the way we teach, but has also changed the way our students learn.  We have come a long way from the chalk and black board; the only resource available to a teacher of the past, and the dusty old library books, that were the only resource available for learners of yesteryear.  When we enter a classroom, the resources that teachers have available today can create a much more adaptable situation to benefit learners.  Teachers can now use PowerPoint, laptops, white boards, tablets and the internet to create a more engaging and educational environment.  Cohen, Manion and Morrison state that ICT has helped raise student achievement in all subjects for all students. (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2004, p. 66).  They also claim that ICT has promoted higher order thinking to evaluate knowledge, it promotes fostered collaborative learning, it has the ability to promote learning for capability and problem solving and it has raised students’ motivation and engagement significantly (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2004, p. 66). Besides this, in the subject of history it assists the teacher in showing images to learners from the past, bringing the period of study to life, and assists the tutor in creating a more effective learning environment. The Department for Education and Skills suggests that schools that use ICT effectively outperform those that do not (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2004, pp. 66-67). This exhibits how ICT, when adopted, can advance the learning experience of students.  But Gillespie has gone even further, she states that ICT encourages social inclusion through learning, by highlighting how ICT motivates pupils in their learning environment, how it delivers learning materials that assist multi-sensory learning and learning styles, how it can develop English as an additional language, by letting learners work at home and how it encourages continued learning from home (Gillespie, 2006, p. 103)

But this new technological learning age is not just confined to the classroom; learning is now portable, as technologies have become smaller and more advanced.  Jean D. M. Underwood even goes as far as to claim that mobile technologies are taking over the uses and functionality of computers (Underwood & Dockrell, 2007, p. 3), and with these new portable technologies students carry access to the internet in their pocket. Learning has become inclusive, portable and easy to access.  Students are constantly connected with their lecturers and fellow students. Groups of learners can now discuss activities and learning through online chat forums, or face to face on Skype, making it easy to keep in contact with fellow learners.  

The internet is also an extremely useful educational resource for information, containing websites on academic subjects in every area; this gives students easy access to information that they could never have reached before technology made it possible.  

We now live in a technological age that is constantly adapting, developing and enhancing our learning experience.  We have witnessed many changes in the way we learn through technology, and we are still witnessing changes in the way that we learn with each new technology. 

Works Cited

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2004). A Guide to Teaching: Fifth Edition. Routeledge Falmer.

Gillespie, H. (2006). Unlocking Learning and Teaching with ICT: Identifying and Overcoming Barriers . David Fulton.

Underwood, J. D., & Dockrell, J. (2007). Learning Through Digital Technologies. The British Psycological Society.

For Full Bibliography Please Click Link Below:
How Technology Has Changed the Way We Learn - Bibliography

My Experiences With Mobile Technology and Learning

Mobile technology is a relatively new experience for me, only receiving a hand me down I-phone earlier this year and recently purchasing a Kindle HD.  I was reluctant to adopt this new technology at first, but have recently changed my mind about its advantages.  The kindle has changed the way I use such technology. I currently use the kindle for reading, receiving emails, writing and many other activities. But it has not just changed the way I do everyday activities, it has also changed my learning experience.  I can now download journal articles and highlight text with the kindle easy note-taking and highlighting capabilities.  I have also purchased a keyboard, that has turned this android into a portable note book.  This means that I have been able to use my kindle in lectures to take notes, making the move away from pen and paper.  Mobile technology has began to drastically change the way I learn, both in and out of the classroom, and I believe I am just uncovering the opportunities it holds.

Pin It, Pin It and Pin Another

In my research for the micro-teaching session on the Impoliteness of Polite Society in the Long Eighteenth-Century, I came across a handy little tool for keeping all images of caricatures, paintings and old photos that I might use in the future for teaching.  The site is called Pinterest and I am already collecting numerous images to use.  This is an excellent site for history teachers to store collections of images, and has already assisted me in deciding what images to use in my micro-teaching session.

You can look at the images I have already collected by following the link below.

 Follow Andrew's Board of Georgian Caricatures on Pinterest.

Ted Talks - Ken Robinson: How Schools Kill Creativity

In this video, Ken Robinson discusses how schools kill creativity, so that by the time children reach adulthood their creativity has already been drained.  This is a subject that I have discussed many times in the past.  I believe that all educators, whether teaching primary, secondary, or in adult education, need to nurture the creativity of their students, whatever those creative talents may be. Robinson argues that creativity is as important as literacy skills.  We should continue to encourage children and adults with their literacy and numeracy skills, but we should also encourage children and adults to be creative with talents, wherever they lay.  Lets consider if Albert Einstein had not been creative with his mathematical skills, then we would never have had the theory of relativity.  So many writers have used their writing creativity to inspire others to go on to do great things. Society needs to be creative to keep on advancing, as creativity is responsible for the advances in art, media, medicine, technology, music and science. Creativity created the wheel, further creativity created the carriage and even further creativity created the automobile. Creativity is what drives the human race forward, adapting, modernising and advancing; creative thinking makes us evolve.  Ken Robinson makes the point of how schools kill creativity and if we, as teachers, continue to extinguish the creative spark within our students before the fires of creativity take hold, then we will be the ones responsible for the stagnation of society.

Watch the above video and let Ken Robinson inspire us as educators to be more creative in our teaching, so we may nurture the creativity of our students. 

Political Questionaire: Views and Voting Patterns

The Value of Mobile Technology in Teaching and Learning: A New Style of Teaching, and a New Learning Experience

The uses of mobile devices in the learning environment can yield many benefits for students and teacher alike; for students in terms of motivation, collaboration, and creativity. (Hocanin, 2014)   For teachers in terms of empowering them to monitor students learning, engage students with learning activities, reduce tedious work, facilitate collaborative learning, record teaching and learning, and implement technology supported activities. (Llu, Wang, Chan, Ko, & Yang, 2003, p. 372)  Mobile learning is the newest type of ICT to enter the classroom, with the creation of I-phones, mobile tablets and notebooks, which are mobile and accessible to use in an easy to reach here and now environment.  Mobile technology is now changing the way in which teachers teach their students and the way in which students learn.  These technologies give students easy access to course material, assist students in working collaboratively on projects and help students to receive feedback and advice from their course tutors, giving students easy access to their tutor and tutors easy access to their students. 

Many studies have already been done on the effectiveness of mobile technology as a learning style. One study analysed the opinions of 4^th grade undergraduate students in their use of mobile technology in the learning environment. (Hocanin, 2014)  This study found that the students believed mobile technology provided many advantages; highlighting how mobile technology enriched the course by creating an ease in doing joint activities and giving them further access to their course and tutors. (Hocanin, 2014, p. 15)  However, they also believe that mobile technology in learning may also bring some disadvantages, by affecting student attention during class, causing health problems in the eyes and wrists and affecting the communication process between students, (Hocanin, 2014, p. 15), but general feeling was that the advantages of mobile technology outweigh the disadvantages. The students felt that mobile technology will create a wider variety of teaching and learning methods, there will be improvements in the materials presented to students and easier access to the course for each student’s particular needs. (Hocanin, 2014, pp. 16-17) There have also been other studies that have found that mobile technology generally has a positive effect on education, but educators are still generally hesitant to implement such technologies into their teaching sessions and some learners are hesitant in adopting such technologies to enhance their learning experience. (MacCallum & Jeffrey, 2013, p. 303)  

The adoption of mobile technology depends on whether teachers believe they can enhance the opportunities for students to learn, and whether students believe that mobile technology fits their particular needs; (MacCallum & Jeffrey, 2013, p. 303) but more research still needs to be done before this relatively new learning style is adopted completely into the learning environment.

Works Cited

Hocanin, F. T. (2014). Use of Mobile Tablets in the Learning Environment: Perspective of the Computer Teacher Candidate. Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World , 4 (2), 13 - 18.

Llu, T. C., Wang, H. Y., Chan, T. W., Ko, H. W., & Yang, J. C. (2003). Wireless and Mobile Technologies to Enhance Teaching and Learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning , 19, 371-382.

MacCallum, K., & Jeffrey, L. (2013). The Influence of Student ICT Skills and Their Adoption of Mobile Learning. Australasian Journal of Education and Technology , 29 (3), 303-315.

 For a Full Bibliography, Please Follow the Link Below

 Mobile Technology and Learning - Bibliography                                                                                  

Historical Research and the Problems with Researching the Subject of History on the Web: A Students Guide

In the new web age there is now a number of historical primary and secondary sources available to students at a click of a button.  The World Wide Web can be an extremely beneficial tool for students to research any subject, but this easy to reach source of information can also be extremely problematic for a history teacher.  The number of historically accurate and academic sites available for students is equally matched by the number of sites that propagate inaccurate information that is anecdotal, misleading and false and these are inadequate sources of history for academia at any level.  Today, for information, the first point of call for many is Wikipedia, but the information on Wikipedia is openly editable, meaning readers are unable to know who wrote the information on the site and whether the information is creditable and true.  We have all heard people state that Marie Antoinette  said ‘let them eat cake', but there is no documented evidence that quotes her making this statement; this statement first appears in Jean-Jacque Rousseau’s book ‘Confessions’, written when Marie Antoinette was just a child and this quote only became attributed to Marie Antoinette in the mid-nineteenth century.  Another myth is that Napoleon Bonaparte was short, this myth was created by James Gilray, the eighteenth-century caricaturist, who drew Napoleon as a tiny figure as a means of British propaganda during the Napoleonic Wars; Napoleon was actually 5ft 6in tall, two inches taller than Admiral Nelson.  Most of us have heard such anecdotal statements, but often these anecdotes get mixed in with fact; creating a whole new pseudo-history.  Therefore, students need to take the greatest of care when verifying their sources and they can do this by always checking who the author of the article is, where the article comes from or originated and whether the article is academic.  By always using such caution with articles on websites, a student can be sure they are using factual history in their writing. 
          

Please follow the link for more information on researching history on the web.    

http://teachinghistory.org/digital-classroom/ask-a-digital-historian/24066

Reflective Learning: a Mind Map

Mind maps are always a useful tool, and I have been using them with students to help them set out their project ideas.  This is definitely a source that could be useful for teaching history also, as it could assist students in creating a mind map of the causative factors of an event.

Wordle: A Word Cloud with a Wordily Worldle of Words

Wordle is a word cloud, I have had trouble in discovering the relevance of word clouds as a teaching tool. However, I have recently started teaching a module on persuasive writing and one of the recommendations among the learning outcomes was to use Wordle as a tool to assist the students learning, so I am finding myself having to reconsider the relevance of using word clouds in the classroom.

Microsoft and Me: Students, Teaching and Microsoft Applications

Microsoft applications give the ability to participate in activities that I may never have been able to participate in without their creation.    To begin with I shall discuss my favourite Microsoft application, Microsoft Word.  I am an enthusiastic creative writer, but unlike most people who find the love of the written word, I also suffer from the specific learning difficulty dyslexia.   Microsoft Word for me is not just an application, but a disability aid.   It assists me in making easy corrections, gives me the ability to rewrite work and relieves the frustration created by dyslexia.  It is a good idea to encourage students to use Microsoft Word, as it is an excellent application for assisting students with any written work; it can also prevent the dreaded task of deciphering hand written assignments.   

Excel is an application that I use less regularly than Microsoft Word, and I consider this the least likely application for my present and future needs.

I do however realise the importance of PowerPoint in teaching history, as there is a need when teaching history to bring the period of discussion to life, Microsoft PowerPoint creates the ability to do this.  For example, if I was discussing the child labour acts of the 19^th century, I might discuss numerous education and factory acts, but just describing these acts does not create the most effective learning environment.   But with the use of images, the teacher shows the student why child labour needed to end.  By mentioning the acts with the use of the photographs attached, I would have already made the discussion much more memorable; this is how PowerPoint can assist my students with their learning.  PowerPoint creates an opportunity to use images from the past, highlight key points and create a more effective learning environment for the various learning styles in the classroom.  PowerPoint is a tool that is essential for me create lessons that are visual, memorable and educational.

The Technology I Use in Everyday Life

The technology that I use regularly in everyday life is my laptop, which I use for Microsoft Word and the internet;  the internet I use for online shopping, social networking sites (twitter and linked in), online banking and for when I want to research a subject quickly.  I also use other forms of technology: such as an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, a MP3 player for listening to audio books and music, a television set, a dvd player, a multi-media player, a Virgin Tivo Media Box and an Apple I Phone.  Besides these more modern types of technology, I also use more basic forms of technology: such as a microwave, toaster, vacuum cleaner, digital alarm clock, etc. 

So much of this technology we take for granted, without considering their advantages and potential as learning tools.  I often educate myself and update my historical knowledge with documentary DVDs,. The internet has the potential for us to learn about any subject and with i-phones knowledge is always at hand.  I believe we underestimate the knowledge at our fingertips in the age of technology.  

THE BLOG BEGINS

Welcome to my ITC/History blog.

Throughout the next few months, I will be writing articles, using new technology and discussing how to teach effectively with ITC.

Hope you enjoy the blog.