Presentation Prowess

Presentation Prowess

From: cmlynch, 3 minutes ago

Presentation Prowess

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5130: Peer Reveiw and Presentation Prowess

Well, I just turned in my Presentation Prowess project. Had a little scare when I tried to open the design script and Word kept saying there was an error and shutting down. But I managed to get the issue resolved fairly quickly (no idea what was wrong, it just finally worked). I also turned in the actual project as a PowerPoint because when I uploaded it to SlideShare, some of the transitions did not work the same. I still uploaded it to SlideShare for the experience, and here is the link: http://www.slideshare.net/cmlynch/presentation-prowess-presentation

In the past I have not been the biggest fan of peer reviews. Maybe it is because the experiences I have had with them have not been that useful or great. But with this assignment, and even the Instructional Message, I have taken away a lot more from the peer reviews. Doing them for other classmates helps me get a better grasp on the assignment and an eye for looking at how they could do things different, as well as examples of techniques I can use in my own work. And having the reviews from my classmates has also been extremely helpful. These big projects take so much time and effort that it is easy to get stuck or not be able to "see the forest from the trees." You can get sucked into working on one aspect so much that another is completely invisible, even though to others it may be quite obvious. I read some of the other reviews and am impressed with how professional and courteous everyone has been with each other. They are polite but still point out the flaws and what might be done better. So overall this has been a very helpful, positive experience.

As for the project itself, I decided to go with PowerPoint because I use it often when I teach. In the readings we have done this semester, I feel like there has been so much to learn about how to use the program effectively that I wanted to improve my skills and really work at it. I did things like use much bigger font and less text, more compelling images, relevant transitions and motions, contrast, using only one consistent font, etc. Because we had a design script to write, it was easier for me to keep track of ideas along the way and while I was reading. I kept a log of ideas from the text that I could use and reference later, and it feels great to have actual, logical reasons to back up the work that I have done.

I know in one of the last posts I was very frustrated and having a hard time with the concept of the assignment, but I think it ended up working out well. I took the idea of Americans having extra (food, water, and medicine) and expanded on the idea of giving to the poor by sharing that we could not waste this extra and there would be more for others. I was surprised to learn that 12% of food that Americans buy is wasted. That means 3 out of every 25 shopping trips are for nothing. If someone went shopping every week of the year, 6 of those weeks would be wasted. Imagine if we would be more cautious about what we bought and could instead either send the money or food to other countries to prevent people from dying! I did not want the message to be too cliche, and I think it might have been a little bit, but I hope that I did take it in a little different direction than the norm.

5130: More Slide:ology

I just finished the 2nd section of reading in Slide:ology, and while I thought there were some great ideas and still enjoyed the book, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed...maybe a lot overwhelmed. The concepts in the book seem so simple, but I have a tough time knowing where to start and how to change my presentations. I am mostly referring to our Presentation Prowess project for IT-5130. I have an idea of what I want to do and how I want to progress from Point A to Point B by getting people emotionally involved and leading them to have an attitude change. The problem is, I don't know if what I have put together so far is all that good or if it is just another boring presentation. I am trying to use the different concepts from the book and from what we have discussed in class. I just don't know if I am using them right or effectively. I spent a lot of time watching the example slideshows, and I think I was able to take a few ideas away (like using whitespace, different placement of font and font sizes for effect, different types of pictures and word/thought bubbles). I suppose I came here more to vent than to summarize what I have read. I think I'll head back to the drawing board and work up some more ideas. After all, Nancy Duarte says that it's important to come up with many many ideas and go from there. I just hope I can use all that I'm learning and make a great presentation.

5130: Slide:ology

I just finished the first half of Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology and must admit that as much as Edward Tufte depressed me about PowerPoint, I feel that encouraged about it now. Not just PowerPoint, but visual presentations in general. I believe there is a lot to be said for giving learners information in several different ways, but these ways have to be used appropriately to be effective.

I read that Nancy chose the title Slide:ology because the word “ideology” is embedded in it. I thought that was very clever and makes sense with what her book presents. She takes the approach that it is not difficult to improve a presentation. It may take a lot more time, but it can be done. With lots of brainstorming and simplifying, a presenter can reach his audience much better.

There are a couple of things that stood out in the reading. She says on page 78 that “Too often, information loses its impact- and presenters risk losing their audiences- because it isn’t expressed as effectively as it could be.” I think this was Tufte’s main point, but I like how Nancy puts it in a way that does not altogether throw out a medium as a presentation tool. Another was "taking more time to think through a concept can yield clearer meaning" (p. 60). If I process all the way through a concept, chances are I will be better able to present it clearly.

So now I am in the process of figuring out what to do for the next big assignment to show I “get it.” The idea is to make a slide presentation that speaks for itself and actually teaches something (rather than just gives information). There are several topics I am exploring using and want to make something that I can pass on to my students at school. The big idea is to cause an attitude change. To make them want to do something after seeing the presentation. It is more than taking information and throwing it on a bunch of slides. I want to use the design techniques Nancy Duarte talks about, combined with what I’ve learned about cognition and psychology, and really make a presentation that stands out and stands on its own.

Nancy Duarte herself sounds like a very interesting person. Here is a quick link to a blog that contains an interview with Duarte about the book: http://fyi.oreilly.com/2008/08/nancy-duarte-on-slideology.html. And from www.duarte.com, regarding Nancy: “I’m a conquistador who liberates the undiscovered, sets boundaries for safe play, and builds fortresses where dreams can be realized. I create, protect, and conquer the future with extreme respect and reverence for the past.”

5650: Week 5 - Learner-Centered

This week I read an article by Barbara L. McCombs and Donna Vakili entitled A Learner-Centered Framework for E-Learning. This article was based around the idea of making sure elearning is learner-centered, and it can be made so by following certain principles. In the article they said that changes in 21st-century education “alters the purpose of education to that of helping learners communicate with others, find relevant and accurate information for the task at hand, and be colearners and partners with teachers and peers in diverse settings and learning communities that go beyond school walls” (p.1582). Learners are expected to be more involved in what they learn and how, so there comes a need to motivate them to take responsibility for their learning. They say that learner-centered is more of a dual focus on the learner himself with a focus on learning. This goes a long way from the idea of students sitting passively in a classroom taking in information. Now it is important to research how new technology and new methods of teaching and learning can be implemented to help students achieve their highest potential.

A big part of what the article talks about is the social aspect. I think this is an important point and have noticed how helpful it has been while taking online courses to be able to discuss ideas and projects with peers. It feels less isolated to have classmates there and to be able to communicate via email or eCollege (or even tools like Twitter) with the professor to get help and guidance. Having this support system can be a great motivator for students. McCombes and Vakili say that “research also shows that learning is enhanced in contexts where learners have supportive relationships, have a sense of ownership and control over the learning process, and can learn with and from each other in safe and trusting learning environments” (p.1586).

Towards the end of the article there is a list of principals and ideas for making elearning more effective and learner-centered. One that I found jumped out was under the motivational and affective factors. It says to “avoid the assumption that online learners are those who prefer less personal contact with instructors, are independent learners, have high motivation to learn, are self-disciplined, and have high personal self-efficacy; this assumption is not warranted for a growing number of students” (p.1592). When designing elearning it is most definitely important to remember who the students are and how they actually work so that the program can be more effective and serve its purpose well.

5130: Mayer, Medina, Phluff?

As I read through our reading in Mayer’s Multi-Media Learning this week, I struggled with some of the ideas he presented. This was because they seemed directly opposed to some ideas that really struck a chord with me in the Medina readings. The idea I am talking about is using pictures, sounds, and stories to enhance learning. Now I was excited about reading Medina’s work because he talked about the idea of adding “handles” so students could retrieve the information from their brains easier if it was encoded in more than one mode. When I got to Chapter 7 in Mayer, he shared studies showing that additional graphics, sounds or stories actually detracted from student learning both in retention and transfer tests. What? These two ideas seemed so opposed to each other. One reason I liked reading Medina is that he uses stories to get the ideas across. Well, the more I thought about it and after reading the discussion on it in the eCollege shell, it is making a little more sense to me now. The idea of adding handles and ways to get the information is to use actual relevant stories and pictures. Mayer used an example of talking about how lightning works and having a story of people getting injured by lightning. While I can see where a connection could be drawn, the story added unnecessary details that he said could cause the students to link information about the causes of lightning to a framework where people get injured by lightning. So the point is to keep the graphics and other information relevant to the actual information being learned. And as for more “handles,” adding the graphics showing air moving and particles being charged along with the text describing what is happening will give students verbal and pictoral representations that they can draw upon to remember the information. As Joni says, it is Tufte’s phluff. You don’t want to add extra stuff that will get in the way of learning rather than enhance it.

5130: Twitter

Twitter. The site says it is “is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?.”

It is pretty easy to add in an update and see what somebody else is up to, but it almost seems too simple. After using other social networking sites and checking out programs like Facebook and MySpace, I think Twitter might not have enough. Enough what? Enough ways to talk to people and share ideas, pictures, and personalities. I like to be able to see who this person is and what they are interested in besides reading a quick update that they are watching TV. Would this have a possibility as a learning tool? I can see how it might be useful to sign up and have a whole class also sign up so if they had quick questions about an assignment, they could ask and get a quick response. But that would involve making sure to log in consistently and check messages outside of regular means such as email or the eCollege shell or Blackboard, whatever the class may use. So overall, while I do think Twitter is cool and has some neat uses, I don’t see it as something I would use longterm.

5650: Week 4 - Team

This week’s reading was on Badrul H. Khan’s The People-Process-Product Continuum in E-Learning: The E-Learning P3 Model. This article was interesting to me mostly because throughout the first year of the ILT program we worked individually or in small groups to develop eLearning materials. The article discusses the many different people that could actually be involved to complete all the tasks in designing eLearning through the different steps in the process. So it is good to think about a whole team doing this work together and how all the parts come together with teamwork. While it can be nice to be able to make the decisions and do the work single-handedly, having a team to bounce ideas off of and to coordinate deadlines, content, and other ideas could be very useful.

Here is a quick recap of the process and who might be involved:

1. Planning – director, manager, instructional designer
2. Design – research and design coordinator, design team
3. Producation – course integrator, programmer, graphic artist, multimedia developer, photographer/videographer, editor, learning objects specialist, and quality assurance person
4. Evaluation – instructional designer, interface designer, students, content experts
5. Dellivery and Maintenance – systems administrator, server/database programmer, Webmaster
6. Instruction stage – course coordinator, instructor, tutor, course facilitator, discussion moderator, technical support, librarian, counselor, customer service, registration and administrative staff
7. Marketing – market researchers, salespeople

Overall I think reading through all this broadens the picture of the scope of eLearning design that I have in my mind.

5130: Brain Rules!

I really enjoyed reading our chapters from John Medina’s Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. First, his style of writing and explaining things was very appealing. Medina uses various story-like examples to explain the principles he is presenting. One that stuck with me was the example of him as a boy walking into a store where the front door had several handles at different heights so taller or shorter people could get in with ease. He used this example to explain the idea of putting information into our brains with several “handles” so it can be recalled with ease. Each way you put the information in puts another handle on the door for later retrieval. I try to use this in my classroom by giving students visuals as they listen to my lectures or give them various other assignments, but this reading has helped me want to be very conscious of how I try to put the information into their brains so they learn it better.

5650: RSS Feed Update

I figured out the RSS feed! I had signed up on Google Reader last time, which was maybe a year ago but feels like forever. The way I remembered this was by stumbling upon this YouTube tutorial video on RSS that we had watched in that class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU. It is very helpful and got me back on track – I think!

Next task I think will be learning how to put pictures in the blog. This one seems pretty plain, and I have really enjoyed looking through the blogs of other classmates who seem to be a lot more creative.