This week we worked of Graphic and Presentation Programs. I was excited to look at some programs that I was unfamiliar with. I liked the variety of the programs, some of them required little or no skill, and others would be great for some of my more artistic students. I used Pixton for my graphic because it doesn't require much skill, but has many more options that make your comic look more professional. I am a huge comic fan, and love looking for opportunities to use them in the classroom. I find that comics can help students really narrow down the topic to focus on the really important points. They need to be concise and specific in their word choice to make them effective.
The presentation program that I used was less impressive. Although I like the idea of being able to access a presentation from anywhere, I felt like Empressr did not have enough of the features that I use to make a presentation effective. I have used slideshare often, not to create my own presentations yet, but to view those that others have posted to the web.
I have to say that I am not particularly fond of the textbook at this point. I am finding that it is difficult to follow with all of the sidebars. I was reading the first chapter via the posted pdf since my book had not yet arrived and it was a nightmare to get through. Another frustration is that most of the links are no longer active. I know that this is an issue with the rate of change on the internet, but it is still frustrating to see a site that looks like it might be worthwhile, only to find that it no longer exists.
Deb,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that you had a positive experience with the graphics programs and that you were able to effectively critique Empressr. One thing to look for is how well these online presentation programs accept the features of presentations that were created on the desktop PowerPoint or Keynote.
Your comments on the textbook are noted. Thank you for the feedback.