Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Copy of Crafting a Presentation


      Crafting Presentation


Today’s global society is dominated by technology. Over the past years the idea of having students present a slide show in front of their classmate has been criticized by those who are against educational technology. Therefore it is imperative that students receive advance instruction in the usage of technology. This feat can be successfully accomplished by integrating and immersing students in various meaningful activities using a plethora of effective technology applications and strategies that are necessary for success. Students are being required more and more to use various technology components to complete many required assignments.


Such assignment are being assigned to students as young as second and third grades and on throughout high school and college. Since the introduction of word documents and internet students have become complacent with simple cutting and pasting information from various sites or just printing information directly from the internet and turning it “as it is”. When having to digitally present information, students pretty much do the same thing. In crafting digital writing, Hicks believe that there is no excuse for “power pointless” presentation. Instead students have endless opportunities to prepare presentations for both real-time and on-demand delivery. I can't recall how many times I have sat in a meetings/workshops listen to presenters attempt to share information through the use of "power pointless" presentations.

Often times they read directly from the slides without any embellishments using a monotone, robot like voices. During such presentations, my attention was not focused on the information, which did not lead to any retaining of knowledge. As teachers we want to avoid this and use every available seconds of instructional time to engage in meaningful, thought provoking situation that leads to the understanding and retention of knowledge. Through my reading of Crafting Digital Writings, Hicks outlines several alternatives to the standard standalone presentations. Creating ineffective, dull slides leave little to the imagination and do not indulge the audience in the journey. Once students have learned to master the art of crafting literary work, they should be able to publish their works in a way that the piece doesn't lose its meaning. It is imperative to understand according to Cranford, J. (2016). Stated that the number of slides in a presentation is irrelevant to the success of a presentation.


 However, the amount of time spent on each slide determining the effectiveness of that presentation.


                 In order to reach the audience the author/presenter can follow the six principles of stickiness as outlined in Made to Stick: Why some ideas survived and Others Die (2007

1. Make your presentations simple and short.
2. Surprise your audience with unexpected ideas.
3. Make it concrete; avoid the use of abstract objects.
4. Make your presentation effective and on point.
5. Tell a story that your audience can relate to.
6. Research your information; make sure they are reliable.

Utilizing these principle will ensure that piece will appeal to and gain the attention of the intention audience.


View my presentation below on the six principles of “stickiness”.  





Reference


Cranford, J. (2016) Edutopia What Works in Education: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-tips-classroom-presentation-jason-cranford-teague
   

Heath, C & Heath, D. (2007) Make to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (1st Ed.).

                  New York: Random House.

Hicks, T. (2013) Crafting Digital Writing: Composing texts Across Media and Genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.