BP4_2010051_Web2.0Tools

I have to say that before I started at Full Sail, I had no idea there was a such thing as Web 2.0. I use the sites all day, I’ve seen the little orange square, read RSS feed about a million times and posted on blogs frequently, but I didn’t know I was interacting with Web 2.0 tools. Once I started exploring these avenues I found a ton of great free tools out there just waiting to be used! As a matter of fact, one of the sites that I have on my RSS feed through Google Reader brought up a blog post this morning from iLearn Technology another Web 2.0 program out there that kids can use to create comics. I played around with it a lot today. The site is called Stage’d and you can create these digital stories using the templates they give you. I can see my students having a ball with this site.

I did not create a usable work of art with this program yet, I am still playing around. I did however work on a presentation that I am going to give to the entire staff about teaching students that reading bigger books doesn’t necessarily mean students are understanding bigger books. Teaching students what characteristics are found in different leveled books will give students a focus and something to look for in their reading outside of simply reading the words and understanding the events that happened. This presentation is going to be given in September and I have to say I’m a little nervous about it.

I was introduced to a program named Prezi through a group member in my degree program, Michelle, and I thought it would be a perfect avenue for guiding our discussion about books. I’ve had a grand old time creating this presentation and I’m getting pretty good at working the tools. I am in no way finished with this presentation. It has all the information and pictures and it set in an order that I like, I just don’t like what the final project looks like so far. So more work is to be done, but here it is for your viewing pleasure: http://prezi.com/dlbafotgalxs/.

It took awhile to become good at Prezi. Just like in other presentation tools, the demos and examples they give you are so pleasing to the eye and then when it is time to make one yourself, it is a lot less simple than they made it look. I watched the same two tutorials about 5 times each before I moved with fluidity through the creation of this presentation. I am still learning the benefits and hierarchy of size in the program and how to aesthetically please the viewer in each frame.

Basically you start off with a blank canvas. That is always intimidating. I can visualize, but have a hard time putting it down on paper. But the program is easy to use. You just double click on the mat and type in the word you want to display. There is a “zebra tool” you use to resize, rotate, duplicate, or move your word. Inserting pictures is easier here than on Powerpoint, I believe. Once you master the “way of the zebra” you can swiftly move around your canvas with ease and precision. The cool thing is that the canvas doesn’t have a set size. It can be as large as you want it. The frame tool lets you set the viewing size to show more than one item at a time.

The best parts about Prezi?

1. It is not linear (it jives well with those right-brained thinkers)
2. Overall view (it can show all your information in overview form, something Powerpoint cannot)
3. Zoomed View (this trumps Powerpoint in that it can zoom in on one aspect, removing all other distractors from view. Giving the listener a clear focus)
4. It is internet based (no more lugging around flash drives or emailing presentations in progress)

Give the program a try and let me know how it worked out for you!