Reflection number four

Wow, week 5, what a week! This week the list of digital technologies were endless, to be honest I didn't even get through them all! Most weeks I look at the digital tools and I have a small understanding about most if not all of them, have a fiddle around and choose my favourite. This week I looked at the list and power point was the only familiar face. Usually I would just choose that and write about it but I decided that now I have a bit more confidence I would immerse myself in something completely new. This week we were required to choose two different digital technologies to use in the classroom. I was initially interested in having a go at Glogster but technical difficulties prevented it so I chose Prezi and Zooburst to focus on. Of the two I have to say I prefer Prezi, it amazed me and definitely exceeded my expectations whereas I was actually a little bit disappointed with Zooburst. I started off with Prezi, I think it has the potential to be one of the biggest technologies to take over the modern classroom. Both from a teachers and students perspective. I think it's a continuation of the traditional 'power point' combined with the even more traditional blackboard, with it's own unique features. I think this technology will be hugely useful in the classroom. When I say Prezi is a continuation of power point it's because it's primary function is as a presentation tool. Teachers often used power points to relay information to students and students would most commonly use it as a visual aid during the presentation as an assignment. However I think the leaning outcomes are limited with power point, I think Prezi goes further than just being used as a visual aid to being able to really aid and assist learners. In the traditional classroom the majority of students learning happened in front of the black board, with the teacher explaining things and the student coping it down. Prezi is such a clever way of turning the traditional blackboard into a digital webpage. Prezi allows the teacher to prepare everything they want to have up in front of the students before the class starts. In the black board days, when the room on the board ran out you had to rub something off, but Prezi allows you to zoom in and out as far as you like to fit everything in. This week I decided instead of just having a go at making a Prezie about anything I would make one that would be suitable for the classroom. Although Prezie could be used in many different classes I decided to focus on a grade 10 English class studying Billy Elliot. I made the below Prezie in the form of a mind map to get the students to deconstruct the movie looking at different elements, breaking down the who, what, when, where and why into settings, themes and discourses, languages, background information and film codes. I think it can really assist students learning by being able to look thoroughly at and separate all the information to better process it before writing the essay or film review. This Prezi can be used in a few different ways, I (as the teacher) can use this Prezi to facilitate the students learning , if I post this on the class blog students can refer back to it when they get home to remind them what they need to think/write about. The students could make their own to sort out all the information before start their essay, or we could make one as a class, opening up a discussion forum and allowing the students to engage in collaborative learning. I think the Prezi would also be good for a Drama assignment as a directors portfolio they could use the mind map to separate all the different design concepts.eg the props, lighting costuming, script stage layout music etc. Although it took me a little while to get used to the setup I found it very easy to use and very easy to follow as a presentation. I also added a youtube trailer of Billy Elliot to my Prezi and it was very simple, it was also very easy to embed into my blog. I think this would be a great tool for high school students to use with next to no explanation. I think it would be a good tool for teachers to use in primary schools to relay information.I think if taught how to use it properly primary school student could use it as an assignment presentation tool but I think the best learning outcomes would be achieved by older students from grade 5-6 upwards.