May

How to Beat the Fear of Losing a Presentation

How many times have you prepared an updated or new dynamic math or science PowerPoint or Keynote presentation for class and it would not open in school?

Also, how many times has it happened to your students when it’s time to give a class presentation? Now you need to postpone their presentation to another day, disrupting even the best planning.

You or your students do everything right – use compatible software, save it on a jump or flash drive, and it still would not open!

You think, well I will just open an older version of the presentation using Google Docs! You prepare to give your lesson – Bam! Google Docs is acting up or someone made a mistake and now your school is blocking Google Docs today!

When it rains it pours!

Solution: SlideShare

Now there is an alternative to the problems experienced above. How to overcome these problems is by using SlideShare – which is free!

This Web 2.0 tool allows you to upload presentations from PowerPoint, Keynote, OpenOffice, and Google Docs Presentation.

You can also embed these presentations in a class blog or wiki. This offers the ability to open your presentation on the class wiki or blog and give your lesson.

A good feature is the ability to embed appropriate YouTube or Teacher Tube videos within a presentation. This feature is a way of circumventing your school’s website blocking software.

You can even add audio to your presentations, to spice up a presentation and help hold your students’ interest.

You can even upload documents for creating slide presentations. SlideShare accepts documents from MS Word, iWork, Google Docs, PDF, and OpenOffice.

SlideShare also offers a new video feature which allows you to upload and share videos. They strictly enforce video copyright laws.

This Web 2.0 tool is also useful for professional development classes and workshops. You can share your presentations and student work without worrying about software compatibility issues.

Implementation: Strategies for Use in Science or Math Classes

Besides supporting teachers, SlideShare offers the ability for an individual or group of students to open their own account.

After creating a presentation for class, they can upload it to their own blog or class wiki. If these two options are not available, they can e-mail the link to their presentation to themselves or write down the link.

When students are absent, they can view a your presentations on the class blog or wiki. You also have the option to e-mail the link to absent student(s).

In classrooms using the one-to-one computer programs, students can access the SlideShare presentation on their computers and teachers free to roam the classroom ensuring students and following the presentation slides.

Students can use the presentations embedded on blogs or wikis as study guides when preparing for tests.

Uploading: Transferring Files

Several options are offered for uploading presentation or documents files. Examples include:

Firefox Universal FireUploader – offers a free Firefox plug-in for uploading files from your computer using a simple drag & drop interface. You can also edit the file details, set privacy, etc.

SlideShare Ribbon for Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 – is a free plugin for PowerPoint 2007. It lets you use most features of SlideShare from within PowerPoint. You can download and upload files.

This Web 2.0 tool offers the ability to overcome common problems both teachers and students have when giving presentations in class. This tool also provides the ability to eliminate the often used phrase - fear of using technology in the classroom. After spending time preparing a dynamic presentation providing a another level for overcoming technical difficulties are worth the effort.

Also, students are giving another way to prepare their class presentations. Eliminating often heard excuses of forgetting their jump drive at home, they lost their jump drive, or the dog ate it.

Additional Resources

PowerPoint Presentations Beyond Note Taking

Why Use Web 2.0 Tools When Teaching Science and Math?