Tech+Lab+-+Presentations

Technology Lab - Presentations

The web can be helpful both in giving live presentations in face-to-face settings as well as creating multimedia for audiences to view entirely on their own. In this lab, we will be introducing free tools to meet both scenarios.
 * Overview: **

To optimize presentations. To understand web-based options for presenting slideshow content to a live audience. To learn about how you can convert your slideshows into stand-alone web-based multimedia experiences. To create an embeddable presentation on your own web page or blog.
 * Objectives: **

PowerPoint is pretty much the standard for presentations these days. However, some new applications allow users to create slideshow presentations within them or allow users to upload slides to them. Because these presentations are web-based, they can be given from any computer without needing to download a file.
 * Background: **
 * Presenting to a Live Audience**

One of the more interesting features occur during presentations themselves. Because the presentations are web-based, you can invite other users to view the presentation on their own screens--regardless of whether they are in the same room. Additionally, both the applications below integrate live chat components into the presentation allowing viewers to comment during the presentation without interrupting the speaker(s). And finally, the presentations allow for multiple users to take control of the presentation at anytime (and they don't have to be in the same physical space), be sure to look for how they do it.


 * As you explore these applications, monitor your understanding by your ability to respond to these questions:**


 * What is the process for designing slides within each program?**
 * What is the process for uploading slides for each program?**
 * How do you invite people to your presentation?**
 * How does chat work within the presentations?**
 * How can presenters make sure all viewers are seeing the same slides at the same time?**
 * How can you embed a presentation in a web page or blog?**

Google Presentation (Part of Google Docs) "Google Presentation" Tutorial Google Presentations Help How to embed presentation in your website or blog Zoho Show Demo Tour of Features Zoho Show Help
 * Live Presentation Applications:**

Hopefully, you've noticed that although you can embed your presentations with either Google Docs or Zoho Show, neither allows you to include audio from the presentation. Which leads us to. ..

Whereas Google Docs and Zoho Show are powerful tools for giving live presentations, other options such as SlideShare or VoiceThread might be more applicable if you wanted to capture both audio and images in your presentation. Unlike Google Docs and Zoho Show which are quite similar, Slideshare and VoiceThread are quite different.
 * Pre-recorded Presentations for the Web**


 * As you explore each, keep in mind how the two apps differ in how they incorporate audio and how viewers can respond to slides. To help you monitor your understanding as you explore the resources below, be sure you can answer the following guiding questions.**


 * What is the process for uploading media to each site?**
 * What is the process for adding/syncing audio to individual slides/threads?**
 * What is the process for embedding/sharing presentations with others?**
 * What commenting options do viewers have for each application?**



SlideShare's SlideCasts
In it's general form, SlideShare probably looks quite a lot like Google Docs and Zoho Show. For example, all of them allow you to import slides from PPT and share them on the web for people to browse. However, SlideShare also allows for what they call "slidecasts" which supplements the slides with mp3 audio. With slidecasts, not only do viewers see what is on the slide, but they also receive the audio message meant to accompany it. The link to the slidecast tutorial below will show you how they do it.

Slidecast tutorial



[|VoiceThread]
If you've checked out SlideShare's slidecasts, you should have noted that the slides and the audio (mp3) are stored in separate places. That is, while SlideShare allows you to upload your slides and stores them for you on their servers, your audio files must be kept elsewhere. VoiceThread, on the other hand, stores both the slides and the audio on their servers. This is not the only difference. Take a look. VT has several excellent (and short!) tutorials to showcase what one can do with it. This tool many find to be very flexible and have many possible uses with students.

VT tutorials


 * Performance Tasks:**

Using Google Docs or Zoho Show, create 5 – 10 slides for this week These slides will be a presentation of the 21st Century Skills your students will learn in your class. Your audience will be their parents at Back to School Night. Focus on __one__ of the strands. Include an example of a learning activity in your subject area.

Upload your slides to either Slideshare or VoiceThread and then capture the audio to accompany the slides.

Embed your slides into your Blog from last week about your position on 21st Century Skills. You will need to “edit” your blog in order to embed. (Hint: both sites give you the embed code for a presentation). In addition, share the url to your presentation with everyone in class.