For my Lead Practitioner Seminar I wanted to demonstrate how the internet is changing and consequently the ways that we communicate with each other. In order to ‘walk the talk’ I challenged myself to give a 45 minute presentation without a single powerpoint slide! Instead I explained my ideas by using a wide variety of different web2.0 tools.
The main idea I was trying to explain was that the way we accessed information when we were teenagers was very different to today. If you asked a class of students in the 1980’s who was at number 1, nearly everyone could tell you. If you ask the same question today, only a minority of children will be able to give you the answer. Instead of using push media such as TV and Radio for entertainment, they use the internet as a pull medium. In this way they reach out to things that interest them and personalise their learning.
I showed how the following tools can be used to pull information into the classroom:
Survey Monkey – for creating online surveys and generating real data
bubbl.us - for creating mindmaps and sharing ideas
Edublogs – for enabling students to share moderated comments
VoiceThread – for sharing images and discussing what they show
FlashMeeting – for basic video conferencing
The delegates to the conference responded really well to this more dynamic way to learn. Are you ready for the challenge to give PowerPoint the push? Visit www.ictnet.ning.com .
