Day 2 Constructivism & PPt

The Constructivism and technology article made it clear that constructivism and technology exist in a symbiotic relationship. From computers and educators to intervention and facilitation and on to feedback ability to feedback, constructivism (as a practice) facilitates the development of cognitive strategies while prompting the natural evaluation and feedback mechanisms of both a theoretical framework to the technology artifact (computers) to its use (it’s affordance). After delivering a PPt with my colleagues in a Monday evening course and quickly coming home late at night to read articles on what not to do in terms of design, content, and presentation in PowerPoint , I discovered that I could have delivered a far more effective presentation with the new knowledge I acquired skimming several articles.
After completing my reading work for the evening, I walked away with these new understandings: Reflect prior to beginning the construction a PowerPoint presentation. In other words, ask a few key questions: What am I trying to accomplish? What do I really want to say? And, what are the three key ideas that I must communicate? These key questions are linked to audience analysis and self-analysis (Waltley; Altman, 2007; Rotondo, 2007). Jim Endicott, in 5 steps Approach to Mapping Your Content, reminds us to: Define the length of time and Add closing and ending segments. He also recommends that “The final ‘deliverable’ becomes more a by-product of the subtleties that go into the process than the actual ingredients themselves.” While Jonty Pearce, in The Seven deadly sins of visual presentations, begins by stating that “Visual presentations are great –they are one of the best kept secrets in the business world.” With this, he is quick to share resent research out of UCLA which states that a visual presentation is five times more likely to be remembered after three days than a presentation using bullet points. I am ashamed of the sheer number of bulleted slides I created for Monday night’s class. What a PPt faux pax!
Pearce also communicates the need to carefully select pictures/visuals. As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. Pearce reminds us that, the image should help to tell your story. He also recommended less use of ClipArt and minimizing the length of selected video clips from one to two minutes per view while reducing the compulsion to animate from one slide (and sentence) to the next.
Lastly, Jennifer Rotondo, in What Makes a Great Presentation, identifies the three key elements to creating an optimal presentation: Content, Design, and Delivery. Rotondo suggested that you do your research (First things first), then follow-up by creating an outline of your content before starting the on-slide process. Endicott’s article, 5 Steps Approach to Mapping Your Content, also makes this organizational recommendation. In closing, I feel far better prepared for my next PowerPoint presentation. My audience and I will benefit from the tips suggested in Monday night’s readings.