4 Hard to teach areas: presenting information
‘Pupils should be able to use a range of ICT tools to present information in forms that are fit for purpose, meet audience needs and suit the content’
Pupils are often taught how to use presentation tools such as PowerPoint or pocket camcorders, and become very skilled at doing so. However, a much harder question is how to use them appropriately.
Read or watch at least two of the following:
- Read Richard Millwood’s blog post, Dimensions in creative work [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . In particular, study the illustration, which looks at three dimensions of presenting or communicating to an audience: audience, narrative and control.
- Watch the video on How not to use PowerPoint (3′55″) This looks at all the worst PowerPoint mistakes people make, in a humorous manner.
- Read The other half of your presentation: the audience. This examines how to start a presentation, how to judge the mood of your audience, and how to try to re-engage them if they start to lose interest.
- Read or listen to Communicate better with different types of people. This looks at four types of person in the audience, and how best to communicate with them.
- Watch the Teachers TV video, Better learning with ICT – improving your presentations. This looks at how a secondary MFL teacher uses PowerPoint to keep his students engaged.
Read page 62 of the updated version of Bloom's Taxonomy. This considers ways of creating new ideas and products using digital tools.
Explore alternatives to PowerPoint, such as:
- Pulp Motion or PhotoPresenter. These let you create animated presentations from photographs.
- Microsoft Photo Story lets you create slideshows with interesting effects from your photos.
- Microsoft Movie Maker is a free application which allows you to create and edit videos.
- Prezi is an alternative to PowerPoint which lets you create presentations with interesting effects.
- Animoto creates videos from your photos.
- VoiceThread enables you create a presentation from your photos with a commentary, and allows others to leave audio comments.
Reflection
- How might you get your students to understand the importance of tailoring their presentations to the needs of different audiences?
- What are the different audiences to whom they may give presentations?
- What are the principles of a good presentation, and how do they relate to the programme of study?
- Read pages 71 and 72 of the updated version of Bloom's Taxonomy about applying design principles to the development of a digital document, including a slide-show presentation. Could you apply the ideas and the rubric to teaching effective presentation skills in the context of the KS3 ICT programme of study?
- Take one of the presentation applications listed above, and consider how it could be used as an alternative or complement to PowerPoint.
- Do the principles of good presentation of information differ according to the medium chosen?
Further reading
Presentation Zen, useful and interesting advice on giving good presentations, often using examples of good or bad ones to illustrate the point being made. It is worth browsing through the blog, which is updated frequently, to look at the examples of good and bad slides, and why the writer believes them to be so.
The National Strategies, ICT at KS3, Unit 2: Information and presentation contains useful advice on processing information, but note that this site may disappear in time as it no longer represents Government policy.
3 Hard to teach areas: modelling