Week 5

Power Point
A presentation tool that can be used to support a verbal presentation given by an individual or group. It can also be used as a back drop for a drama or presentation and contain images, text, links or videos. Power point can also be used as a presentation on its own with the facility to record voices or videos onto the presentation.

Prezi
A prezi can be described as a zooming presentation tool. It allows for ideas to be linked together and for smaller concepts to be embedded inside the larger concepts. The viewer can zoom in or out as they follow the presentation and link the ideas in their own mind. The prezi also allows the viewer to back track in order to fully grasp a concept. This tool would be effective for students to use to present the knowledge they have gained after studying a particular topic. Students could start with their introduction then link to all the information and ideas and finally bring the presentation to a close with a conclusion that links to the main ideas presented.

Glogster:
Described as an online scrapbooking tool this is a great way for students to scrapbook their work. Images, text and links can all be embedded into the glog. The finished product can also be downloaded. Glogster is a progam that could be very useful for visual arts to be incorporated into ICT as students create a presentation that is visually appealing using ICT. Glogster could display personal events as well as classroom or community events. It could also be used to create advertising fliers for community or school events.

Google earth and google maps:
These two online tools are a lot of fun to explore and use. I have used these tools many times to view places I have lived or would like to go and also to find directions when I would like to go somewhere. I travelled with my family to Perth, WA in 2008 and we used google maps several times throughout the journey to track and plan our progress. We were able to decided the shortest route for our journey and to discover land marks and tourist places along the way that we might like to stop at.

My own children have spent a lot of time looking at google maps, discovering their own home, school and friends homes on the computer is very exciting for children. The learning that follows is fun and interesting and students because students are highly engaged.