Here is a link to my short presentation:
https://www.emaze.com/@AOQWOIFZR/benefits-of-a-family-dog
I am so glad to be introduced to new presentation tools because PowerPoint and Google Slides having become tiring! It is excellent to have resources that more easily incorporate media, audio, and fresh presentation. I used Emaze to complete my presentation, but I won’t use that for my professional development presentation. While the templates are plentiful and pleasing, it took me four hours of experimenting to feel competent, and that was for a three slide presentation, whew! There are some really neat features (widgets for photos), but I found it cumbersome to manipulate the templates. Also, my free account will not last forever, and $5 a month is not too expensive until you consider all of the other monthly expenses the world of education requires. Emaze was great, but too time consuming for my needs. This is one of those tools that I will spend too much time mastering and producing unsatisfactory products that I’m forced to use because I took to long to create presentations!
I am a fan of Canva because it offers free educator accounts. Canva provides a decent selection of good templates that are specifically geared toward education although I still feel that I’m always needing to tweak something. Fortunately, I think that Canva makes it pretty easy to customize, and I appreciate that you can collaborate with others. Moreover, I really like that Canva offers audio, even if the music is a little hokey, because students appreciate it. For some reason, it just makes them feel silly and alert, which is always a good attention grabber. I welcome any excuse to lighten the mood. I also like that you can use Canva to create simple posters and cheat sheets, too.
Haiku Deck’s presentations mirrored the models presented in our textbook. I found their examples “stunning” (as advertised), clean, and I liked the focus on the image. I appreciate the massive collection of images that are provided. Haiku Deck doesn’t even allow the option to overload an audience with profuse text and information, and as you see from my wordy blogs, that can be a good limitation! I also think that the consistent formatting is nice, but it could also become pedestrian. I can’t afford the $60 annual cost, but if I had a school that could pay for it, I would recommend purchase of it.
Smore is a tool that I explored, but the cost is once again prohibitive at $79 a year for teachers. I am so in love with the idea of visually pleasing electronic newsletters, though. As a high school teacher, I never considered newsletters valuable, but now that I’ve seen so many examples, the possibilities are endless, and I think they could be a valuable addition for students and parents.
I loved the pictures that were uploaded but there was a pop-up to subscribe that threw me off. I also found Haiku a mirror to the textbook and it is definitely one I added to my History.
After reading your post, I will definitely go back and explore Haiku deck more closely. My initial impression was that the format was simplistic and interesting but I obviously did not spend enough time exploring this option. Thank you for the information.
Nancy,
I am right with you in terms of always using PowerPoint and Google Slides for presentations! It was definitely invigorating to explore some new presentation tools and resources that are available out there. I also had some difficulty with Emaze—I loved its features and templates, but I found that the formatting, editing, and customization of slides to be very time-consuming and challenging. I also feel that if it takes hours on end to create a 3 slide presentation, maybe it isn’t the best selection for a presentation tool in the future. However, I admire the fact you were willing to really take all that time in utilizing Emaze to create your slideshow!
Like you, I also really enjoyed using Canva because of the easy accessibility and navigation in terms of creating an original slideshow presentation. I think it’s really mindful that you also reflected on the financial aspect of having a membership with these different presentation tools, because it is something that really influences whether we can be able to use these resources for future use. As educators, we have to be very cautious with our spendings!
I loved your slides on the benefits of having a family dog. I, myself, am a very devoted dog mom to a shih-tzu poodle named Scruffy—who is my life! So, reviewing your slides was reassuring for me since I absolutely love dogs.
Great work!
–Lauren Chubb