GAIN - Presentations

When a teacher is needing to present to a class they look for many things. Aside from it being eye-catching for the class, it needs to be functional for the teacher to make.  Between computer softwares and the internet, there are many different types of presentation formats to use. The main one that comes with Microsoft Office is Microsoft Powerpoint, which has been around and has been the main "go-to" site for students and teachers for years. New to the presenting world is Google Slides. Looking at the basics, they are very similar, but there are some features that, for a teacher, are "make or break" features.

I have personally worked with Microsoft Powerpoint through my whole school career. I am at the age where I did not know a lot about life without computers, but I also remember being really young and getting Microsoft Office and my brother and myself playing with Powerpoint thinking we were the next cool thing, since we were making our own movies. And in the 90s, there wasn't much cooler than that! But as I have gotten older and moved through school, Powerpoint became a crucial part of my assignments. This was more so the case in college, and I feel that I became very proficient in the world of Powerpoint. I knew how to make my text appear and disappear again, bring pictures into frame with cool new animations, and by the time I graduated from college I had mastered how to make just enough bullet points so my presentations weren't wordy and I could do all the talking.

Recently I have been introduced to the Google Docs, Sheets, and now Slides. I have never worked with Slides prior to this assignment, but I have to say I have had fun creating the slideshow to show what I am learning. But despite the fun I had of reliving my youth and creating a slideshow that was not packed to the rim with facts, I noticed there were some clear differences between the two systems. For starters, when I began my project I was asked to chose a background. This selection was not exactly up to par with that of Microsoft Powerpoint. I only had a few selections, maybe a dozen, whereas with Powerpoint I had 40. I also noticed the layout choices were limited. Powerpoint has layouts based on pictures, and adding captions to the pictures, and this option was not available for Slides. I also didn't have the choices of clip art like with Powerpoint. If I want to add a picture on Slides I have to use pictures from the Internet, my computer that I am using, or my Google plus profile. I attempted to upload a picture using a URL, but every time I came up with a notification that my web address didn't pull up any pictures.

Even though I came across some major disadvantages, I really like that it is in my Google Drive and can work on it from anywhere. The Cloud-sharing feature makes taking my work anywhere easier and less of a hassle. It also reaches aspects of the Common Core State Standards. According to my textbook by Michael J. Graham, "presentations are key in communication." These standards state that presenting information in ways that are clear and concise is the best way for students to prepare for communicating as they get older and go out in to the working world and have to present to various people on any number of topics.

I found that the Standards that were applied to the Presentations app can also be applied to the Powerpoint version. The only con I have found for Powerpoint it the fact it costs a couple hundred if you are getting the pack with all of the Microsoft Office software included, whereas Slideshow is completely free. Other than that, my favorite of working with the two is Microsoft Powerpoint. As I stated before, I spent a little time making a short presentation on Google Slides to try a few of the features out. To see my presentation click HERE.