'MySimpleShow' Presentation Software This week we were introduced to the power of presentations for engaging and educating students. Initially I assumed we would just learn how to make fantastic PowerPoint presentations. And we did learn this. But we were also introduced to the phenomenal array of free presentation software on the World Wide Web. About MySimpleShow: After following a few hyperlinks and having a little play, I decided to make a MySimpleShow presentation. Mostly because they marketed themselves as being simple to make and their example presentations reminded me of this fabulous presentation we were presented with in week 1 (Video 1). Video 1: The inspirational "Do you dare to dream?" video by inKNOWation (2012). Upon exploring MySimpleShow further, I have realized that it does not reach my expected standards. It certainly did not measure up to "Do you dare to dream?" (inKNOWation, 2012; Video 1). However it was simple to make (as promised) and fun to watch. The simplistic nature of MySimpleShow presentations are useful in that they do not distract viewers from the content by presenting over-whelming displays of what I refer to as "digital awesomeness". On the other hand they still provide the pace and movement necessary to make them eye-catching and engaging. They are a great deal more simplistic than videos such as inKNOWation's (2012) presentation above and therefore do not successfully maintain engagement for extended periods. I believe this is the reason MySimpleShow only allows short presentations. Please watch the explanatory MySimpleShow below (Video 1). Video 2: "Explain Yourself Visually With MySimpleShow" by BCSS Digital Learning (2017) created using MySimpleShow (Simpleshow, 2017) The short and succinct nature of these presentations does not render them useless, but rather defines a clear niche for their use in the classroom. These videos provide a valuable opportunity to explain concepts in a more engaging, and re-playable, format. Miller (2017a; 2017b), also known as ‘Mr Miller’ has shared some inspiring examples of the use of MySimpleShow for teaching mathematical concepts (Video 3,4 below).
Video 3: "Triangle Inequality" by Miller (2017a) created for Math education purposes using MySimpleShow (Simpleshow, 2017) Video 4: "Box and whisker plots (part 1)" by Miller (2017b) created for Math education purposes using MySimpleShow (Simpleshow, 2017) The SAMR MODEL for Implementation in the Classroom: Incorporating ICT tools such as MySimpleShow presentations into the classroom is an expectation under the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standards (AITSL, 2014). MySimpleShow presentations are a valuable ICT resource, but their learning value can be increased if they are implemented at the transformation phases of the SAMR model (Puentedura, 2006). Through the SAMR model, teachers can transform ICT-based lessons or activities to instigate higher-order thinking skills such as evaluation and creation as discussed by Bloom (1956) and revised by Anderson et al. (2001). An example of this is as follows: SUBSTITUTION: Action - MySimpleShow Presentations replace verbal/whiteboard presentation of information. Benefits - Students are more engaged during presentation. AUGMENTATION: Action - MySimpleShow Presentations replace verbal/whiteboard presentation of information. Presentations are later uploaded onto a wiki or blog for students to access and revise. Benefits – Students can re-play, re-watch and revise presentations from anywhere to help them do homework, assignments or study for tests and exams. MODIFICATION: Action – MySimpleShow Presentations are created by students as activities or assessment tasks and presented to their class. Benefit – Creation is often more engaging than observation. Students use higher-order thinking when creating (Bloom, 1956) and will develop a more in-depth understanding of concepts. REDEFINITION: Action – MySimpleShow Presentations are created by students as activities or assessment tasks and are uploaded to a wiki or blog page to create a repository for definitions and examples. Benefit – This final step means students can access a wide array of concept examples and definitions. All people learn and understand concepts differently, therefore with more resources available to a class, there is more opportunity for students to find a version of the content that makes sense to them. Technical Difficulties and Considerations Fortunately, the actual creation of these presentations is as simple and easy as the company states. I was simply asked to choose the “storyboard” or genre of my presentation (I chose Strategy and Goals), then presented with a number of slides to write narrations for, with helpful directions as to what the slides should focus on. Once my narration was written into the slides, MySimpleShow interpreted the words for me and illustrated them with pictures. I was then able to review and change these pictures to better suit my needs before going on to select music, narrator voices and subtitle settings and finalizing my presentation. So making my video was simple, but there were certainly frustrations. Firstly, in a professional context I would not recommend using the free version of MySimpleShow for these reasons:
As a result of the free version, I could not share my video correctly. In order to even get it onto weebly I had to:
Video 5: My attempt at a MySimpleShow presentation. Unfortunately I could not export the presentation so there is no sound and you can see my computer interface in the background. Safety, Legal and Ethical Considerations: According to the AITSL National Professional Standards For Teaching - ICT Elaborations (Focus Area 4.5; AITSL, 2014), teachers should, “Demonstrate understanding of safe, legal and ethical use of digital resources and tools, including cyber safety practices, respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources” Cyber safety and bullying could potentially arise through the misuse of MySimpleShow and similar presentation formats and students need to be aware of the rules and repercussions of actions which would be hurtful, demoralizing or discriminatory toward others. Since MySimpleShow is a web-based software having students create their own presentation will require internet-monitoring. Most schools have internet-filtering measures in place to ensure that only age-appropriate internet content is viewed. However, these are not foolproof so teachers must remain diligent in the classroom. Copyright is an important factor in MySimpleShow presentations. The MySimpleShow company has specific copyright laws which need to be considered. Only under the highest-cost package does the customer have third party transfer rights and the ability to remove the company’s watermark. Since it is possible to import images from external sources and write narration teachers and students must provide appropriate documentation of the sources of statements and images. All too often I see web-based articles and blogs which are lazily referenced or not referenced at all. Just a quick browse of blog sites will illustrate this. It appears as though the culture of the World Wide Web is very different to written texts in that authors are able to "get away with" plagiarism. A hyperlink should compliment not replace in-text citations, otherwise readers are not made aware of the author name unless they choose to navigate away from the page to find out. The education system needs to focus on teaching students online referencing and accountability as well as critical analysis of the integrity of web information. Where referencing is concerned, writing a blog or creating a presentation is no different to writing a report or a book. To truly acknowledge intellectual property we must abide by copyrighting laws; the author, title, date and URL should be named - at the very least. References Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., … Wittrock, M. C. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL]. (2014) Australian professional standards for teaching. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list? BCSS Digital Learning (2017, January 3) Explain yourself visually with my simpleshow. [Video File] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUsNIwzh8_I&feature=youtu.be Bloom, B.S. (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. inKNOWation (2012, November 27) Do you dare to dream? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/HhFxQlDPjaY Miller, B. [Math Squad]. (2017a, January 3) Box and whisker plats (part 1) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W9L98Cx7gQ Miller, B. [Math Squad]. (2017b, January 4) Triangle Inequality [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO39OQ3A3EE Puentedura, R. (2006). Transformation, technology, and education [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://hippasus.com/resources/tte/. SimpleShow (2017) MySimpleShow Web Presentation Software. Retrieved from https://website.mysimpleshow.com/
2 Comments
4/10/2017 07:48:41 pm
Sarah! I always love your reflections and this was no different! I particularly liked that you experimented slightly unsuccessfully with a tool because it's such a truthful representation of how this whole process actually works - so many things I tried were abject failures! Presentation software is also hard because we've all made a thousand poorly executed PowerPoints and never really moved past that (or is that just me?) so developing that feels like more of an effort than learning a new tool like we did for previous weeks. So thanks for giving me/us another tool to try!
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Kateland
4/20/2017 01:20:47 pm
There are a lot of limitations to the presentation tool if you use the free version, which is most likely there way of encouraging you to buy the pro version, which can be very frustrating. I quite liked the miller videos, and I agree that creating a MySimpleShow presentation to explain these concepts would be a lot more engaging. I quite liked your presentation. It was a shame about the sound, but I remember hearing it class and it was quite interesting. I always like to see someone else's point of view on a topic as none of us think exactly alike, and there will always be differences to my own.
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