Presentations!

Google Presentations offers a new way to collaborate and work on presentation software other than the common use of Microsoft Powerpoint. I have had thorough experience with Microsoft Powerpoint since for most of my life I have had nothing else. I recently have learned the apple software for presentations called Pro Presenter. It is very similar to Powerpoint too with a little more video and audio capabilities. The actual set up is very different as well between the two. Google presentations seems very similar to Powerpoint.

Presentations gives users the ability to embed text, audio, images, and video just as Powerpoint. However, the unique aspect of Google Presentations is the capability to create edit and share a presentation with other users. Presentations functions similarly to Google docs in this way. It functions off the cloud and therefore does not have a specific alignment with a particular software either. Only one version of the document exists. Again this can allow you to share only one presentation with others and allows for less confusion between the differing drafts of the same presentation. Users can edit the same presentation and upload the most updated because of the editing anywhere feature.

A specific lesson plan that I looked at for the use of Google presentations in the classroom was the middle school language arts lesson. The teacher focused the lesson on the idea surrounding create your own adventure story books. It was fascinating the assignment students were required to do with the use of this tool. The students were asked to create together on slides one through three the beginning of their story. Then they each were responsible for different points in the plot through working on the same presentation just simply on different slides. Therefore, the collaboration was still ongoing, but the students each created a different more unique story to their own imagination which encourages individual creativity. Finally, they will each edit the other's work on the Google presentations document and will present it to the class. This was such a great tool for demonstrating in a language arts classroom the value of story, creativity, and differing human experience. Utilizing Google presentations allows for collaboration and editing, but also allows for a larger purpose of showing students that they each have unique points of view that cannot be offered by any other living soul.

Overall, Google presentations seems to be a great tool to use especially for business. In the classroom, students working in groups could perhaps work on a presentation due the next day at the same time at home if they have access to the internet instead of having to meet at one student's home to work together. This free access enables a lot of flexibility when working together in groups. Also, this would be of great use for lesson plans. Teachers working together in the English department could help better each other's presentations for lessons to students in different classrooms and offer different perspectives.