Weekly Report and Reflection #10

Hello fellow blog readers!

ONECE. (CC) 2016.

Can you believe that this semester is almost coming to a close! In a couple more weeks I will officially be done my fourth year, it’s flown by so quickly! In terms of digital literacy tools, this week we are exploring tools that make it easier to create slideshows! I began to work with Animoto because I had never heard of it previously, however I found that it had several limitations dealing with the resizing of pictures, adding text, creative possibilities, etc. Therefore, I began working with Prezi, of which I have used several times before and thoroughly enjoyed. Prezi is a great option for creating presentations for school, work, or just for fun! The creative options are endless with Prezi and it allows you to customize your presentation by adding different shape bubbles, colours, pictures, videos, information, etc. As I mentioned in my reflection about Prezi, I find that the only downfall of this tool is that it can be time consuming when creating the path of your Prezi as well as resizing visuals.

As I mentioned, I have used Prezi previously for class presentations as well as work presentations. I tend to use Google Slides much more that Prezi because of its accessibility and it is easier to view through my app on my phone. Additionally, I like Google Slides because it is great for group projects as everyone can log on at once and work together, whereas with Prezi this tends to be a bit more complicated. However, Prezi saves your completed work automatically, thus you don't have to worry about losing your presentation while creating it. Amberley, one of my fellow ADED learners, discussed Prezi in her blog this week and I liked how she discussed captivating the audience through Prezi presentations and maintaining their focus. I agree with this as Prezi adds a different aspect to presentations compared to Google Slides, which tends to become repetitive and basic. Be sure to read her blog as she poses a very great discussion about slideshows and provides more information about Animoto! I will continue to utilize the Prezi tool for future presentations and I think that it is a great asset for my PLE. I will especially be using this tool in the classroom when I become a teacher.

Moreover, I also explored citations and creative commons as a way to further my learning when creating slideshows and using pictures that are retrieved online. It is important to cite all work that is not your own and to give credit to those who worked hard to create something to share online! The Clever Sheep: Creative Commons Chaos blog lists several different creative commons resources and I found this to have very beneficial information.

Now it’s time to discuss my new finding from my Feedly reader! This week I found a link to a video that discusses “5 Tips to Improve Your Critical Thinking.” This video couldn’t have come to my attention at a better time as I have several essays due in the next couple of weeks and I tend to get into a rut when I have to balance so many essay topics. At times, it can be difficult to think critically and analyze information, especially when you have to continuously write essays, and I will be sure to practice these tips in the next coming weeks while working on my assignments.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and happy blogging!

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