GAIN Performance Record - Presentations

Beginning in high school and throughout college and even into my current job, Power Point (referred to as PP going forward) has been a staple. I feel rather confident in my ability to use and manipulate the software into doing whatever it is I need to be done to make my presentation great. However, today (after watching the tutorials and dealing with it myself) I want to explain why my go to Office program will no longer be.

Upon opening Presentation for the first time, I immediately notice the layout. This is very similar to that of PP as it gives the a blank canvas to begin. Usually the first thing I like to do is pick a theme for my slides. PP offers a huge amount of themes to choose from while Presentation does not. Once my theme is picked, I begin editing in whatever way I want. There seems to be little problem with figuring this program out as the similarities for editing are clear. Actually, in my opinion, it seems to be easier to find what you are looking for on this type of toolbar in contrast to the PP toolbar with so many options. The best advantage that I see to using Presentation is the same advantage I have found when using other Google applications. That is the ability to collaborate. While Microsoft products can be shared for others to use, it is not as streamlined as the Google products. This collaboration ability will make it much easier for students to work on projects not only inside the classroom but outside as well without having to be face to face. Also, it is always important to think of cost when using these products. Presentation is used through Google, therefore at no cost. It has not been long ago that I bought the Microsoft office package. Let me assure you, it is not free.

There are many Common Core standards that the use of such applications can satisfy. One specific one that I found in the Graham text is standard number 5 for speaking and learning. The ability for students to be able to strategically use digital media and visual displays to portray information can be accomplished on either PP or Presentation. However, like mentioned in a previous post regarding Google Docs, Presentation also satisfies the standard students need to have of being able to collaborate with others on shared documents.

In conclusion, I want to express my new found curiosity and pleasure in Google Presentation. For me personally, the ability to collaborate without swapping emails back and forth makes this a great application to use. Along with that (just as in the Docs), you can forget the day of forgetting your flash-drive. This is a very sufficient replacement of PP. The longer that Google develops this application, the more likely it is to surpass PP in all of its ways.

Below you will find my sample Presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12orphY4pLZt5f82Sc2PIE4Jwiq7sRIw6s05REIjKn_Q/edit?usp=sharing