More to the Point

So I decided to play around with PowerPoint again today seeing as I have been using it for many years but have never embedded a video or uploaded a PowerPoint to a blog. So that was todays task. First off, I found a great site that helps with embedding youtube videos to PowerPoints that gives a really good step by step guide and some handy download links to use too. My first stumbling block was downloading the file in the wrong format. This was until I realise that Youtube downloader downloads everything in an MP4 format and then allows you to convert to what was needed.

Being that I know that the year 10 class I am going to be involved in this term is focusing on cell biology, I thought I would make a very quick and very short PowerPoint relating to this, just to get in the right frame of mind.

In order to upload it onto this blog I used this handy site and managed to do .... this

Cell Biologyppt

From a teaching perspective I believe this to be an excellent way to use ICTs within the classroom and within assessment. Presentations that are to be assessed within a classroom should also be uploaded onto wikis or a class blog for everyone to have access to a copy. This might also help with group projects if a few people are trying to collate ideas or share the work. It would be a good way of answering LMQ 7 - how will I check to see that learner has arrived?

It would also be a good method of integrating LMQ 1 (What does my learner already know?) through the use of small "quizzes" at the beginning of the class. For example having a slide such as:


with open questions to the class to attempt to find the differences and then having the answers appear on screen once the students have either identified the correct differences or you feel you have an accurate understanding of their knowledge:







PowerPoints are also good for addressing LMQ3 - how does my learner learn best. Within one PowerPoint you can include a range of different learning styles with the use of embedded videos and verbal presentations on the subject as well as allowing them to have a printed out, hard copy of the presentation to read.



(I can't seem to get the video to work within the Slideshare upload... any ideas on how to get it to work would be useful. The link at the bottom of it does work though (pg6))