This morning, at ALT-C in Leeds, I attended Jane Hart's excellent presentation on the top 25 free tools for learning, I was familiar with most of these tools, but welcomed the opportunity to reflect on the extent to which I was maximising the potential benefit of each tool. The one I particularly noted was SlideShare, a site that allows you to upload and share PowerPoint and Keynote presentations.
Well, I do presentations, so this seemed like an activity in which I should engage - who knows, there might be people out there who'd like to take a look at my slides if they missed my presentation or wanted a reminder. But when I thought about it I realised that my slides would make absolutely no sense on their own - they're mainly pictures. Now I may be in the minority here, but I hold on to the belief that slides are for speaker support, more particularly they are visual aids. Your slides are not your presentation, they are only one component. Unless I'm missing something, SlideShare relies as a concept on slides being self-contained works, that can be downloaded and viewed in isolation. This merely encourages the already widespread (if not ubiquitous) misuse of visual aids that leads to the mass genocide known as death by PowerPoint.
To show that I am open-minded and willing to consider the upside to SlideShare, there do seem to be at least two really positive uses to which the tool could be put:
- Sharing slides which have been deliberately designed to be used on a stand-alone basis and not to support a live presentation.
- Sharing slides that are accompanied by an audio narration that replaces the contribution of a presenter.
So, have I missed something?
I have added SlideShare as a tool for research. In addition to educational databases, web searches, alerts, blogs, books, dissertations, conferences, and articles, I have found some great information on SlideShare. One example...generational issues.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slideshare.net/jkristy/multigenerational-issues-in-the-changing-workforce
If I get around to it, I go back to my slides and add more text so they make sense before I post the slides on SlideShare.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I do when I think of it is add audio to the slides and make a slidecast - you do that through the slideshare web site.
Adding audio is very much encouraged!
ReplyDelete-Rashmi
SlideShare cofounder
Clive, I agree that slides for a preso shouldn't stand on their own, but I see one other addition to your list:
ReplyDeleteas a reminder/tool for an audience who has heard the talk.
Clark,
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with your comment. There is not enough re-exposure to learning content following events which are presentation led.
We forget more than we remember unless we actively engage with the content on a regular basis or its routed in a context/experience that is emotionally resonant.
Many - if not most - presentations fall down on both scores...