Prezi! Zoom Over Slides.

This discovery came via an email from a colleague. He described the content of the link as a possible alternative to PowerPoint. What I discovered was a tool that allows the user to zoom in and out to engage and explain the subject being presented in a very flexible way. I noticed that it also allows embedding to websites and can be downloaded and stored.

Anyone who uses Moodle may know that to include a PowerPoint slideshow in your teaching and learning resources is not a simple task. In the past I've attempted to upload a .pps file  but this does not ensure it runs as a slideshow. You are taken to the edit window which is particularly annoying. Anything that is said to be an alternative to PowerPoint is something worth exploring especially if it would run better on the VLE or intranet.

Prezi was developed by Adam Somlai-Fischer and Peter Halacsy who felt that slides were limiting and wanted to be able to present and develop ideas in another way. I recommend you visit the the site and have a look at some 'prezis' available for public viewing. All prezis made by anyone signing up to the free option are made public.

Have a look at this video 'What is Prezi? - The official intro video' to get a better idea of how Prezi is so different from PowerPoint.



Before you go off to the Prezi site how about having a look at my first attempt at creating a prezi. Concentrating on inserting text, frames and paths, there are no pretty images. For someone who finds PowerPoint a doddle to use, learning to use prezi took some patience and perserverance. The Prezi Academy offers lessons for all stages from beginner to advanced.

Here is my first prezi made for the purpose of an online introduction to the learning centre and used on our college intranet and/or VLE. I decided to keep it very simple so there are no images or changes in font colours. Creating the paths and views was the trickiest part of the creating process. A number of attempts were needed to create a show with smooth movement from each point so you may feel it's a little overdone. I apologise if you experience any motion sickness.


 

Welcome to the Learning Centre on Prezi

Reviews - a small collection of reviews for more information

Layers Magazine

AppAppeal

Solid State UX - Zooming in on Prezi: A Review

Making Moodle Courses More Like Web Pages

I've been working with Moodle for just over a year and have learned to use it via online videos and presentations. I can create web pages in Moodle and have learnt how to embed videos and recently a PowerPoint presentation with animations into a course page. However anyone who is familiar with Moodle course pages is well aware how quickly you find you've created a page which requires seemingly endless scrolling to find information and resources. One of the first pages I was involved in suffered from this issue. It was resolved by hiding some areas and creating links to hidden resources. Still required some scrolling so I knew it could be improved further but not how.

Once in a while I'll do a random search looking for anything new on a given topic. I use this most often when I am at work to find out what other people are saying about some of the resources we use in education especially when it comes to our open source VLE. The abundant sharing of knowledge and skills supports beginner, intermediate and advanced learning. I rely heavily on the sharing of highly skilled people who have been using Moodle a lot longer than me and I share my discoveries with colleagues as well as record it here.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a challenge so I did a Google video search on Moodle. One of the top five results was a video from channel UsingMoodle on YouTube called Make your Moodle course page look like a webpage. Avoiding the 'scroll of death' was a topic that I was trying to tackle over a year ago and therefore was exactly the challenge I was looking for. Naturally I watched it right away.



I watched it a few times over before attempting to follow the instructions to change one of the course pages for which I am responsible. I would recommend watching the video and pausing at each step while working on your course page. The hardest thing in the whole process which is not obvious in this video is finding images to use for buttons. Moodle is a bit fiddly when it comes to images. You can't just copy a bit of clipart. I would like to be able to just copy and paste and then add a hyperlink like I would in Word. Moodle however insists on you uploading files into a storage area which I find a little irritating. However as this video demonstrates it is possible to avoid the 'scroll of death'. Anything that makes Moodle more presentable is a good thing.

A New Term and More Moodling...

I spoke last time about my reasons for joining the Moodle Meet community on Ning. Since then we've had the Easter Break and the summer term began with beautiful weather. Much as I wanted to sit outside and enjoy the sun it was back to the business of developing our elearning resource bank on the VLE.

One of my main purposes for joining Moodle Meet was to learn how to achieve goals that come from tinkering, using the tools available to create a user friendly learning area. The user experience is at the heart of creating resource banks. As I read somewhere this week, if the content and the look of the site is not appealing, no one will use it. One of the issues to which I pay most attention is the number of clicks or the amount of scrolling it takes to reach a goal. It is one of the golden rules of web design and I think it is appropiate to consider this even if it is just for your VLE.

There is a link on the Moodle Meet page called Moodle Tutorials. It could be called Moodle TV!! There are channels with videos to show you how to achieve your goals and in the process develop new skills and knowledge. This is great for any moodler of any level. You can join but it is not compulsory to have access to the videos. If you do join then you can rate videos and make comments rather like YouTube or Vimeo.

I had posted a video from CommonCraft to our eLearning Forum. Well I posted a link to the video to be exact. While this was fine it meant that it would take require four clicks from selecting the main resource to watching the video. I wondered if there was a way to embed a video as I was used to doing on my blogs and so on. It would cut out at least one click and be more inviting to the user to actually watch the video.

One of the channels on Moodle Tutorials is called Moodle 1.8 not that I am certain which version of Moodle being used in our institution but I know it is not the most recent version which I think is 2.0 - please correct me if I am mistaken. Back to the point, this channel had the video to teach me what I needed to learn. In it the speaker takes you through the steps to embed videos on your Moodle platform with clear directions and demonstration. Watch the video for yourself.


The CommonCraft video was the first resource to be added to our Information Literacy area. CommonCraft make video 'Explanations in Plain English'. It is called 'Web Search Strategies in Plain English' which will be useful for anyone teaching Information Literacy. Following the Moodle Tutorials video I created a web page with the CommonCraft video embedded in it. See that video below.




Moodle Tutorials is a great site for people like me who are relatively new to Moodle. There are easy to use resources that the boss won't mind you watching when they see what you start producing in the goal of developing elearning resources and making it easy and pleasant to use for everyone.

MoodleMeet - Why I joined this community...

It is almost a year since I began using Moodle the learning platform used in the further education college where I work. During this year gradually developing knowldege and skills gained from previous experience of another platform Digitalbrain it was not difficult to do the basics. However in a short time I was given more permissions and required to create two courses. I took advice from colleagues and websites like moodle.org and Moodle Docs.

I have now created two courses and while I have had fun doing it, even creating a logo to improve our presentation, I want to know more. So looking for instruction I visit bloggers like Jane Hart and Moodle Girl Mel Gibb who always provide good information about resources and current discourse around e-learning. Mel Gibb is a member of MoodleMeet which how I found out about it.

It is only a few days since I joined so I have not done much except update my profile and add a badge which you can see at the top of the page. I signed up for the opportunity to learn from people who've used Moodle longer than it has been in the college.

I read recently that developing staff skills in using technology is a very important aspect of improving the students use of technology resources. Staff are in post for years and students naturally move from one situation to another. But staff skills are not always being developed to match with technological advances. This is one of the reasons why I have decided to take control of self-development in the hope that I may share any knowledge I gain not just with the community but more important, with colleagues who may not feel as motivated about elearning skill development. The video below is the first one I watched on MoodleMeet. It is a good introduction to what Moodle is and how it is used and who uses this open source learning platform.



This video is from YouTube as I had problems embedding the one from Moodle Tutorials. It was a good thing because it led me to discover an updated version of Moodle Presentation.



MoodleMeet is a social network created in Ning by Laurie Korte.
"Come join other Moodlers to network, share, work, collaborate, ask questions, get ideas, learn, make discoveries, etc." Initially I will be focusing on getting ideas, learning and making discoveries before I start asking questions that have already been answered. I will also post my experience in this blog as I moodle. If you are a Moodler join MoodleMeet and let's be moodlers together.