Prezi

If you are an aspiring Mac user but are stuck with the Windows platform, specifically Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi is a great way to make Mac stype presentations on the web.

This free online application is a simple way of creating presentations that can be shared, stored and presented on the web. The real winner however is the animation between slides, already used widely by Mac users and not available to those using Powerpoint.

The user interface is very simple to manage and although only some very basic features are available, it is still quite effective. Users are required to enter data onto a canvas, either text, images (uploaded) or shapes, and each item added becomes a new slide. Once you have finished adding data to the canvas, you join the elements with a "storyline", which when presented, is used to indicate the order in which each slide is presented.

Education users are well looked after, given free access and increased storage space and after creating an account, access is unlimited and free to all. You can sort and view presentations by friends, peers and other users very easily. A great tool for students to use without the need for saving, transporting and uploading presentations.

Some issues that I faced included:

On one occasion, I was unable to upload any images. The button just did nothing and despite a number of restarts, no luck. I was going to try using Mozilla rather than IE however upon trying again today, the feature works again.

The options are quite limited in terms of templates, however those with a big imagination will produce great things.

Prezi works best when you have a plan and a number of images ready to go. I would encourage students to search for heaps of relevant images, store them in a single folder, then begin preparing their presentation.

Some positive aspects that I discovered included:

The zebra tool is a great innovation, allowing users to zoom, rotatate and resize using the same tool. This allows you to increase or decrease the size of elements of your presentation, which is useful when you find yourself zooming out to fit in more things and finding that the font size keeps decreasing..!

There are a number of support avenues, including instructional videos, written tutorials and plenty of demo presentations.

Very simple interface, easy for students to pick up and work with.

Issuu

There are a wide range of web based applications available to students and teachers and sorting through the useful and the phishing is quite time consuming and difficult.

Issuu is an online magazine viewer, whereby users can access free content presented in the form of a magazine. You need to become a member to upload, however viewing is free.

I have found issuu useful when asking students to produce mock magazine articles, posters and powerpoint presentations. Students can either submit their work to me and I upload the best of the group or they can upload themselves, depending on the need.

Issuu is a great way for students to broadcast their work, share ideas and also conduct research.

Some issues that I faced included:

* Uploading word documents results in some strange formatting issues. Upload in .pdf for best results.

* Changing the size of the viewed documents is a bit tricky. Full screen function is available, however if you want to view a full screen, zooming in and out can be a pain.

Some positives aspects that I discovered included:

* All types of presentations can be uploaded; posters, powerpoint, documents, ect. A great, online viewing tool.

* Search feature means active design (or other subject content) magazines can be viewed. Like sending the students to the library without the books.

* Students can search my login name to find all of my publications, meaning I can post plenty of content and students can find it easily.

* You can sign in with your facebook account and receive notifications to and from facebook.

Google SketchUp

Across a number of classes I have been using Google SketchUp as modelling, drawing and animation (see here for animation) software. Although it does have a steep learning curve and some pretty fundamental shortcomings, it is a great entry level CAD drawing package and it is free.

There are a wide range of professional CAD software providors that produce scaled down versions for education purposes, however you generally need to purchase the professional version in order to get the use of the scaled down version. I use Pro Desktop with more senior students.

My current year 8 students are developing a sustainable house design, using SketchUp to produce an initial floorplan, before importing images from the 3D Warehouse to fill their home with appliances and features. Finally the students raise the walls of their house, use the paint feature to add texture and they are done. A 3D house.

I would certainly recommned completing the range of useful tutorials provided within the software. They make life much easier and students can also work through them on their own.

Some issues that I faced included:


* SketchUp has some minor issues that mean you have to make sure that you do everything in the right order. This sometimes means you need to delete what you just did in order to redo it in the right way.

* The move tool works in two ways, stretching your drawing when not exptected and requiring you to highlight all of an object in order to move it. If this object shares a line with another piece, then you are not able to move it without affecting the other object.

* Many of the tools have some interesting or strange ways of using them. Following the tutorials and with some practice, the package becomes easier and easier to use.

* The old versions are not compatable with new versions, for example, work done in previous years cannot be opened in the new, updated version for viewing this year.

Some positive aspects I discovered included:

* Firstly, it is free. This means it is great for one off projects and is easy to download and share.

* The rendering features are easy and effective. There are a wide range of paint options which can add a variety of textures, colours and effects to your designs.

* The animation feature is great. You can produce fly-throughs and a range of other features similar to Flash animations. A student initially figured this out and showed me; quite simple and effective.

* The ability to import and export images from and to Google Earth. This means that a house or landscape can be imported into a Google Earth image and presented as if it existed in that space.

* Simplicity. Many of the CAD programs I have used are very complicated and require plenty of training in order to produce a simple object. Google Sketchup enables you to draw a wide range of objects with relative simplicity.