Week 7: The Power of PowerPoint

One of the Seven Roles of being an educator is to be a life-long learner. [If you like you can have a look at the other roles in the The Seven Roles of the Educator rubric I designed for teachers. Of course this is very broad-based and needs to be applied piece meal and over time. The rubric is based on a South African Policy Document called The National Education Policy Act 1996 – Norms and Standards for Educators.] Yet again, I have learnt so much this week and again, had much fun doing so.

I briefly mentioned to a friend of mine, who was part of the Winter Class of UO, studying another course, what I was doing, and she regrets not having selected this course. Don’t get me wrong; she enjoyed hers very much and did very well, but she feels she would have learnt so much more on this one.

Anyway, I cannot believe we are so close to the end. Where have the past seven weeks gone?

This week we looked at how to make teaching large classes more interactive as well how to use PowerPoint (PP) to do so. I thought I was so good on PowerPoint! I take great pride and pleasure in clicking my way through a PP Presentation when it is complete. I love watching the animated letters fall from above or rise up from below or enlarge and shrink…. Ha! I have used hyperlinks with great pleasure. However, this being said, I did not have a clue that ‘Action Buttons’ existed! I did not know about embedded custom shows either. This week has served to peak my interest further because there are still things I do not know! I am looking forward to this adventure.

I am metacognitively, constantly critically evaluating my thoughts – as in an out-of-body experience and I quite like this. It forces me to be brutally honest with myself and this is not a bad thing.

I have to also think on two levels: as a trainer with resources at most times, and as a teacher without resources at others. The fact that I am able to implement a great idea does not mean that teachers in under-resourced schools can implement them. I would like to think that the value I add is considerable but I have a secret longing. I can’t remember who said it but I think they were very wise words indeed. We spend so much time trying to improve our weaknesses that we forget to nurture our strengths to new heights. Just for once, I would like to be able to see the impact of my training in an environment that has the necessary tools and technology…a pipe dream?

I must remember to go back to my WebQuest…It is still incomplete!