Open Source Presentation Tools

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I’m struck by the extent to which PP has become synonymous with a computer based presentation these days, and have mixed feelings about its use in elementary or primary education. There’s no doubt that presenting to an audience of ones peers is a key skill these days, and I was hugely impressed by the research and polish that my 9-11 year olds put into their ESB presentations. The danger, of course, is that the software gets in the way of the research and analysis, and pupils become so excited about the possibilities which sound and vision open up that they concentrate on these rather than the content of their talk, and their interaction with their audience; something I know happened with my own classes in the past. It’s some indication of the extent to which primary aged pupils are already familiar with the bangs and whistles side of PP that even the DfES DCSF see a need to begin senior school ICT with a unit highlighting good and bad aspects of slide design, with the semi-ubiquitous example of “Pat’s Poor Presentation”, and whilst attention is paid to the need for structure, particularly the use of PowerPoint’s (cited as an example) outliner, we do have one particular model of how to use slideware:

an effective presentation is one in which the audience finds the information useful and interesting and where fonts, colours, images and sound are used in ways that catch their attention and help to get the information across.

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