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We all explore new technologies, some grab our attention more than others, some seem revolutionary, others simply bore us. Tell us about that new tool, or set of tools, you have just discovered that really excites you, talk about the potential it has to change your work. What do you want to do with it?
These days I seem to see a reason to make online presentations through Slideshare, Slideboom or Slide Rocket at every turn. I especially like Slideboom because it can retain animations present in the original Powerpoint. This means that you can make games or presentations which really show you how to do things step by step by highlighting a different part of the picture in turn. I have used it to make free samples of a course we are marketing right now. I have used it to make explanatory videos. I have also just used it to make a virtual presentation in absentia by adding a voice over to the slides.
But I am sometimes alone in my enthusiasm for these tools. ‘Why don’t you just post a Powerpoint?’ was one person’s reaction. I obviously could not convey how much neater I thought this option was without seeing the presentation in edit format before it starts.
I see the greatest potential of these tools in being able to quickly make some short tutoring videos to explain all manner of things both technical and philosophical. On the technical side, a similar sort of set of tools are the screencast tools which seem to be mushrooming at the moment. I have just been introduced to UTIPu by Vance Stevens, a webhead, (see below about informal learning) which seems to do a fantastic job of recording what is going on on your screen.
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