DWPP – Part 2

Last week I talked about an alternative to PowerPoint; Prezi.  Prezi is a cloud based website that allows for the creation of an engaging and original presentation.  This week I would like to share a second alternative to PowerPoint, Powtoon.

http://www.powtoon.com/ is another engaging web based program for creating interesting PICTURE based presentations.  This website offers a short video of why PowerPoint aren’t as effective as most people may think.  Some key reasons are the fact that people can not process what they see and hear at the same time and only 10% of people will remember what they hear after 3 days though 65% of people will remember what they see after 3 days.  So what does this mean?  Well, it means PowerPoint is easy to use and it is very simple to slap together a presentation over night but what is the cost?  Spending the extra time to learn a new program can (and will) create a more engaging and positive learning environment.

Powtoon is very simple to use, here is the site to view the tutorials they have provided to learn how to us it:

http://www.powtoon.com/tutorials/

Prezi and Powtoon are similar websites however they are slightly different.  I would describe (in my own opinion) that Prezi is good for delivering a message that may not fully translate to images.  Prezi is also based off of themes and the presentations commonly represent some form of a “path” to get to the end result or objective.

Powtoon is used more for direct picture translation and for video presentations.  Whether you choose to use Prezi, Powtoon or stick with PowerPoint, it is so important to keep your presentations engaging and interactive.  Try to avoid repetition and wordy visual presentations.

Let me know what you think of these websites once you try them out and share any tips or best practices you’ve come up with through experience!

Thanks,