Irwin Thompson

An advantage of using an application such as SlideShare is that students will be more likely to collaborate and share resources and knowledge. A drawback to such an application is that some students may piggyback on the work of others. Though learning can occur through collaborative efforts, too much sharing may encourage some students to become less invested in creating meaningful work.

Theresa Schmitt, M.Ed.

Irwin,

You bring up a fantastic point. Over the past five years or so, I personally have witnessed an increase in students who are brought before Honor Council accused of plagiarism, many of whom claimed to be genuinely surprised by this accusation. This digital generation has grown up in this information sharing culture where as in generations past information sharing was more on a need to know basis. I feel as educators we need to clearly define plagiarism, teach this generation how to properly cite sources, and give them the tools they need to feel confident expressing their own opinion. Wishing you continued success in the classroom.

Theresa Schmitt

Brent Browning

By incorporating SlideShare, the class has the ability to view other presentations on the same material that the instructor has presented. This can give the students the opportunity to experience other views and methods of presentation that will hopefully heighten their understanding of the concepts.

Theresa Schmitt, M.Ed.

Brent,

SlideShare also provides an excellent opportunity for learners to synthesize information and share their knowledge with others. Wishing you continued success in the classroom.

Theresa Schmitt

Gilbert Boyd CHEP

An application like Slide Share can be effective when students do their class presentations or teachers are delivering class information.SlideShare would help keep the audience engaged as opposed to a regular power point or whiteboard presentation.
There could be a problem regarding students really learning the courses important content or information, will the student take the time to study and learn beyond what is presented on Slide Share.

LE Taylor CHEP

The ability for students to obtain copies of a presentation before class often helps the student focus on what is being communicated. I have found that students seem to be much more involved when they have the slides and can make notes on them. Rather than the situation where the student is trying to take detailed notes on a blank page. This seems to pull their attention from the presentation and toward the task of taking detailed notes.

Another benefit of slide sharing sites lay in the ability of instructors to share relevant materials. Many courses have similar or overlapping content. By sharing slides and information instructors can work together and build high quality slides that are shared.

Heinz Borschel

At the college where I work, I find that a large percentage of new students are not as technology savy as anticipated and are reluctant to use any technology presentations that others might see.

Theresa Schmitt, M.Ed.

LE,

You bring up a great point. Providing copies of PowerPoint presentations in advance does allow the students the opportunity to focus on the material being presented. SlideShare is a great community for sharing teaching materials, I am glad you have found ways to incorporate this resource into your curriculum.

Wishing you continued success in the classroom.

Theresa Schmitt

Theresa Schmitt, M.Ed.

Heinz,

Sounds like they lack confidence, which comes in time. Requiring students to present work in most if not all classes is to their benefit down the line when they go on job interviews, give presentations at work, or deal with clients/patients. As an educator, it is uncomfortable at first but a necessary evil like teaching a child to ride a bike- they will fall down, but with practice they will master the skill in no time.

Wishing you continued success in the classroom.

Theresa Schmitt

Tonia Clark

I feel that Slide Share and other presentation sharing applications helps learners to meet course objectives. Learners have the opportunity to view and search presentations on a topic of study or interest. This can be a motivating starting point for them to create their own presentations to post and share with others. As a result, learners are engaged in what they are creating which in the end shows their mastery of knowledge content.

Elizabeth Grant

HB I agree with you, and I have known students drop out because they were uncomfortable with making presentations or using advanced technology. It may benefit some of the students, but it really depends on the career they have chosen. Since this is a career college and my students are nurses, I know they will probably never in their career make a multimedia presentation. Most of the computer usage will be flowsheet (point and click) almost identical to paper flow sheets. If you are instructing students who have little to no need to ever make or use powerpoint (mechanic, dental hygienist, hair stylist), is there as much value in teaching them to use the method? I think using powerpoint is fine in class, but having them utilize it may be off point.

Elizabeth Grant

I have found some students get bored easily with powerpoints. I have never used SlideShare (in the article you mention there is a cost attached to it and a person is unable to create in "free", I can make my own powerpoints easily and free).
I have found printing them out for the students to be a double edged sword. Similar to those who audio record lectures and then tune out, I have found some students who think the powerpoint handout is sufficient and then stop paying attention. Many of my test questions are addressed in powerpoint, but in content only. They have to read the text to be able to answer effectively, and I have found students who only study the slides. When I stopped handing them out and had them take notes along with the slides, the grades improved.

Theresa Schmitt, M.Ed.

Tonia,

You bring up a fantastic point- maintaining motivation in the classroom. What better way to motivate than to have others praise your work and share it with others, as is done on SlideShare. Is this a resource you see yourself incorporating into your curriculum moving forward?

Wishing you continued success in the classroom.

Theresa Schmitt

Becki Simons

During the learning process, I have opened up all the links that have been provided and am really excited to begin utilizing some of them. I feel that these will help my courses become more dynamic and the younger students will feel more connected, I strongly feel that as our world becomes more and more technology driven that we as instructors need to be prepared and need to help our students be ready for the real world.

Theresa Schmitt, M.Ed.

Elizabeth,

Thank you for your contributions to the discussion, you have shared some excellent observations. SlideShare only required payment if advanced options are use, but it is a great free resources when collecting and aggregating information posted by others, though of course content should always be validated for accuracy. Death by PowerPoint is a common problem across education, and I agree, students often zone out of it is not utilized properly. Breaking up presentations into chunks, incorporating short videos, and stopping to promote discussion with the group are just a few ways to avoid students tuning out.

You have also mentioned grades improving after you stopped handing out the slides- thank you for sharing this with the group. Do you also find students are more engaged and ask more questions when they are responsible for taking their own notes on presentations?

Wishing you continued success in the classroom.

Theresa Schmitt

Keegan Hitchcock

Slide Share seems like a great application for doing presentations both for students and teachers. Having something like that makes it easy to have all class materials in one place rather than having to have a lot of different files that may be in different folders on the computer and or used by other instructors who may rename or edit or otherwise make them hard to locate & use.

Theresa Schmitt, M.Ed.

Keegan,

SlideShare is a good place to store materials, but it an even better place to share materials with others. I would suggest using Google Docs or Drop Box for storing course materials rather than SlideShare, it would be more convenient for you because you would not be limited to uploading only PowerPoints and PDF presentations.

Wishing you continued success in the classroom.

Theresa Schmitt

Michael Donodeo

Presentation-sharing apps can be very effective, but as an instructor you must make sure that the complexity of the application does not hinder the actual learning experience.

Scot Rice CHEP

I completely agree, I recently was taking some classes at the local university. I was shocked when the professor not only did not allow laptops in the classroom but wanted us to take notes as she lectured from power point slides. That she would only upload after she had finished the lecture. Her reasoning was, that if she gave us the power points no one would pay attention during her lectures. I do my best to have all the power points I am going to use up on the portal and available to the students and the begging of each term. I find for myself that I get so much more out of a lecture when I am able to add to an outline rather than madly trying to copy down the outline and missing what is actually being taught in the lecture.