5 (more) Alternatives to Another Boring Presentation

Missed the first five ideas? Click here to Step Outside the Slides!

Tired of spending 2 days having students stand in front of the class and read off their slides?

Change your approach by giving students a choice of platforms THEY are comfortable with to demonstrate their creativity too!  Then, rewrite your rubric in a way that the content expectations can apply to any presentation medium.  Here are 5 alternatives to a typical presentation that can allow students to creatively demonstrate their knowledge.

1. Digital Books in the Book Creator Chrome App

app.bookcreator.com

The web version of Book Creator allows students to create a digital book.  You can record audio, search and upload images, and add shapes and text.  My favorite features are the comic book panels and speech bubbles! Students can share their finished books via link or QR code, and can even add them to your class library.  Book Creator books have an auto-play feature that will read the finished book for you - including playing embedded audio.

2. Minecraft Walkthroughs

If your students have Minecraft at home, they can probably think of a physical structure to build that relates to your activity.  Teach them to screencast (using Screencastify or Screencast-O-Matic) OR have a friend or family member use a phone to video record their screen as they walk through the world and explain what they've created. Be clear with them on the content expectations and how they have to connect their creation and explanation to the standards you are assessing.

3. 3D Models in TinkerCAD

https://www.tinkercad.com


TinkerCAD is a free web-based 3D modeling tool. If your school has a STEM program, especially with a 3D printer, your students may already know how to use it!  They can design something in 3D even if they don't intend to print it.  They can then explain it to the class or do a screencast with voiceover.  ELA? Have them design an object from the book they're reading and describe how it symbolizes the theme or character development.   Social Studies? Design an artifact. Math? Endless opportunities to show area, volume, angles, and other calculations related to designing a physical space.  Science? Endless engineering solutions!

4. Storyboards in StoryboardThat

https://www.storyboardthat.com

Create powerful visual scenes with backgrounds, characters, and speech bubbles. When arranged in a storyboard they tell a visual story that make students feel like comic book creators. Take a step farther by having students read them aloud or create a (yup, you guessed it) screencast of their dramatic reading of the scene.

5. OK Keep Your Slides.... but Take Them Wordless

Challenge students to make presentations slides with no words (or, at max, 5 words), and require them to use notecards or memorize what they want to say.  Slides should be used to show, not tell.  Students can develop their use of symbolism and creativity by finding or creating images that augment what they are saying.  These presentation styles provide structure and examples for how to pull this off:

• Ignite Talks
• Pechakucha
• TED Talks (If you love TED Talks, you can start a TED Ed Club!)

5 Ways Padlet Wins the Internet

1. Pad-Casting

Simple instructions using Quicktime

Ever wanted to produce a class Podcast? Students can record audio WITHIN a post to Padlet.  This gives your students an audio presentation platform using any device!   Have each student research a topic and post their audio presentation to a class board. Or, let students each create their own board and post a weekly or monthly podcast to it!  When you're ready... go public (with parent & admin approval, of course)!

2. Blogging

Example from Padlet's Gallery

Blogs are short, frequent, informal bursts of writing on a variety of topics.  Give your students a voice for instant (and potentially public) responses to your prompts.  Use the "Stream" format to create a Facebook-style scrolling timeline of their thoughts on issues you present to them in class.  They are allowed one picture per post, so have them find (or create!) a meme and attach it to their post, to summarize their opinions visually.

3. ePortfolios

A very simple example

You post your own kids' work on the refrigerator door - but what about the 30 (or 130) students you teach?  Create a class portfolio where students can snap pictures or upload screenshots of their best work throughout the year.  Or, have each student create their own board, and take a picture of each of their final projects with a short reflection.  For digital projects, teach them to screenshot a preview and then add a link to the full project.  What a great way to share work with parents,  before, after, and during conferences!

4. Whiteboarding

A simple math example

Letting students draw on a whiteboard opens a channel for free expression and open planning.  Now imagine combining all of your students' whiteboards into one digital location simultaneously!  Quickly share ideas as a class, or have teams use their own Padlet board to storyboard an original production, diagram new ideas, prototype an engineering solution, or show work on a math problem.  Use the Freeform layout to add connecting lines and labels for easy flowcharts and infographics!

5. Vlogging

Imagine a full board of embedded student-made videos - the possibilities are endless! Students can film weekly self-reflections on learning. They can create YouTube-style reactions to something they read (in a reading center, at the library, or at home for a flipped classroom). They can  write letters to their future selves on the first day of school. Parents can even leave messages to their children on orientation night. Or, imagine a new twist on class presentations, where students curate media and other resources to share!

Step Outside the Slides - 5 Alternatives

"We love Google Slides, but we need something new."
I hear this a lot from teachers. Presentations are great for students to demonstrate understanding while practicing speaking and multimedia skills. But you can only grade so many Slides / Powerpoints / Prezis before they start to blur together. These tools are FREE, flexible, easy to learn, and [BONUS!] use Google Single Sign-on.

1. Screencast Those Slides!

Change is hard, and takes time. So if you're not ready to dive into a whole new platform, have students amp up their Slides / Powerpoint presentations by Screencasting them. Students click through their presentation on-screen, and use an app to record their screen along with their audio narration. They can then turn in a video file that can be shared with classmates, the entire grade level, or parents.

Mac users: Quicktime is installed on your devices!
Windows, Chromebooks: Use the Screencastify Google Chrome Extension or Screencast-o-matic.

2. TourBuilder

Create interactive tours with integrated views from Google Earth (including Street View). These geography-enhanced presentations have a familiar Slides-like layout.  Per slide, enter a location, dates, images, video, links, and text. Upload media, integrate your Drive account, or perform in-app Image & Video searches. Perfect for (auto)biographies, timelines, storytelling, and event recap.

But wait, there's more! Have students screencast a walkthrough of their tour!

https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/

3. Adobe Spark

Narrate a movie in a few clicks! This tool is intuitive and simple. On each "slide," include 1-2 pics or a video, and a limited amount of text. Then, record up to 30 seconds of audio per slide. There are a few simple templates for themes, layouts, and fonts, but they're limited - and that's a good thing. No obsessing over styles, no text-heavy slides. Students must be selective with their media choices. Create symbolic, meaningful imagery with succinct, powerful descriptions. BONUS: background music!

https://spark.adobe.com/about/video

4. Student-Created Padlet

A dynamic, flexible, open canvas for short bursts of text, images, links, videos, and audio recordings. Students can post to a shared board, or create their own boards. Become podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, content curators, meme generators, quote collectors, and more! Boards can have password protection, moderation, and Google-style read/write control.

www.Padlet.org.

5. Chatterpix Kids

This iPad app lets students choose an avatar to do the talking for them. Record 30 seconds of audio, which is read by a picture of your choosing - complete with animated mouth. Save the video to your camera roll for easy sharing. Middle School students can work in teams, recording separately and
then using iMovie (or another movie editing software) to mash up the recordings into a single video.

Find it in the iTunes App Store