I’ve been looking into presenting and presentation techniques recently. Not everything is as straight forward as it may seem, yet other aspects seem so basic it’s a wonder how people cant’ see them themselves.

So, what are the techniques that could make you more effective, and possibly more interesting?

Visual impact
Pictures paint a thousand words, so use them if you can. Whether it’s to explain data, or results, or to describe a situation, using pictures can double the chances of meeting your objectives.

KISS – ‘Keep it Short and Sweet’ (or ‘Keep it Simple Stupid’)
Apparently no one ever complains when a presentation is short. Conversely, everyone will complain when you take 10 minutes to explain/describe something that could have been done in 2 (see above about visual impact).

In the academic world there will often be grades attributed to the presentation so marks could be deducted if you go over the allotted time.

Practice
Practice the presentation. Find a quiet space (or put some music and headphones on if you share an office) and rehearse what you will say. When you’re ready with this rehearse at least once out loud, even better if you can do this to a ‘friendly’ audience who can give some honest and constructive feedback.

Bullet points
Excessive bullet points are the kiss-of-death for a presentation. People use bullet points as a form of speaker notes; to make your presentation more effective put your speaker notes in your notes and not up on the screen.

Know your work
You should always know when presenting which slide is coming up next. It sounds very powerful when you say “On the next slide [Click] you will see…”, rather than than a period of confusion when the next slide appears.

Have a back-up ready
You know the scene; big presentation and nothing works – power cut, projector blows a bulb, coffee spilt down your tie, not enough power leads, no loudspeakers, no power lead for the laptop which has no charge … we all know someone who has something like this happen to them at one stage or another.

Have a back-up plan. Take with you the following items – a printed out set of slides – (you can hold these up to the audience if you need to), a USB stick with your presentation, a laptop with your slides on it.

Check out the room and equipment
If you can, make sure sure you arrive early and check out the presentation room. Load the presentation up, run through the slides (with the projector working) to see any animation and audio/visual guides work.

The above items are modified from this ‘Presentation Magazine’ article, but what else can we do to be more effective in presenting?

It is also worth reading this post on why you shouldn’t give out your slides when speaking.

How about using something other than PowerPoint? What about using different software to create the presentation, give the audience something different – see my post on “Alternatives to PowerPoint in the classroom”. Here’s a really good demonstration of Prezi working … it might not float every one’s boat, but it has visual impact and , providing the real-world presenter is able to back the ‘slides’ up with effective content, is surely a good presentation?

Image Source

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Once people have found out I’ve been using Twitter for all of about 4 months now they think I’m an expert (I’m not, and do not profess to be) and keep asking me; what is it all about, then?

Good question, and not one I’ve really been able to answer for myself, let alone answers for someone who hasn’t spent time trying different things to see if it works for them or not.

So, in an effort to work through my own thoughts, and to provide something for others to benefit from, here are some ‘top tips’;

• Work out what you want to get out of Twitter. If you don’t do this, then Twitter will be a waste of time. if you are an eLearning specialist, or you are developing new mobile learning (mLearning) technology, or you just want to talk to people who like to run marathons, then these are the kind of people you should be looking for. Use the Twitter Search to find instances of that word, and use the Profile Search to find people with interests that match or complement the reason why you are on Twitter. Without a purpose you will find Twitter confusing and worthless.
  Read this:  Twitter Search to Become Real Search
• Make sure you put some relevant and interesting information in your Twitter profile. I often ignore and block people who put things like “mum, sister, daughter, and friend to everyone” as it means nothing to me and why I might want to follow you. I am using Twitter to find like-minded professionals (and amateur eLearners) so look for people who use the profile to advertise their eLearning prowess.

• You can put a picture of yourself in your profile, use it wisely! I don’t like seeing pictures of people drunk, so it isn’t a good look on your profile. Also, using a picture that looks like you’ve taken it from your passport may not be the best way to ‘advertise’ yourself (unless it’s the best picture you’ve got).
  Read this: 6 Tips for Using Your Twitter Profile to Get New Followers 

• Share and share alike. When you find something that you like, and want to share it with your own network of followers, don’t be selfish and pass it off as your own work, use the ‘RT’ (re-tweet) and acknowledge the originator. This ‘kindness’ will also mean that people will click through to you if someone retweets one of your post … thus you will gain more followers as a result.
  Read this: The Infectious Power Of Word Of Mouth 

• Use URL shortening service. There are a few services online that will give you a new URL that is shorted than your original, much better for using when you’re limited to 140 characters (see above image for example). Good services to use are TinyURL and Bit.ly.
• Look at people who follow someone in your network. Look at the people who follow someone who you already follow, there could be a few good contacts for there too.

• Don’t be afraid to ‘block’ people who you don’t think you want following you. These can be anything from businesses trying to sell something, automated accounts that don’t have any visible purpose, someone who has nothing in common with you. You can identify these kinds of accounts by looking at their follower/updates list; if they are following 10,000 people, have 20 followers, and only 1 update then I’d safely say it’s an automated account and can be ignored!
• Don’t worry about numbers. Don’t worry about the fact you have only 5 or 6 followers, this will grow the more you use Twitter, the more people you follow, and the more you use/post to Twitter. Remember that everyone started off with no followers at the beginning. If you know colleagues or friends on Twitter then find them and start testing things with them.
• Use a desktop service to manage your Twitter account. I use Tweetdeck as I can have some ‘searches’ saved that pull back results from Twitter (not just those people I follow) on any search term (eLearning, mLearning, Blackboard, etc) as well as quickly and easily see retweets , mentions, and messages. I can also group my followers into different colums so I can follow different people from different specialities.

• Use #Hashtags. Hashtags are great for pulling people together on a specific topic. They are being used to pull conferences and/or training together. Finding a hashtag for a chosen specialisation will also find you more people to follow (and can follow you, if you use it).
  Read this: Twitter and hashtags at conferences – organiser-user viewpoint
• Do more than just tweet about yourself. If all you do is tweet about yourself and what you’ve just done (work, home, hobby, etc) then you will probably find your list of followers drop. By engaging your followers on their content, by retweeting (see above) and adding links to web articles you find you will be “adding value” to your network  and the people in it.
• Be polite. No one likes a smart-arse, and no one likes to be flamed. You will make contacts and a network from all around the world, but it takes time and this relationship is likely to be tentative for longer than a traditional networking opportunity that was made face-to-face.

OK, that covers the ‘how to use it’ elements of twitter .. now on to the ‘why should I use it?’

• Enhance the classroom experience. Yes, that even means letting your students online with laptops and other devices when they’re in your classroom. Use a hashtag and ask your students to use it on each tweet; this means you can easily collate tweets together at the end of the alloted task/activity/time.
  Read this: Twitterati in the academy
  Read this: Professors experiment with Twitter as teaching tool
  Read this: Twitter Conference Ideas : eLearning Technology
• Bring student ideas, reading, emotions, etc into your world. Whether Twitter is used in the classroom or just around each timetabled seminar/lecture time, Twitter and it’s use can add value to the contents or your teaching, and you’ll end up learning from your learners.

• Widen your network. By finding and following people in different parts of the world I am getting different ideas and techniques for eLearning that I would not have necessarily worked out on my own. Twitter can improve your working knowledge if you let it.
  Read this: Twitter: A Tool for Academia to Connect, Share, and Grow Relationships

Remember, Twitter has been described as “the largest staffroom you’ll ever find”. Use it wisely!

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This has been brewing for some time now. I don’t apologies in advance if you see yourself in what I’m about to say.

You know what really gets my goat? It’s when people keep talking about eLearning when they actually mean ‘distance’ learning, or ‘online delivery’, or computer-based training (CBT). In the same way that everything has suddenly become ’2.0′ (Web 2.0, Learning 2.0, Academia 2.0, University, 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, etc, etc) they think that by including the ‘e’ before the word it means the same as paper post (mail) to electronic post (email).

Do you know the difference, would you like a recap?

Distance Learning is defined as a “branch of education in which teachers and students are at remote locations rather than in direct contact.” [Google definition] This can include instances where materials are printed and posted to the students (e.g. Open University).

Computer-based Training (CBT) and Web-based Learning (WBT) is defined as an “interactive instructional approach in which the computer, taking the place of an instructor, provides a series of stimuli to the student.” [Google definition] This is often a complete ‘module’ or ‘subject’ loaded to a PC or a CD ROM, delivered via a web browser but not necessarily online, and the student works away in their own time or tested using CD ROM (e.g. Driving Standards Agency Theory test).

Online Learning is defined as a context “associated with content readily accessible on a computer. The content may be on the Web or the Internet, or simply installed on a CD-ROM or the computer hard disk.”

eLearning “can be used to deliver online courses and/or establish online learning communities. It supports flexible learning anywhere, anytime.” [Google definition] The term often encompasses all the above styles and techniques, but also goes so much further than just basic ‘study-materials-delivered-by-electronic-means’.

By putting the ‘e’ in front of ‘Learning’ just because you used a computer to type it up or send it to the student does NOT make it eLearning! Please stop using the term unless you know what it actually means.

eLearning utilises all the power of the web to not only deliver the materials as text, images, interactive flash or audio/video, etc, but also for tests (MCQs), assignments (report, essays, projects, etc), collaboration (discussion boards, wiki, etc), reflective journals (blog, etc), feedback, grades, etc.

So what is the difference;

eLearning is all about the ability to update and keep the materials fresh and vibrant; once the materials are loaded to a disc for posting out, they’re out of date and redundant (Distance Learning). It is also about joining other learners online, in an environment that is enabling them to engage each other as well as the instructor/trainer; the community.

CBT and WBT is often a module or nugget of learning materials pre-loaded to the specific machine the learner sits. It can be delivered over the Internet and Intranet and does not engage the learner in any interaction past the ‘click to continue’ or small MCQ. CBT is mostly used in large corporations where the learner can sit at their machine and take a 20 minute lesson on health and safety instead of hiring a H&S executive to give a 2 hour talk; saving time AND money.

Online Learning relates more to online help, online documentation, and online services, than to the act of learning and gaining feedback and access to a Community.

So please use the term eLearning wisely. It is a wonderful term that can encompass so much but is often used badly to simply convey an idea or technique that doesn’t befit the term;

“Though eLearning, Web-based Learning, and Distance Learning are all related to each other, they have significant differences. Failing to recognise the fine differences between these concepts limits the pace of development of expertise, precludes precise communication with team members and stakeholders, and often reflects a poor understanding of available alternative solutions.”
‘E-learning, Online Learning, Web-based Learning, or Distance Learning Unveiling the Ambiguity in Current Terminology‘

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Developed by the boffins in the Media School, Bournemouth University,  and Cambridge Imaging Systems Box of Broadcast (BoB) is a brilliant addition to the learning and teaching resources we have access to.

So, what is BoB (in my best Blackadder impersonation; heavy on the first ‘b’).

Box of Broadcast is “an off-air recording and media archive service … users can record programmes, watch programmes from the archive, create clips, search for programmes coming up in the next seven days by title or keyword, compile their favourite shows into playlists and share these with others.” It’s been available to Bournemouth University for a couple of years now, with new Institutions coming on board all the time.

Great. So participating Institutions (I’m just a user, not part of the development team) can search through the listing for over 50 freeview television and radio channels, for the next seven days and select any for recording. Also available is a buffer for the previous seven days (limited channels) so you can revisit today and record something you saw last night. You can search the very wide archive that stretches back prior to 2007 when the system was first released.

What’s the advantage of this then, for academic usage? Let’s see …

News
I work in the Business School, and there is plenty going on in the news at the moment. Academic staff are able to record the major news channels and create clips from the broadcasted materials. Whether its about the current economic climate (Finance & Business) or the legal case being brought for unfair dismissal of the head of Haringey Council (Contract law), the news can be brought into the classroom, legally.

Media
While the system records the programmes, it also records the advert breaks too. This means that, for Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, small clips can be made to showcase types of advertising, how programme makers deal with selling advertising space between the different programmes, etc.

Programmes
The limit on who this can be used is really down to your imagination; the Media School use it to record things like Lost and Heroes, especially as these programmes have very complex script-writing and story-lines,  The Conservation Science School use it for the natural history programmes, as well as things like Time Team and CSI (hey, there’s reality in the processes, if not the delivery).

Assessment
In one instance, a BoB programme was used as the basis for an Assignment: the recording was made and presented to the students as the background to the assignment. The students were then asked to use background reading, around the programme subject area, on the specifics of the assignment. Although the report was in written format, there would be nothing stopping the student.

What are the advantages of this system?
Only students and staff at participating Institutions can access the material, and they must be physically locate in the UK for the geo-caching system to allow them access. All copyright and license issues are taken care of by the system and access abilities.

It also removes that embarrassing moment in the lecture when you switch to YouTube to show the clip (of dubious origin) from some programme or other .. only to find it’s been removes since you last checked. Material can be accessed on- or 0ff-campus, so students can revisit the material as and when they like.

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I’ve had time to think on my experiences at the Learning Technologies 2009 Exhibition, and here are my reflections.

All in all I was disappointed, but really shouldn’t have been. I have only just realised I went to London with a rather blinkered approach; I was looking for answers and ideas. What I got were people and companies trying to sell their products without fully understanding (or trying to understand) the needs to the people stood in front of them.

Coming from the Academic world I am looking at eLearning from a totally different view point from someone in a commercial enterprise. The majority of technology on offer at Learning Technologies 2009 Exhibition would be brilliant at transferring a 3 hour Induction to Health & Safety in the work-place into a 30 minute ‘sit-at-your-desk-and-click-your-way-through-the-video-and-questions’, thus saving the company employee time, productivity and training costs (in the long run).

This is exactly what people like Pearson Vue and Epic were present for. I wish I was able to use sharper elbows to get myself into the Adobe ‘tent’ for their Connect Pro demonstration but, as per usual, they were so swamped with people watching their seminars I couldn’t get near them (and they need to turn the microphone’s up, no one could hear a thing).

What I wanted to see is not how to use eLearning, or how to set up Discussion and Blog sites for staff and/or learners to interact, but why we should be using these over other methods of communication, learning, etc. I spoke with a few exhibitors and they were more interested in what I was doing at Bournemouth University. But, and this is the real downside to this kind of event, as soon as they realised I had no control over the buying process they lost interest.

It wasn’t the event I hoped for. What we need now is one of these, very similar in everything but direction. An Event that is able to dig into the reasons behind the techniques, the reasons for using one element instead of another. I need to see people using it and reasoning why they used and how it worked / benefited the students / learners. I can easily find the people who sell the technology on Google and just be talking to colleagues and friends on Twitter and Facebook, but I want to know about developments in both technology and why we use it.

Too much to ask? To my mind, no it isn’t.

Related posts:

1. eLearning must be Social; Learning Technologies 2009
2. Conference Report: Make it Personal, July 2009
3. BETT 2009 (Overview)

As I’ve said before, I’ve started using Twitter (hopkinsdavid). As I’m on an eLearning programme I’ve found some like-minded “twits” (as I call them, in the nicest way) all interested in eLearning and/or becoming an eLearning professional (I don’t want to say expert as they may not want this).

I was invited to join Twitter by a respected colleague, who is very private when it comes to their online ‘persona’, and what they put online about themselves than I am.

Because of this I’ve been reading around Twitter, and what other people say about it. As many of them are better with words than me, I’ll let them tell my story about Twitter:

“Simply type your name, user name, password and email, and retype some hieroglyphics for security. You are ready to go. Then the complications start.”
Is Twitter the perfect way to network?

“Individually, most Twitter messages are stupefyingly trivial. But the true value of Twitter … is cumulative. The power is in the surprising effects that come from receiving thousands of pings from your posse. And this, as it turns out, suggests where the Web is heading.”
Clive Thompson on How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense

“Twitter is really good for sharing short inspirations, thoughts that just popped into your head. Not only are they recorded, because you can go back and look at them, but you can also get inspiration from others.”
Twitter for Academia

“I do not use a textbook. It is not that I dislike textbooks. It is that my textbook is the web. My textbook is YOU and ME and NOW.”
Classroom2.0: Twitter, del.icio.us and participatory learning

“While the benefits of extra communication channels and the ability to follow other industry experts and innovators is powerful, Twitter has yet to be seriously explored as a medium for recruitment and retention.”
Ways to use Twitter in Academia

“… tweets might get lost among the tweets of others you’re following. Ask your student to use hashtags (#) followed by a specific code so that Twemes will collect all (in theory, at least) the posts on that topic”
Twitter in education: Practical solutions

“Twitter can provide a simple way for attendees at a conference to share thoughts about particular sessions and activities with others at the event and those unable to attend.”
Using Twitter as an Education Tool

“One downside: Some students have to pay a small fee for each text message they receive, and that means all this Twittering can add up to real money.”
A Professor’s Tips for Using Twitter in the Classroom

Interesting Twitter Links:

• Twitterfon
• Twitter for WordPress
• Twitter Hashtags
• Twitter Sheep
• 5 Ways to Use Twitter for Good

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