Friday 21 December 2012

An alternative way to make use of your tweets



I am a bit dull on Twitter. I tend to use it for signposting articles and other things of interest relating to Higher Education. Sometimes its a video, maybe a webtool, but mostly its articles I read in the UK press.  Earlier this year Sandra Sinfield, a wonderful old-school academic from London Metropolitan University, noticed a theme running through my tweets that she thought would make a good presentation.

She asked me to make a Prezi and feeling inspired, and having first been given a basic PowerPoint to act as an outline, I created the above prezitation.  It was one of the first I had made so it would benefit from me redoing it, now that I know more about picture quality and creating a zoom that does not make students feel sick. But what it does show is how we can use our tweets to make something creative.  

For those interested in my method, it was a bit laborious (I can understand why people prefer Storify). 

1. Sandra supplied an outline
2. I took screenshots of the pages I had posted on twitter
3. I edited the shots using Paint.net
4. I embellished and added extra material that i thought would be suitable e.g. Youtube videos
5. For tweets without links I looked for suitable images that went with the text
6. I would make lots of tea and complain a lot.

The resulting Prezi was used in lectures with trainee teachers.

So the question is, how do you use your tweets?

Thursday 20 December 2012

For my first post: A Prezi wot I made.



For my first post I thought I would share with you a Prezi.  Last year I helped two academics write a book called 'Essential Study Skills: The Complete Guide to Success at University 3rd Edition'.  For the authors it wasn't such a big deal, but for me it was a great experience, a real buzz to help rewrite (and I mean completely rewrite, not just add a few extra words like some new editions) and create illustrations and tables for the book. I even did the index which was mind-numbing, but a useful experience all the same.

The link above goes to the companion site. There you will be able to find extra information that we thought was useful.  For example, I created a referencing and notemaking guide and a quick guide to report writing.

Anyway, going back to the Prezi, I thought it would be nice to take out an aspect of the book and turn it into something more visual. Something that could be used in the classroom or lecture theatre. I am not sure if anyone uses it in that way but I thought it was a good exercise in understanding how to create a presentation using Prezi.  I would appreciate your thoughts.
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