Over this past 18 months we've learnt a lot about presenting online and with teachers changing schools, going online, having to do Hyflex learning etc I thought I'd share what I've learnt about the various ways you can present and the advantages and disadvantages of each. I've pretty much tried them all as far as I can tell and they all come with pros and cons!
Consider Recording Your Presentations
When I first started teaching online, I found it much easier to record my presentations and share them via Youtube. There are lots of screen-recording options including Loom that is incredible and free for educators and I'd use it as a free option. I actually use Camtasia, (10% discount link thanks to FlippedClassroom) because I have a license and am incredibly comfortable with it. If you have budget for it and plan to make a lot of videos this is well worth the money and is what most streamers use. Don't forget Keynote and PowerPoint enable you to record videos directly in the app. PowerPoint even has a coaching function!
Once you've recorded your video, you can then upload it to youtube and it can be watched on pretty much any device. You can also use Edpuzzle, TED Lessons or put into a Google Form. to add formative assessment.
During the lesson you can simply ask students to watch the video and they are much more likely to be able to watch it in the quality you wanted it with the animations fully in-tact. It also means you can answer questions in the chat as students watch.
I do not recommend screensharing videos EVER! I have NOT once experienced a video shared on-screen that matches the quality of Youtube. Much better to give them the link & let students play or if you need to check put it into Edpuzzle with some questions. Too many teachers think what they see on their screen is what can be seen by the student.
No Animations Required
Zoom recently introduced a presentation mode. This is great, because it appears in your camera with you conveniently placed on your slides. You don't even need a green screen for you to be cut out.
If you feel this doesn't quite do what you want and you want something a bit more advanced then
mmhmm gives you a lot of flexibility and
Prezi video gives you a really dynamic feeling to your presentation. Both are giving free subscriptions to educators. They also enable you to record your presentations in advance in an attractive format.
Presenting in a window (Need animations)
If you need animations then chances are you will want to use PowerPoint of Keynote. Both now have a present in a window option. This means you will be able to see your presentation and the students in zoom.
Keynote presentation in a window
PowerPoint presentation in a window
Peardeck (Interactive Presentations)
Our school has a license to peardeck and it has been incredibly useful to help us make our presentations fully interactive. If you are inside the European Union, please check privacy policy for your country. Nearpod & Quizizz both have some similar functions if you are looking for an alternative.
Peardeck will work with PowerPoint or Google Slides. However animations are tricky, but the tradeoff is that you can create really interactive slides with questions, links and videos inside the presentation. You can also choose to make it instructor or student paced.
The real downside with Peardeck is that it really needs to be on a laptop for students to be able to comfortably access both Zoom and peardeck at the same time. We've had numerous problems with iPads and its use as part of a live lesson. Student paced is generally fine, but if you want to present then present live and give questions in a student paced Peardeck.
Subtitles & Closed Captions
Generally I avoid using Slides directly in Zoom, because there isn't a present in tab option and it isn't well integrated on mac unless you have 2 screens. I'd rather download and present on PowerPoint or use the Peardeck plugin. This was because on a single screen it was difficult to follow where your tab would appear.
Go to bottom left of the screen and you will see the presenter menu with captions
However PowerPoint and Slides do enable Closed captioning, which is not only great for students in noisy environments, hard of hearing but also if their internet isn't perfect they will see the subtitle for longer and not miss words. It is important to set the language to the one you are speaking down to the dialect, so English UK works very well for me.
PowerPoint even has live translation, which is really helpful for EAL students.
Summary Table
I hope this is a helpful guide, please share your tips in the comments.
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