Founder of the Mars Generation

Astronaut "Abby" & Some Useful Presentation Tools

Abigail Harrison was our class guest speaker last week and she made a very good impression with the class with her enthusiasm and determination. She aspires to one day become a scientist and a NASA astronaut. She would like to be on the first mission to Mars. I have no doubt that she will one day reach her goal. At only 18 years old Abigail has accomplished alot. She founded the Non-Profit, Mars Generation, on Twitter which will share the possibility of space travel with her generation and future ones. During her Video Conference she shared that she also utilizes Instagram and her web site to share information with her PLN (Professional Learning Network). She especially likes Instagram to reach the younger audience. A good percentage of them are on Instagram. 

Upcoming Events

Abigail has been chosen to participate in Wellesley College’s 2016 scientific research expedition to Siberia’s Lake Baikal. She is one of twelve students selected for the trip.  Abigail posted, "I am excited to share my experiences online and hope to inspire many young future scientists along the way"! This is her second trip to Russia. Her mentor, Astronaut Luca Parmitano, invited her to attend his first launch to the International Space Station. This lead to her launching a world wide out reach program, and eventually, Mars Generation. She will also be speaking at the 2016 Humans to Mars Summit. This annual event is an Explore Mars premiere event. Congrats to Abigail.

Presentation Tools

Some of the presentation tools that were covered during our last session included:

• Office Mix - Interactive online lessons; share them with your students and colleagues in OneNote, on the web, or in your learning management system

• Sways - Create and share interactive reports, presentations, personal stories, and more

• Emaze - Create 3-D walk through presentations

• Haiku Deck - Haiku Deck clears away the clutter, helping you focus on your key idea for your presentation 
• Prezi - Open, zoom-able canvas show

• PowToon - Create animated videos and presentations

• Pixton - Make a comic for your resentation

• Animato - Create professional video slide shows

Office Mix

Office Mix may be utilized for your online training requirements for your students or co-workers. It was utilized by Dr Rysaoy in her article for new hires. Some of the advantages that she went over are listed below:
  

• Slide recording – with or without audio from a microphone or video from your webcam. You can even advance slide animations while recording the slide.
• Screen recording –  include audio and even webcam video
• Quizzes / Polls - Office Mix records answers given 

The option to create quizzes on previously covered content is a plus. You may publish your lesson to Office 365 Video to share it. You also have the option to download and share it on a web site. 

 

Microsoft Sway

This is another product offered by Office 365. It can be utilized for creating presentations but maybe used for tutorials, topic introductions and interactive reports. The Sway presentation are backed up to a cloud and they can be easily shared in websites. Sway's interface utilizes a series of cards which may be filled with content. The user's narrative can be easily added, removed, edited, or reordered. The overall theme is chosen by the user and you are allowed some leeway but the built in design engine will decide how your Sway will look. Sways can be shared via the user's public gallery, social media, link or as a piece of embedded media. 

Prezi

Ned Potter 's article (LSE) gave a good over view of the basics of Prezi. Prezi is a zooming presentation tool which offers an alternative to PowerPoint. You start off with a blank canvas. You position objects such as text, images, embedded videos or graphics, anywhere you like on the canvas. You then plot a path between them in the order you specify, so Prezi zooms in on each object in turn, allowing you to deliver the presentation to the audience. During the presentation you may zoom out to view your whole presentation. This allows the audience to see where you are at, where you've been, and where you are going. Also, be careful to pace your Prezi to avoid motion sickness. Lastly, you should choose your visual theme early. Prezi is not like power point where every slide can be different.