So, all kidding aside, why do I want everyone to stop using Power Point in their classrooms? The answer is I don't, not necessarily. It depends on why you are using it. Have you evaluated the available options and decided that PPT is the best presentation platform to support student learning? If so, then use PPT with my blessings and all accolades. If you are using PPT because it is what you've always used and it's what you're comfortable with, it may be time to consider some new options.
That being said, how do you choose what presentation platform to use? As always, you have to start with student learning outcomes. What do want your students to learn? How are they going to learn it? How will you know when they've learned it? Once you answered those questions, ask yourself what technology will help me transform this lesson to help my students reach these learning outcomes?
Some Options (all of these are web-based and free or have free versions):
-Google Slides
-Google Slides is part of the Google family. It is web-based and offers iOS and Android apps. It also allows you to upload Power Points. You can show Slides on interactive boards, post them in Google Classroom and other LMSs, and share them easily. Slides allows you to upload video from YouTube or Google Drive as well as link to other websites and documents. If you are looking for a collaborative tool for students, Slides has the added bonus of revision history which allows you to see who added/edited content and when they added/edited it. You must have a Google account to use Slides.
-Emaze
-Emaze is a very simple tool that is easy to use and allows for collaboration. It also allows you to upload PPTs. However, its free version is somewhat limited in its options and some of the backgrounds are very distracting.
-Canva
-Canva is so much more than a presentation tool but it also does slides based presentations. Canva is a graphic design website that allows you to use templates and a drag & drop format to easily create presentations. However, the free version does display a watermark while you are presenting.
-Prezi
-Prezi is a non-linear presentation tool that uses motion, zoom, and spatial-relationships to present information. Prezi is wonderful for getting away from the slides based, step-by-step presentation method. However, Prezi does have a slightly steeper learning curve and when not used properly can produce motion sickness (seriously). Prezi is collaborative. My biggest problem with Prezi is that they are currently running two versions, Classic and Next, and the two are not backward compatible.
-PowToon
-Powtoon allows you to use templates or start from scratch to create animated presentations. There are lots of cool backgrounds, transitions, images, and animated icons. However, it is hard to tell the free stuff from the paid stuff and if you accidentally put a paid item in your presentation it won't allow you to share it. I had a very frustrated student spend 30 minutes finding the offending icon so he could share his presentation. PowToon is not collaborative.
-Voki
-Voki allows you to create an avatar and have that avatar speak for you. This is great for announcements and things you may have to repeat. Students love making Vokis but tend to get caught up in the bells and whistles and need to be guided back to the content.
-Adobe Spark Video
-Spark Video is part of the Adobe Spark family. Once you have an Adobe account you can use it for all of the Spark apps. Adobe Spark allows you to choose images then either narrate or add music to the images to create a slides based video. Spark Video is not able to be accessed by more than one account at a time but it does offer an iOS app (Android is in Beta).
-VoiceThread
-VoiceThread is similar to Adobe Spark in that it creates a slides based video that can be narrated. However, VoiceThread allows many feedback options and it is collaborative. The free version only allows you to create five VoiceThreads. VT does offer both an iOS and an Android app.
-WeVideo
-WeVideo is a video creation tool that is collaborative. It has iOS and Android apps and has a Chrome extension for those using G Suite. However, the free trial only lasts 90 days and the publishing minutes and storage space are limited.
-iMovie & Windows Movie Maker
-These two apps are my exceptions to web-based programs. I include them because, hands down, they are the best video creation tools for whichever platform you are using. iMovie is a free app for OSX or iOS and the easiest video editing program I have ever used, bar none. Windows Movie Maker is a free download for PCs and mobile devices. While Movie Maker is not as user-friendly as iMovie, it definitely beats any of the free programs I have tried.
-Screencast-O-Matic
-Screencast-O-Matic is a screencasting tool that allows you to record what is happening on your screen while you record your voice. It even creates a circle around your mouse any time you click on anything on your screen to help viewers see where your mouse is on the screen. This is great for how-to videos. (There are many free versions of screencasting tools, Screencast-O-Matic is my favorite.)
Obviously, this list is not all inclusive of the many presentation tools available. I have included the tools that I feel are both teacher and student friendly. For information on more tools, I suggest this article from EdTechLeadership; this article from TeachThought; or this article from Common Sense Education.
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