Alright, just got back from trying out a couple of web-based tools to present and discuss a new topic with students. We were starting the unit on the Supreme Court in 2 different AP government classes, and as it’s content that I’m pretty comfortable with, I thought it was a good opportunity to try out a new presentation software and experiment with a backchannel chat for students.

I used Prezi (www.prezi.com) to create the presentation on the Supreme Court.  Prezi is a free site that allows you to create online presentations (that can be downloaded or embedded into other websites).  It’s a non-linear presentation, so unlike powerpoint that goes from slide to slide, you can move the prezi on a selected path, or explore it on your own.  The students seem to like Prezi.  It does have a very smooth presentation style that looks much more modern than powerpoint or SmartNotebook.

I created the presenation in about an hour and didn’t spend much time adding videos or other bells and whistles to the presentation. I started with mapping out what I thought were 3 key points to consider when looking at the Supreme Court for the first time (How does the Court have power (historically, Constitutionally, and politically)?  How does the Court operate?  Who are the current Justices and how did they get there?)  I added some key terms, photos, websites, and converted some  powerpoint slides on the Justices into jpegs to insert into the presentation.  It was pretty easy to create once I got past the initial unfamiliarity with the Prezi wheels and setup.  Adding the path to the presentation was very easy.

For the backchannel chat, we used Cover It Live (www.coveritlive.com) which can be used for chats, live-blogging, and more.  I like that it didn’t require users to register or login with their email addresses.  I also like the controls it gave the chat creator–I could moderate comments, approve users, identify someone as a co-presenter, etc.  Students liked to open the chat in a new browser window instead of a second tab so they could watch the Prezi on their screen as they chatted in a separate window.

I did this lesson over three class periods (1 3rd period APGov class, and twice in 5th period APGov).  The first class asked more questions out-loud than in the chat and were more focused on me and the prezi on the screen.  This could be due to the class setup (chairs all facing the board in rows).  There were a few good questions in the chat, but only around 60 comments total.  The 5th period class generated 250+comments yesterday, and 390+comments today.  It could be the personalities of the two classes, but it also could be related to how I explained the chat and opened the lesson.  I’d be interested in trying it again with the 3rd period class now that I’m more comfortable with both Prezi and the backchannel chat to see if students used the chat more frequently.

The initial feedback from the students was mixed.  Some really liked using the two things at once, some did not.  There was some complaints that it was hard to read the chat and pay attention to the new material at the same time.  Part of the problem was that the chat quickly filled with hundreds of comments (some were even on-topic!) and it moved very quickly, making it hard to see who was replying to a question or making a general comment.  Cleaning up some of the jokes and off-topic comments could’ve helped, but there was also a lot of good questions being generated very quickly.

Some students pointed out that it will go smoother the more they do it.  The “new-ness” will wear off and students won’t chat just to chat.  I wonder if using the chat did elicit some comments or questions that would not have been asked out loud in front of the class.  I also think that having some more ground-rules about what should be added to the chat will be helpful.

Overall, it was a good experience.  It’s strange to be at the front of the class and see everyone’s eyes down and typing on their computers.  I didn’t see many students wander to other sites (some did google answers to some of the questions from the chat, which helped solve some problems without interrupting the presentation).  Both of these classes were mature, advanced Seniors, and they were patient with a couple of technical glitches in the first couple of minutes with the laptops.

I’ll try to get some additional feedback from them and try a couple of other presentation/note-taking/chat ideas heading forward.