During this course has been the first time I have used presentation software in any meaningful sense, & the first time I have ever seen a SmartBoard, let alone use one. I use OpenOffice at home, & ‘Impress’ is the  ‘Powerpoint’ equivalent. I  had no problems transferring work between the two, &  found ‘Impress’ a little easier to use…using the pointer  (which was unavailable for my first presentation) was much easier than tapping the board for slide-changes.

After my first presentation, & remembering similar courses  at University, I decided a seminar was the best vehicle for the presentation & subject- matter, as the Q&A session at the end helps to focus audience attention, & allows me to judge how effective the seminar has been.

I used cue-cards this time, which occupied my hands (a criticism from my first presentation was  fidgeting), enabled me to recollect more facts, & concentrate on the pace & clarity of the delivery.

The Q&A session was much appreciated, & from the number & type of questions, the audience enjoyed the seminar, & took the subject-matter on-board.

CRITIQUE FORMS;

Accurate, clear & respectful criticism appears to be a key part of the Kolb Cycle in this type of situation. It is a valuable part of the experience, & can directly inform the the experimentation phase, e.g.; during my first presentation, it was noted that my hands were fidgeting & my stance was very tense. Other comments  from the previous presentation I used in planning this one involved too much text on the slides, not finishing cleanly & poor audience contact.

The main criticism from this seminar was an apperant lack of practise on my part, which was true. Comments were made about there still being a bit too much text , so I must learn to condense & bullet-point more.

LEARNING STYLES;

I was able to present good materiel for audio-visual learners, & reinforce this with the Q&A session at the end, but I was unable to obtain good quality, suitable audio-tracks e.g; bird-song, & had insufficient time to arrange for any physical examples for kinaesthetic reinforcement.

OVERVIEW;

Overall, this course has made me aware of the weak-points in my study-strategy, & has provided me with a set of tools to correct them, e.g;  my poor time-management & writing skills. To this last, I have worked through the examples & test-papers on the BBC Key Skills site, & have written this blog using the techniques  I learned from them. I have gained from this course, & have remembered the advice gained from similar modules taken at University.  Probably the most important tool it has given me is the use r the abstraction & conceptualisation phases of the Kolb Cycle, & I will certainly use these techniques for later modules in this Certificate.

REFERENCES; (images & information were used from the following sites, under the academic exception rule)

I found that doing the on-line research at home was very easy, as I have all the sites, pages & images to do with the RSPB’s work already bookmarked, or I can link to them from the pages I use. As I am able to work at my own pace, with the right noises, (music, not fans!)  I am more productive as well. I like the self-discipline of working alone, as well.

I decided that breaking the the presentation into 2 main topics, history & current activities, would give the best over-view of, & illustrate the changes in, the RSPB’s activities over the years since it’s founding. To illustrate the current work, (conservation of bio-diversity) I used examples of  projects form national & international project’s.

I would have liked to use some birdsong audio-tracks, as appropriate, & some physical materials to hand round, so as to engage the different learning-styles of the class, but the free audio-tracks were of poor quality, or too expensive for the commercial ones, & there was no time to get any samples of feathers, etc.

All the research was done on-line, using the following sources;

[http://www.rspb.org.uk/]

[http://www.unitedutilities.com/]

[http://www.bto.org/]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page]

Powerpoint will load straight into OpenOffice, no messing, no converting, it just loads, runs, saves & re-loads

You can’t turn the flash off on the digi-cams that BSS use, & there is no apparent control over the aperture, unless I am missing something obvious:-)

Good fun today,  as I have never used Powerpoint/Impress before.

session number three

I am reviewing this session a week on from when I actually did the work and realise how much I have forgotten. This obviously highlighted to me the inportense of keeping my bloggs up to date.

TOWN HALL RESEARCH

Initially I chose the town hall to research and present but once I started looking into this subject if found that the topic could go of on many different tangents. So to narrow down this subject was nessarcery. If I did not do this there would have been to much to present and would have resulted in a presentation that went nowhere said nothing and left me with a bewilded audience.

So once I started with the town hall what else did I come up with?

The history of the town hall

The concert hall

Mayors office

Radio station based within hall

Calender of events

The restored organ

I decided that I would concentrate on the concert hall its uses and how it contributes to Huddersfields night life.

Researching was interesting but realised that dicipline was needed as it is easy to get carried away. Also through using the internet I realised how you could find out or access information that I may have overlooked.

 st-peters presentation review to follow..

Today we had a look at:

Enrolement forms for University

Learner’s Introductions…  In a getting-to-know-you exercise the group paired up, interviewed each other and summarised their knowledge to all. A touch nerve-wracking, but harmless and ice-breaking.

The afternoon’s forthcoming  task using digital cameras was briefly forewarned along with the PowerPoint presentation that would be made the next day.

A PC was presented with the case opened and the various components revealed (CPU, hard drive, sound & video cards, USB & firewire inputs etc.). This was a useful revelation. The advantages of using a PC over, for example, a laptop, were summarised: PCs can be updated and money saved over expensive laptops with the same specifications. With some knowledge a PC can be constructed and courses in ‘How to Build your Own PC’ are available locally, often free to the unemployed. I shall look into this option as I gain more IT knowledge and experience. We then worked through ‘Know Your Computer 2009′ to clarify basic computer knowledge. The aid of the tutor helped those with less experience. This included the colour-coding of slots for monitor, keyboard and mouse. I had been vaguely aware of these colour-codes beforehand without ever learning them and so instead I often struggled to read the symbols on the back of a PC in poor light. Very useful to finally know! The protection of data using anti-virus software was also apparent, as were the advantages of using log-ins in preventing unauthorised access and respecting the privacy of various users of the same PC. Health & Safety issues were looked at regarding body posture, chair and monitor height etc, and the need to rest the eyes regularly. Also, how to avoid RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury). However there was no mention of fire hazards and stray cabling. The early ECDL unit I studied recently was a bit more thorough in this respect. We looked at ways to back up data storage eg on flash drives or floppy disks. The safeguard of hard copy prints was recommended. I should point out here that, strictly speaking, physical prints do not provide a data back-up as such because ‘data’ is electronic information. In the event of hard disk failure, printouts would have to be re-converted into a digital format. [The ECDL level 2 test on ‘Using the Computer’ had set a tricky question in this regard].

Some Pre-presentation research tips summarized ‘traditional ‘and ‘modern’ methods of research. Generally the ‘modern’ represented digital and ‘virtual’ means as we now know them (Internet, mobile etc). Whereas traditional methods implied more physical exertion (libraries, public archives, information offices, using the mail etc). But there were clearly crossovers between the two definitions, which were ultimately and inevitably rendered a touch limiting.

Some PPT Presentations of previous learners were shown to help give us ideas. Bullet points are widely used to present information concisely. Music featured in most and we were asked to think about our own background tracks. Finally we saw a presentation incorporating video footage. This showed the broad potential of Powerpoint, although our first project will simply use still images.

Introduction to digital cameras… The actual cameras to be used on the project were demonstrated very briefly. (To be fair, the photography standard was not paramount on this introductory project). Only 40 minutes were given for two people to get shots of different venues in town while sharing a camera with little internal memory (and in our case a very low battery). However, this did concentrate our initiatives! And real-life journalism is probably just as compromising…

It was confidence building to take pictures such as these in public and working in pairs helped share the burden. we discovered that St Peter’s Gardens is a place where believers and non-believers alike can relax… 

Web research.. On our return we were able to supplement our findings through the use of search engines such as google. Information found will be used in the presentation, including details of St. Peter’s Church. For instance I discovered that Huddersfield Parish Church (St. Peter’s Church) was constructed in 1838. It is located opposite the Kirkgate entrance to the town’s

Pack Horse shopping centre…

Governement websites relieved future plans for St Peter’s Gardens being studied by Kirklees Council..

The group were then shown how to create this WordPress blog. Having completed two Certificate modules with blogs previously gave me more time for research and should help make this PDL course a little less demanding and a little more fun.

Today was the session dedicated to working with powerpoint and getting to grips with the system. following from session 1 i was working on my presentation of the verve cafe.

I used different styles of presenting my work such as text, sound bites, video clips and animation. i enjoyed working with the sound editior as i want to move onto the music tech sessions and this gave me a taste of what is coming. Before presenting my piece i went out again into town and got additional footage for my powerpoint. I feel i did my best on my powerpoint but my role as performer lack as i was nervous and started to fiddle with my pockets.

Wellcome to the Piazza Centre in huddersfield,located at the heart of huddersfield.Located in the very centre of huddersfield,with excellent road and transportation links.The Piazza Centre offers a wide range of outlets to meet your shopping needs.For your home and bare essencials or something for a special occassion

The Piazza Centre offers 35 shopping units,which include Boots,Marks&Spencer,

02 outlets and many more and selections of eat of places to eat and drink,and it is open 7 days a week.Situated close to

train and bus station.The Piazza Centre is easily accesible to residents and visitors alike.

HISTORY

The building was built in 3 phases in between1969 and 1972.The Piazza Shopping stands on the sight of the old Theatre Royal and was originlly known as Ramsden Centre

Fully pedestrianised and supervised on a full time basis,The Piazza Shopping Centre offers a welcoming and relaxing environment and that is a central part of the community.With regular events,such as:-The Annual Summer Festival,and many promotions.

The Centre offers a shopping experience that is truely in the heart of huddersfield.

And also we have been thought how to make and use presentation of any blogs or presentations we may be asked to do,which i find more exciting and encouraging.And it can and will help in future for any kind of presentations.And we also been taught how to save files into our folder and blogs,also how to add images,pictures,music,films to our blog.

And we also did a presentation about topics we have chosen by each student,which i choose the PIAZZA SHOPPING CENTRE.which was fun and interesting.Iwas nervous when it was my turn but at the end of it,it was nice and interesting

05/03/2009

Today we started by doing some reasearch into our chosen subjects and as mine was the Kingsgate centre in Huddersfield I took a look at their website and at the reasorces that they had made available for reaserch.

Kingsgate Centre

I had chosen the Kingsgate as it is an prodominent building within the Huddersfield skyline that can be seen when entering town near the round about. The information that I gathered from the website pointed out how it was part of the community by bringing more trade to the town, attracting custom that would normally go to places such as Bradford. I looked into the facilities and shops that it provides and found a multitude of information on the center and its facilities.

I then went on to read about a further development that is going to take place called ‘Kingsgate 2′ that will add another 120,000 square foot of new retails stores onto the centre (room enough for 5 major stores) and also give a new hotel with 80 beds in it which will create new job oppertunities within the town. Another 360 car parking places are also going to be made taking the total car parking spaces to over 1000 at the Kingsgate centre.

I then started work on a powerpoint presentation that would hold the information so I could present the information at a  later time to the rest of the group. As I’ve had past experience with the software I had no problem making the presentation with custom animantions for each slide. I deceided not to add any music as I thought that it would detract from the experience and that I might not be able to get through the presentation as quickly if I did add music to the presentation.

I might of chosen a different project if I had known the limited information that I would find on the centre itself as their website was the only sourse of information that I could find so there wasn’t much independant bias on the presentation.

I also finished doing the presentaion early (it was ready before lunch) so I had time to update this blog to where it is currently and now I’m just waiting for the session to resume after lunch as I mentioned on my last blog post ‘Session 2′ the lunches do seem to be over a long period of time with not much to fill it with after we’ve eaten.

I’ve just presented the presentation and I think that it went reasonably well though I did have some failings. I started the presentation off by ralking about what it used to be like before the Kingsgate opened then moved onto what happened to the town after the shopping centre was opened. Then I was able to list the facilities within the centre like the car park and the toilets. I then went onto say how the centre has been a good place for job creation, I also mention this later in the presentation when I talk about the \Kingsgate 2 project that will make 5 major retail stores and an 80 bed hotel. After that I gave a quick overview of the local competition that the Kingsgate centre has then I did an introduction to the Kingsgate 2 project. I then explained how the centre would have a good effect on local business by drawing more people into Huddersfield and how it would permit Huddersfield to compete foe custom frolm places like Bradford and other towns in the Leeds district. I then sis a quick summery of this and how it was good for teh prosparity of the town.

I think that I failed whilst delivering the presentation as I did not makek good eye contact with thet audience which is essensial when making a presentation and I hope to improve on this for future presentations. I also need to hold a smaller note pad or memerise more of the presentation so I can make that vital eye contact with the audience when I need to.