Exploring and keeping up-to-date with web 2.0 tools is an never-ending task. There's such an ever-growing abundance. During my recent search for a tool to include in the Instructional Apps. of the Internet's wiki assignment, I came across BiteSlide. I immediately feel in love with it! This website allows students and teachers to create more engaging and creative digital school projects. It is very user-friendly and my second graders would love it! BiteSlide was even voted EdTech Digest's 2013 Award Winner for Best Presentation solution (K-12). This is the best program that I have found so far for students to use for making digital presentations.
Yes, presentation software has been around for quite awhile; however, I feel like BiteSlide is an emerging technology because of the way it is structured and its target audience. It's a great tool for project-based learning because it simplifies the integration of technology and keeps the focus where it should be-on the project and content. It allows even young students to collaborate on projects online - which is difficult to do because most collaborative online technologies are above the early elementary level. For example, I tried getting my kids to use a wiki that I thought was kid-friendly that they could collaborate on to make a site about penguins, but it was a failure because the students could not handle all of the steps and the way the wiki editing process and such was set up. They also were not able to incorporate much creativity because they struggled to get even the basic text onto the wiki and in an appropriate location (let along creative design elements and illustrations).
BiteSlide, on the other hand, allows the teacher to essentially create a "Project Folder" in which the students can then create individual "books" within that folder. Their
smaller projects can then be combined to create an overall class project; students
learn to collaborate by using technology and 21 century skills. During
the creative process, a project’s SlideBooks are open for teachers and other
students in the class to view. This means that teachers and classmates
(if the feature is enabled) can give feedback during the project
creation phase - which promotes digital communication and collaboration! There is also an option to involve people
from the outside world (perhaps students' family members, friends, or even
guest "experts"). BiteSlide can be used to invite outside parties
into the project to also add comments and give feedback as the SlideBooks
progress. This is a great way for students to hone their final presentation
with authentic input from the outside world. Overall, it seems like BiteSlide is emerging as a great digital stepping-stone for young kids as an introduction to online digital self-expression, collaboration, and communication!
Check it out! How do you think it can be used within a classroom?
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