Mac vs Windows

In my school board the majority of elementary schools use Macs, while PCs seem to be the platform of choice in the secondary schools. At present our board is at a bit of a crossroads. The board has a computer "infusion" plan on the go whereby they want to create a sustainable standard and staff/student ratio of computer workstations. The problem is that the windows based machines are significantly less expensive than the Macs. At present the board is conducting open meetings, both online and public, for staff to give their opinions for or against continuing to be a dual platform board or switching to Windows. As you can imagine the secondary panel is fine with going strictly windows, however some in the elementary panel are almost beside themselves at the thought.
Having used both my two cents are that there is often a reason that one product is much cheaper and it doesn't always relate to economies of scale.

PowerPoint Handouts-When to use them

Interesting article Christine found. I thought the point about finding time during the lecture (presentation) to "pause and poll" the students was important. This point reminds me that the presentation itself is not the message but rather a means to communicate with students. Taking time to check for understanding is important in assessing for learning.
The examples of PPT handouts in the article gave me some ideas for the future. Seems to me that it is important to understand in your own mind what it is you want your audience to go away with after your presentation before you decide on a handout format.

Keynote vs PowerPoint

In response to Mark's Post

Mark,
I used the same approach you did, started on PowerPoint then converted to Keynote. Too much frustration using PowerPoint. The one advantage that PP had over the version of Keynote that I was using, was the ability to create narration within the software. In my Keynote presentation I used GarageBand to record my narration which I then had to export to iTunes and finally embed the narration in Keynote. It sounds like a lot of work but the reality is that by using GarageBand I was also able to include some background music to accompany my narration. In the end I think the product turned out way better than if I would have used PP.
I also went on the Apple website to take a look at the latest version of Keynote and it looks like they have added the function adding narration through Keynote itself.

Keynote and Creating ebooks

I found what I thought was a pretty good, and concise manual directed towards teachers on how to use/navigate Keynote. As the author says, you can download the nearly 200 page user guide but the reality is that most users will not need that much information. I also liked the visuals that he added to the pdf making it much easier to follow. Have a look and see what you think.

http://www.mattjfuller.com/ice/Keynote_3_Book-draft_quality.pdf

I also tried making a quick ebook using Keynote and found that the only drawback was not being able to create and insert audio within the slideware. Instead I needed to use GarageBand and iTunes to record and insert audio through the media inspector creating an extra step. Not a terrible inconvenience but if all I want to do is narrate the text I believe that PowerPoint has the edge on function.

Apparently Not Everyone is a Fan of Slideware

This post comes in response to a link that I found at the bottom of a site that Christine had posted regarding the evaluation of presentations....

At the bottom of the site there was one article that caught my eye, PowerPoint is Evil by Edward Tufte. In the article Tufte made some interesting points that although directed towards the business world, are messages that teachers and their students should consider. His big idea is that the presentation is really about the content and that boring content can not be saved through some version of slideware(PowerPoint, Keynote). He talks in terms of the presentation itself not taking away from the content and at it's worst a slideware, "style routinely disrupts, dominates, and trivializes content."
This article just emphasizes the care that presenters (teachers and students) need to take when building presentations.
It was a fun read check it out if you like:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.

Spirit Reading

I was reading the discussion some people were having regarding reading to students and having them read. It reminds of an activity I have used with some effectiveness in my classroom call spirit reading. In a nutshell what happens is that when we are reading a piece of text together one person reads of a bit and then stops and whoever "feels the spirit to read" picks up where the last person left off. This takes a bit of getting used to and co-operation from all members of the class. In the beginning you will find that the same folks want to dominate and some will never read, but like with most classroom activities investing a bit of time brings out great results. Even my reluctant readers are taking turns, they don't read for as long as some others but they are now feeling confident enough to read aloud.

Keynote vs PowerPoint

In the ongoing battle of Mac vs PC, I would have to agree that Keynote is a much more user friendly application to create presentations. Another plus for Keynote is that you can easily convert your Keynote presentation to a PowerPoint, thus having the flexibility to make the platform irrelevant when you go to present. The one caution that I would add is there exists the possibility of some formatting adjustments to be made after the conversion.