Presentations
The Microsoft® PowerPoint presentations in this resource allow teachers to teach and students to learn in new ways. The chief advantage over more traditional resource materials is their immense flexibility – teachers and students can use them in a variety of situations.
The presentations have been designed primarily for use with data projectors to be shown to groups of students. However, they can be installed on a computer network and viewed at any time by individual learners, on networked computers. Alternatively, KS3 Art & Design can easily be installed on stand-alone computers. (See Technical for more information.)
Viewing the presentations
Using data projectors is the most suitable way to use the material for whole class teaching, perhaps to launch a project. Interactive whiteboards all have a projector so these could be used, but any computer connected to a projector and pointing at a slide screen, an ordinary whiteboard or even a white piece of wall will provide a similar effect. This can offer tremendous portability, allowing dramatic use of ICT in the art room without permanent access to ICT or network connections.
All of the presentations have a basic narrative, which leads a class through the material clearly and logically. As a teacher, you can move at your own pace, allowing opportunities for discussion. It is also possible to press ‘page up’ to move backwards if you wish to recap at certain points. The second part of each presentation shows the main images without the narrative. This can be used on its own if you would prefer to provide your own guidance.
Looping presentations
Each main presentation has a second, related presentation (without the narrative) that, once launched, will loop continuously until the escape button is pressed. These have been designed to run in the background once practical work has started. For example, after having shown a presentation to introduce a project, the main images can be shown without the narrative. In this way, students can be referred back to the presentation images whilst they are working, and the teacher is free to circulate the room.
Network computers
If the resources contained within KS3 Art & Design are placed on your school network, students can easily revisit presentations in their own time. This is particularly useful if they missed the presentation in class. The presentations are written using language that is suitable for KS3 students and are designed to function well when viewed by a student alone. Some students may need extra support to access the material if their reading age is low.