I played around with Sliderocket last week. I needed to teach a lesson to my college classmates and my TA wanted us to be creative and not just copy the format of previous groups who had taught. I couldn't really get around having some sort of digital text presentation but I wanted to avoid the overused powerpoint.
Sliderocket was fairly simple to learn how to use since it's quite similar to powerpoint. My favorite feature is the slide transition. I like the options available for transitioning between slides because it really separates itself from powerpoint by providing a modern visual such as the cuberotate and the swap. You can also insert videos and links on the slides, but I didn't need to do either.
Another seemingly cool thing is that users can download their presentation. However, you have to pay for it. This was a huge disappointment because I knew the internet connection in the room I would be teaching in is not reliable. I needed something I could use without internet and I was not about to pay sliderocket anything.
Then, Sliderocket was saving my work and something went wrong, an "error" happened. One of my slides was lost and others lost quite a bit of information which I had recently added. I was already running late and had to spend another 30 minutes redoing the lost pieces. I ended up copying and pasting all of my information into a powerpoint because I was so frustrated and mad at sliderocket. This type of thing makes me nervous about working on anything that is saved only on the web. I feel like I have no control whether something gets deleted or not. On my computer, I can at least save it after big additions or revisions and I can even back it up to a flashdrive, but on the web, it could just disappear and I would never see all my hard work every again.
I got so excited in the beginning of your post because I've been wanting to find something different than powerpoint to use for presentations. And then I got to all the issues you were having and it sounds like it's not really worth it. It had such potential though. Like you, I need to tangible presentation on my flashdrive, emailed to myself, and maybe even on a CD. I cannot believe you have to pay to download it! I guess I won't be giving Sliderocket a chance anytime soon. Too many (potential) disadvantages.
ReplyDeleteyeah, I am also looking for alternative forms of presentations. So, every once in a while I try out something new from 50+ Ways.... I think Sliderocket would be fine if you have reliable fast speed internet and are going to present it while connected to the internet.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how our generation embraces the "new" so quickly. However, sometimes I think it is nice to rely on something that we know will work (like Power Point). I do realize that Power Point can be a bit boring since many of us have been using it for many years but at the same time I need to find an alternative that I can count on. I have tried a few websites/applications myself and have found that many things can go wrong. Maybe this site will work out its kinks over time. I am sure Power Point wasn't perfect when it came out either.
ReplyDeletehaha, true true- change is not ALWAYS a good thing and newer isn't always better
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