My Brainshark

Bring your presentation to a new level using myBrainShark 

An outlook of mybrainshark site

MyBrainShark is now a leading tool to create, share and track online video presentations. It transforms static content into voice-enriched video presentations that can be accessed anytime and anywhere. 

To create myBrainShark online video presentation is quick and easy. You just need to upload a content, be it a powerpoint, document, video clip or photo, and then enrich it with voice narrations, transforming the-otherwise-boring presentation of information into an engaging, interactive one. The video presentation can then be shared via e-mails, posted to social network sites (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Linkedln) or embedded in blogs or websites. Furthermore, you can track the viewing details, following up with who view, what they view, when they view or even where they view your presentation effectively. 

To get a better grip on how to use myBrainShark? Here is a free online tutorial with Russell Stannard. 

How can we use mybrainshark in the language classroom?

1. virtual learning

• MyBrainShark is a useful tool for long-distance learning. Teacher can easily create a video presentation using myBrainShark and share it to students in a website, class blog or via e-mail. Students can then watch the online lesson at their convenience. This method is very useful when teacher wants to provide students with more knowledge about the syllabus or when teacher is not able to finish the syllabus within the classroom hours. 

2. oral exercise

• Apart from assigning students with writing and reading exercises, teacher can design speaking tasks using myBrainShark for students to do at home. For instance, teacher may assign students a speaking homework after teaching the topic 'Global Warming'. Teacher may ask students to create a powerpoint presentation and enrich it with voice narrations on the concept of global warming, its impacts and the solutions for this environmental problem. The task can be done individually or as a group work, depending on the level of difficulty of the task itself. In this way, students are encouraged to use English both in the class and out of the class. Thus, the tool maximises the opportunity for students to speak in a second language.

3. give feedback to students' work

• Teacher can use myBrainShark as a mean to provide oral feedback to students' works. For example, teacher can upload students' works into the video presentation, give comments and email to the students. 

What is good about myBrainShark?

1. The video presentations can be kept as e-portfolio. 

• As an example, video presentations can be embedded in teacher's blog or class blog in order for students to keep track of what they have learnt.  

2. It promotes an autonomous learning. 

• With myBrainShark, students can independently access to a range of e-learning contents available so as to gain extra knowledge about the topic learnt in the class. Also, students can self-direct their own learning by accessing to the online-lessons created by their teacher using this tool. 

3. It exhibits an interactive way of learning. 

• Even though the speaker and the listeners of the presentation are both separated in space, the presentation can still be made interactive as myBrainShark allows presenter to add polls, surveys or questions to the video presentation. 

4. It motivates speaking. 

• Students' effective filter for speaking is low because they can discard or retry their voice recording before saving it to their video presentation. In other words, students' anxiety to speak is lower than that of doing a presentation in front of the class.

5. It develops the sense of ownership. 

• Students can personalise their own video presentation and share it to the public in myBrainshark site.  

6. It is very quick and easy to use. 

• MyBrainShark comes as an Application for mobile devices. Therefore, it allows users to access to web-based information anytime and anywhere at their convenience.   

What is its limitation?

1. The facial expression or the gesture of the presenter cannot be seen.

2. Both the presenter and the listeners are not interacting in real time. Response or feedback given is not immediate.   

3. The tool needs internet to access. 

Bubbl...R

What is Bubblr? 

Bubblr is a tool use to create comic strips using photos from flickr.com. It is a program produced by a company called pimpampun. We can use Bubblr to produce a presentation of loads of photos or to create a story. 

To create digital comic strips, we need to type in the key words to search the images we need. Drag them to a dynamic timeline structure. Bubbles for speech, ideas, thoughts and text can then be included to the images. What we get is a linear style scrolling comic book after publishing. The strips can be saved to online archive, printed, or shared to others through email or blog. 

Let me present to you the things I love about korea through Bubblr. Here you go.

How to use Bubblr in a language classroom?

1. To tell story
   Teacher can ask students to use bubblr to tell stories, like holidays, hobbies, childhood,  favourite food, festivals etc using a sequence of photos and text bubbles. 
2. To illustrate a historical timeline
   Students can use bubblr to present a series of past events. They can summerise a complicated and wordy historical text into a comic strip so as to visualise the historical events. This helps in the memorisation of the history. 
3. To do class presentation
   Bubblr is an alternative for doing presentation using Powerpoint presentation.

It is also an activity that teacher can assign the students as a homework. It is very easy to acquire and apply. Teacher may introduce to the students step-by step on the ways of uploading photos from flickr to bubblr in class. Once the students get a hang on the tool, they can perform their task back in the comfort zone of their home.

Why would you use Bubblr?

1. The program is free and easy to use. 
2. It gives rise to variety in classroom presentation. This facilitates the learning of students of different learning preferences.
3. It is interesting and engaging. Students have a wide selection of photos and they can create their own stories. 
4. It gives the sense of ownership. As students are given a lot of freedom when creating the comic strips, each comic strip is very different from one another. Comic strips become special when students personalise their work.
5. Images included into the timeline helps to visualise what students learn. This helps to attend to students who learn best through visual arts. 

What are the limitations?

1. Flickr.com may not provide enough photos for students to present their ideas and thoughts. 
2. Only photos can be added to the presentation. Videos and recordings are not applicable. 
3. The text bubbles included into the photos cannot be re-sized. It is can sometimes block the photos.
4. Students cannot put comments to the comic strips created by peers. 
5. When comic strip is embedded into blog, it become too small for visibility.