Haiku Deck - Presentation Trump Card

I came across Haiku Deck this morning. I have been aware of this app for some time but have resisted the urge to have a look because in my mind it was just another slide presentation tool. How wrong could I be! I love this presentation app. It is so simple.

Simple is also a word that springs to mind when talking about this app and from a teachers point of view - this is important when it comes to students. This app is appropriate for students from infants right through to senior secondary.

This is content creation at its easiest. The touch and swipe environment has been utilised to ensure a quick and easy presentation in next to no time. Select a theme, use your own images or let Haiku Deck present you with a plethora of images from the in-built Creative Commons image search. This is itself great practice to be modelling to students.

These images come from across the internet from photographers who have licensed them under Creative Commons. Some of them have a "not for commercial use" restriction but Haiku Deck allows you to filter the type of CC images you are provided with.

Once you have your slide background, select the style and placement of your text and enter it in. If you want to include charts or tables, create them and then save as an image. This allows you to import them just like any other image - alternatively you could share your Haiku Deck to Powerpoint and add a chart that way.

The slide display at the bottom of the screen illustrates all your slides but it also allows you to drag and drop to change the order of the slides. It is these type of features that really impress me with this app. Other features that seem small but that are also convenient include touch screen cursor placement, copying and pasting for multiple image searches and the ability to embed the presentations in your website or blog.

Equally impressive is the ability to share your Deck via Facebook, Twitter or email. Not only can you transfer the presentation to your teacher or other students but these can also be viewed on any device with a web browser. This multi platform any device usage is so important for schools. This also suits any BYOD schools.

Finally I am an Analytics fan so the ability to have views of your Haiku Deck presentation represented as a graphic is another great feature. From an educational point of view it is also a way of gauging information about an authentic audience to a student's presentation.

A big thumbs up from me! Well done to all involved at Giant Thinkwell.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/haiku-deck/id536328724?mt=8