Presentations as Effective Educational Method

In the current modern society communicating well is essential necessity. The unique demands of the 21st century require individuals who have the potential to be effective communicators in order to operate well in the workplace. Through delivering presentations in class, students are being prepared to meet those work demands such as giving presentations at conferences, meetings, symposia and others (Hedge, 2001)

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Using presentations can be an important method for developing history curriculum. Creating a presentation allows students to creatively think about history. They can feel as though they have something to gain from the experience and also learn presentation relaying of information to the audiences a key necessity in their lives and education as well. Teaching and working with presentations may also deepen their understanding of the material and help them become interested in the information that is presented because it is tailored to more than one learning preference and incorporates them all. Presentations are also important for students because the students assume two roles.

A group project for a history class presentation may be seen as a simple task, but this is good training ground for future leaders to practice their leadership skills, as they have to interact with different characters of the population and expected to perform well under extreme pressure (Chivers, 2007). These leadership skills, in particular through presentations, are illuminated by king Abdel Aziz who influenced the development of personal leadership skills to Saudi students in relations with foreign countries.

Experiments and Studies

Presentations can have a positive effect on student memory of learned information. In an experiment carried out by scholarly researchers concerning the effect of presentations on student learning and attitudes, the researchers test the long-term and the short-term effect on the memory of learners (Gilani, Nizam & Gilakjani, 2012). In this instances data was obtained through investigating classes that used aids of learning as well as the software. In another instance, the researchers created a scenario where students used more traditional methods. From these two cases, the results of the research demonstrated that educational technology played a significant role in presentation practices. The use of educational technology was shown to enhance the attitude of students. When it comes to subjects such history, which emphasizes mostly on ones imagination of historical happenings in the past, aids of education such visuals for example pictures come in handy when in enhancing short term memory of taught concepts. However, classroom learning is not only and educational aids affair there are other factors as well that com in play (Thompson, Simonson & Hargrave, 1992). The same case is realized in Saudi middle schools in regards to History students. The students tend to be more engaged when educational aids were introduced compared to the time they were not available or minimally used.

In another research, experts tried to identify the connection between technology and educational aids in enhancing the students grasp of the concepts they are learning. They came to a conclusion that the use of modern technological aids resulted in better understanding when compared with the past methods (Lari, 2014). They arrived at this by use of test on two groups of students who got separated and used technological and traditional means of learning, the results indicated that those who used technological aids performed better than those who used traditional procedures of teaching in a common examination. With the introduction and inclusion of visual and audio aids in Saudi schools, the level of comprehension of history students in middle schools has tremendously increased. Students are more captivated in the lessons, and they can describe the past as if they were there since they can recall what they were told more quickly and vividly.

Importance of Planning a Presentation

Coming up with an excellent presentation needs planning so that one can one be able to present an efficient and well talked to the listeners. The delivery of the contents of the presentation should be captivation engaging as well as informative to the listeners. It is impossible to achieve this without prior proper planning (Fedisson & Braidic, 2007). from the excellent presentations that Saudi middle school history students produce with the incorporation of educational aids, it is right to say that this method is useful for them.

Having this thinking of planning before making a presentation, students can identify the reasons for doing this kind of presentation. This sort of prior knowledge is important in ensuring a quality presentation is delivered to the audience (Clark & Paivio, 1991).

Also, they would be able to identify with their audience. Proper planning enables students to create reasonable content and manner of organizes so as to keep the audience interested in what it is about. History classes encompass a wide range of topics, which are unique for each country. For this reason, middle school history teachers in K.S.A. teach their students the importance of preparing reports and presentations in line with the type of audience they are to address.

Having the right information on the kind of audience one is addressing enables one to plan appropriately on what to present through taking into consideration characteristics of the listeners. An example is for the case where the audience is knowledgeable of the topic you are presenting on needs to do in depth research so as to appeal to the audience. Choice of subject can influence the level of interest of the listeners thus a factual and accurate finding through use of visual aids is needed to captivate the them (Bryant & Hunton, 2000). An audience with a partial understanding of the topic is the hardest group to handle. These groups would be interested to learn more on the subject: this then means one needs to be prepared to handle the questions which can be hectic. As a presenter one needs to identify possible question that can be asked and also swift answers to avoid consuming a lot of time. When addressing the audience who have learnt about the topic one needs to be cautious with the data they have collected so as to present clear and understandable information (Stepp-Greany, 2002).

Prior and proper planning is essential because it helps one identify the right design and order of the graphical and files to be listened in an order that shows flow of ideas. The means of educational aids to be used in the presentation need to be related and can easily facilitate easy understanding of the history of the world and that of our country. The correct tools and software should be utilized so that the audience is able to easily relate to the information presented. Middle schools in Saudi Arabia have a wide range of educational aids within their teaching practices. This helps the history students identify with different software, which helps them identify on which is appropriate in relation to the listeners they are to address.

With new technologies such as computers, available only now in the most rural areas of the country, along with interactive whiteboards in the wealthier areas of the country, instructors have unlimited means through which they can use visual aids in the classroom. Although these possibilities increase yearly, they are not used for their full potential in the middle school history classroom because of various reasons (Ramirez, 2015, p.7). For students, the use of technology in learning history is very helpful. It helps the students better understand the lessons that they are learning and to see what truly happened in the past by the visual presentations of the history presented online and in paper format.

Teachers use several visual aids that asset learners understand several subjects being taught in class. This kind of teaching ensures that, learners become more creative and come up with more ways of learning in the event; this is clearly evident by observing the success of report presentations by Saudi students. History is one of the most interesting subjects for learners in middle school (Gilani et al., 2012). However, when this teaching methods are misused the topic won't be as interesting to students, and this is why Saudi middle school history facilitators pass knowledge to their students by using visual and audio aids.

Teachers to be precise of history must be able to help students relate the past with the present. Through use of online presentation softwares such as those of Haiku and Prezi, both the learners and teachers must be able to explain content clearly. Use of this softwares enable learners to come up with reports that can create a true picture of what transpired. This visual bring the sense of imagination in learners to reality.

These aids facilitate the learners interest in the historical subject. After the introduction of education aids, a large percentage of Saudi middle school history students score well in their examination compared to the time the aids were not available in the schools.

By use of presentation programs, history comes alive for learners, as seen by the Saudi history students. In the present-day tutors and students find it easy to work with pictures and videos that assist them in the easy understanding of the details being presented and furthermore attracting attention. Saudi middle school history students now produce resourceful and captivating reports since they incorporate visual aids to the final output. These educational aids that enables smooth presentation is key for learners to understand and remember what has been taught thereafter (Lari, 2014; Stepp, 2002). Employing aids of education such as use of presentation of softwares learners can track their performances and in the end, achieve academic success. The main role of the educational institution is to give students a chance to assess and comprehend content from several sources, absorb new knowledge and relate it to what they already know, improve their understanding. Research shows that it is important that students are encouraged to be creative, which is an opportunity for them to unleash their talents (Morgan, 2013). Once an original idea hatches, following up on that idea can become the focus of a person's entire career. It always puzzling of the difference between ideas of the past and the present and success that come from it. The result is that people, and young students in particular, can become complacent and stop being creative (Sternberg & Williams, 2017).

Many researchers have demonstrated the benefits of technology in the classroom. According to Hawkins (1997), Technology is a valuable tool which provides the teacher and students a chance to address issues such as lack of materials and time to cover learning areas. This can be applied in the context of brilliant decisions regarding other areas of education, imagination is thing that makes learning through technology enjoyable.

The second recommendation is to create a website for communication between educators, students and parents. Schools should create a website for their services and include each educator on the site. The K.S.A. educators will then be able to communicate and network with each other, with the aim of exchanging knowledge, practices, and discu...