I finally transformed my Learning Manifesto from a word document to a digital format. The new digitized presentation of my philosophy is a Microsoft Sway. I'm excited about how much more engaging it is. I've been purposefully designing my ePortfolio knowing that, one day, it will be a source of evidence to show future employers. With that in mind, I want to keep my content interesting. I don't want them to zone out while viewing my content. If the person is anything like me, images and color could have a major impact on whether they browse with interest or just move on.
I thought Sway would be a good option, because you can choose multiple formats to lay out your information. I've used it in class for student research presentations and they enjoy it more than the basic PowerPoint or Google slides and especially more than a poster board! Sway provides templates to create blogs, reports, newsletters and more. You can even upload a word doc or slideshow that you've already created and Sway will organize it into one of their templates. I chose to develop my product from the original word document of my manifesto. I had to make some minor adjustments like separating paragraphs where it was a more natural break in the reading. Sway also made suggestions of sentences to pop out for emphasis. It was a pretty simple transition.
To add depth to my manifesto, I included links to videos and sites that reinforced my ideas. I was also able to find some images to connect to my text through Microsoft's Creative Common search box. That's also included on Sway. Other images I created using Adobe Spark and uploaded them to the presentation. I think it looks polished and inviting without distracting from the purpose of my writing. I'm going to have a few peers look at my final product and give me feedback. Having another set of eyes is always helpful when you are publicly publishing something for the world to see, more importantly, for future employers to see. So, shout out to Microsoft for developing Sway!! It's a great tool for educators to use in any classroom or professional development.
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