Nurses in education need to build programs that embrace educational transformation. Technologically enhanced courses promote flexibility in design and deliverance. Nurse educators and leaders of staff development should use technology when integrating various teaching modalities that address diverse learning needs, as the usage of multiple resources lends way to addressing active, authentic, applied, and experiential learning needs where education comprehensively fosters growth and development for all. Education that is boosted by technology require educators to act as guides to absorbing and understanding through the use of resources such as Powtoon, a video making platform that incorporates animation to engage communities of learners.
We have used Powtoon a handful of times to explain short concepts that otherwise may have seemed more complicated to understand without its support. The drag and drop features make it simple to use and highly customizable. The first time we used this resource, we spent a bit of time navigating the functions and exploring the possibilities before getting on top of making a useable presentation. We like holding the ability to transform mundane content into something humorous and amusing! While Powtoon can certainly be used by educators striving to build an animated presentation on any topic and as seriously delivered as one would like, personally we find that the playful abilities of this platform make it really fun for the educator and the learner to creatively engage in a comically entertaining lift to the education experience.
Consider using this tool to develop professionally appealing presentations for a variety of activities. Current presentations in your existing curriculum can be reworked by inputting your content and reimagining its delivery. Presently (at time of initial post), Powtoon supports users of the free EDU plan to design videos up to 3 minutes in length, while paid EDU members enjoy the capability to elongate content to up to 20 minutes, which in our opinion should be reserved for a select few topics, as most simple topics can be thoroughly reviewed using 1-2 minutes of presentation delivery. Powtoon does need to be edited while online, so be sure that you have Internet access wherever you plan to adjust your work. Start by selecting a template, and then choose a graphical style for your design. Consider keeping the text short and to the point and including voice-over. You can also set your presentation to music if you would like. So, at this point, go ahead and explore Powtoon and discover how it could work for you. Imagine using it in the academic classroom (by faculty and students) or the clinical boardroom. Envision assisting new practice rollouts for nursing staff development or supporting other technologically enhanced functions in your workplace. Explore and share with your peers! Get creative!