what a decade

A week ago I posted an infographic summary of the past and (possible) future of education. The image suggested that education changed and will change drastically, thanks to the rapid progress of technology. Teachers have to adjust to and make use of the advancements, not only to catch up with the technical knowledge and interests of their students but also to enhance the learning process. The tools technology provide us with (can) make classes more efficient if they are used consciously. 

Take presentations for example. It caught me as a surprise when I peeked back how my talks looked like during my academic years -- which were not a long time ago -- and how I do them nowadays. The other day I bumped into a poster I had made for my presentation on Space Race, no later than in 2004. My professor said, after my performance, that in the history of his teaching at the university, this was the best presentation he had ever seen. And partly, it had to do with my visuals. Check them out for yourselves:

On a large piece of paper (size A2), I placed the visual summary of the 6 main steps in the Space Race and my talk, to function as a timeline for the events. I only included the most relevant data, which were dates and names, putting the most stress on visual clarity. Some important pictures (like that of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin, and the photo of the back of the Moon taken my Apollo 8 and Neil Armstrong's famous picture on the Moon) were accompanied by the national flags of "who came first." Quite clear -- but minimalistic (for the 21st century).

Just as a joke, I decided to make new visuals for the very same talk, to compare and contrast how I would do it today. And also to reveal what a giant leap technology made in just a decade. Back in 2004 my paper poster was unique. Today my prezi, a much more dynamic and spectacular visual support, would be appreciated but far from being exceptional. 

Of course, we should note that a presentation, or a class, doesn't depend solely on the looks but on the balance of content and looks (which our new age seems pretty often to be forgetting).