I’m swaying with delight after using Microsoft Sway in class!

I am writing about a new Microsoft product called Microsoft Sway that I have been using with Grades 6,7 and 8 at my school. Sway is a free presentation web app - part of the Microsoft Office family of products. It is also available as a iOS app. All you have to do to get started is go to thisURL https://sway.com/ and join up by creating a Microsoft ID. Then just explore! What I love about Sway is that it allows one to combine text and media to create an online presentation with a difference! You can pull content locally from your device, or from Internet sources such as Bing, OneDrive, YouTube, Facebook etc. One can add videos, text, images, sound…you name it. Before you know it you have a lovely presentation!

How have I been using it?

1) A social networking assignment

I set the Grade 7s and 8s an assignment on social networking using Microsoft Sway. The aim was two- fold – for them to experience using Microsoft Sway, and for them to investigate the dangers and advantages of social networking. I presented them with the assignment using a Sway as a demonstration so that they could see it in action. 

Here are some of their Sways:
Why teenagers like Facebook

YouTube and Teenagers

Why is Facebook risky?

Using social media as a teenager

2) Digital storytelling

With the Grade 6s we used Sway for digital storytelling. The class had previously written fractured fairy tales using Microsoft PowerPoint and illustrated them with a programme called Storymaker2. We added the finished products to Sway to display the stories.

Here are some of the Sways.

Little Red Riding Hood 

The Gingerbread Man

3) A writing portfolio

With the Grade 6s we've started to collect the poetry we've written this year and display it in Sway as a portfolio of our poetry.

Here is an example. 

My Writing portfolio

This application is fun for students! They latch on to how to use it very quickly. The possibilities are endless with Sway. Why not try it?