Community reviews for Sway

This is a tool that the teacher can use to present the lessons. Important elements are: the flexibility, easy integration of many different files, and the sharing. Also, it is very important that students themselves use this tool to benefit their learning because they become creators.

Sway looks like a very interesting and useful app for the classroom. As a frequent digital content consumer, I like the opportunities that this app provides. Students can create reports, stories, and presentations that can showcase their learning in a beautiful and visually appealing way. Even cooler than that is the amount of possibility in creation and the redefinition of assignments that Sway allows students to take advantage of.

I have used this as a way to present information and for students to present. Overall it is a decent teaching tool. It does have some short comings. I really think it depends on what your purpose is for your presentation. If you want the students to really go in depth on a topic and add animations than PowerPoint would work better. However, if you are looking for a simplistic way to have students present information than Sway would work. Sway can be used for more complex presentations, but it lacks the editing skills that other presentation tools have. It is a great starting tool for students to use to learn how to present.

As a teacher who still uses presentation tools in my class, I was looking for a program/app that enabled me to create content that was more visually satisfying than Slides or PowerPoint. While at the same time, I was looking for something that was easy to use as well. Sway does that for me. I like to think of it less of a presentation tool, and more as a story creator. I truly love the drag and drop ease that Sway has utilized. No longer do you have to scour the web for usable materials for your story or presentation. Now you can search creative common material, and it provides the citation for you. This makes it amazingly simple (too simple, perhaps?) for students to effectively create a story, to be shared, that they can easily cite and source. The ability to embed social media posts also makes it very friendly for modern day presentations. I love the visual focus that Sway has employed, it is obvious that one of the main goals of the developers was to "make it look good." This is another area that sets Sway apart from other presentation tools. How often have we had students present, and their slideshows just blend into the background? The same templates, the same color scheme. Sway has templates, but when I was watching my students' projects, I wasn't thinking that they looked the same. Honestly speaking, however, I don't know how much I would use the app for a simple presentation. There are no interactive elements, like Slides has integrated, or many other apps that can be used for quizzing or polling. It isn't Nearpod, which means that you can't have a guided presentation, with embedded materials for interaction with the audience. For my specific uses, it works as I need it to. But I would not necessarily jump to switch to use it for simple one-to-many presentations. I would also like to see collaborative tools built into this in the future, both of student-teacher and student-student varieties.

Sway makes very nice looking presentations. It allows you to search for videos and images within the program which makes things simpler for students. In addition, the remix function for the design of the Sway is ideal for students who may fuss too much with design and allow them to focus on content. The ability to stack cards and drag them to change order is nice. Keep in mind that because of the remix feature and the nature of Sway you will not have full design control. Some students got frustrated that they couldn't change font size exactly as they wanted or move images or words just so. I also wish it was a bit easier to cite images in Sway. You can see a URL for images when you search for them if you keep it checked in the search panel but it is very hard to see!

It is easy to tweak the look and feel of a presentation by hitting the 'Remix' button and there is deliberately a move away from being able to choose a million font styles and formatting options - something that has got to be a good thing when you're trying to focus on content from your learners! It is possible to upload your own images but the default methods of searching are a bit clunky initially. I would say Sway is far from intuitive, at least to begin with, and it is important, as with any project, that you're clear as to the outcome. In Sway it is easy to get sidetracked! The options for presenting your 'cards' can lead to some creative layouts, although it is fiddly to remember to select the correct size for each photo to get the desired effect. But as another tool in your arsenal, alongside the presentation stalwarts, Sway has got to be worth at least a look.

What did you learn today. little Billy? Well, let me show you Ma. Here it is on my phone. Swipe down to see all of the work I did. That is very cool, Billy. Yeah, I know. (*mic drop.)

SWAY could be used by teachers to share information and lessons as well as for documenting student-driven work. There are some glitches or things that act funny such as limitations on text sizing and color. The iOS app has a few features that are missing that are available on the website version, but this is improving over time.

Simplicity is my favorite part of the sway app. Students control the images and then tell their story creating a timeline of an event or process. It would be great if the sway app would allow videos to be inserted. Students can open their accounts in Office 365 and add YouTube video to their sway.

Overall, a good presentation tool that works well on multiple platforms. Be careful when sharing your Sway presentation- you have to make sure you have the permissions set correctly otherwise others won't be able to view. If you are going to use with students, make sure they have an account created ahead of time. I did not find the how-to videos to be super helpful either, so I would demonstrate a couple features first (how to add "cards," bold text, and upload media) before you let kids go. It would be good to have an example presentation to show them as well.