Students’ Voices on the Use of Powtoon as a Tool to Optimize
Their Skills in Designing Presentation
Yessy Purnamasari and Elis Homsini Maolida
English Education Study Program, Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Universitas Suryakancana, Cianjur,
Indonesia
Keywords: Powtoon, Presentation Design, ESP, Writing.
Abstract: This study focuses on students’ voices on the use of Powtoon as a tool to optimize their skills in designing
presentation. It investigates the implementation of Powtoon to design presentation and students’ responses
on its implementation, especially the challenges that they face on the process. It is a case study that takes the
data from three sources: observation, students’ interview, and questionnaire. The subjects of the study are
lecturers and students taking part in two ESP classes. The implementation of Powtoon in learning process
took 21 days consisting of one-week introduction to Powtoon features and two weeks of students’ designing
presentation. The findings reveal that students give various responses toward Powtoon’s application. Some
positive responses toward the application were given by the students who admitted that Powtoon offers
advanced features of design such as various animation, music, and stop-motion. However, limited duration
of displaying presentation which only provides five minutes and some technical issues such as internet
connection makes it difficult for the students to obtain the optimal result of their presentation design.
Furthermore, this study suggests that the role of lecturer is vital in minimizing the possible troubles by
guiding, monitoring, correcting, and evaluating the whole process.
1 INTRODUCTION
Students have various choices to present their ideas
in classroom, although the popular PowerPoint is
still their favorite choice. Apperson et al. (2008)
stated that the use of PowerPoint confers an
enormous benefit towards education in that students
like the courses better, have a more positive
impression of the instructor, and therefore, have a
more favorable attitude toward their education. The
familiar features of slides, animation, and color
backgrounds make PowerPoint a friendly media for
students to help them doing the presentation.
However, the development of technology offers
more choices of media that let students to explore
further in designing presentation. In relation to
personal devices, mobile phones are ideal for
individualized informal learning since student
determines which apps to acquire and how to use
them (Jones, 2011). When it comes in online form,
students will be able to produce their woks online. It
also means that there will be no limitation in terms
of time and space. One of the tools is Powtoon.
Powtoon is a tool which has similar features as
PowerPoint or Prezi that using slides and texts, but it
enables the user to add animation and sound effects
as well as music. The final result will be a more
attractive presentation media as it can be plays
automatically like a movie. Pais et al (2017) states
that this kind of online visual presentation has
several benefits. First, it allows the user to publicly
share the result and attracts viewers by its well-
designed presentation. Second, it forces the user to
be able to paraphrase the information to be put
effectively into each slide thus it will be easy for the
user and the viewers to understand the presentation.
Third, it integrates different types of formats and
media and it is also compatible with various
operating systems. The last and the most important
benefit is that it is available in free version, although
some pro features are only accessible when the user
buys the pro version.
Found in 2012, Powtoon uses Adobe Flex
technology that generates an XML file that let the
file be executed in Powtoon online form or being
exported to YouTube. The user should register to
start working and exploring the features, but it need
410
Purnamasari, Y. and Maolida, E.
Students’ Voices on the Use of Powtoon as a Tool to Optimize Their Skills in Designing Presentation.
DOI: 10.5220/0007168204100413
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 410-413
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reser ved

Premium version to enjoy the whole features. This
media provides various templates for those who
want simple and fast design and also blanks template
for starting from a scratch. To save the project, the
users are able to save it as a common presentation
which moves slide by slide, or they can export it as a
movie then export to YouTube directly.
Digital media learning has shown that
technologies, in the form of certain tools, can assist
digital natives in the learning process and lead to
better academic performance (Rahmah, 2016). In
addition, Song and Fox (2008) describe a project
which features an open-ended, student-oriented
approach to vocabulary learning in which EFL
students were provided access to and guidance on
using a variety of vocabulary building tools. By
integrating the tools into the classroom, students
become active, self-paced, and empowered learners
as these tools have the potential for supporting
student learning in creative and innovative ways,
while keeping them engaged and interested (Sarkar,
et.al, 2017). In this case, PowToon is able to bring
concepts alive for students, hold their attention and
help them retain information. In terms of students’
ability development, instructor has many ways to
explore their abilities by using the features offered
by the tools. For example, animated slides and voice
recording features of Powtoon develop students’
speaking ability since students put more interest to
the objective of the lesson that is wrapped in an
interactive way. In this case, Pais et al (2017) state
that a high percentage of mostly female students
consider PowToon to be a motivating tool used to
create interactive materials through animation and
videos.
The implementation on the use of Powtoon as a
tool to optimize students’ skills in designing
presentation consists of two stages: introduction to
Powtoon features and design the presentation.
However, integrating technology into classroom is
not an easy job. Educational technology involves
applying ideas from various sources to create the
best learning environments possible for student and
it also raises questions such as how a classroom
might change or adapt when a computer is integrated
into the curriculum. This integration means that the
curriculum and setting may also need to change to
meet the opportunities that the technology may offer
(Hooper and Rieber, 1995). Thus, a simple model as
a tool to help explain the patterns of adoption by
teachers after they are first introduced to educational
technology consists of five stages: familiarization,
utilization, integration, reorientation, and evolution.
Through those all five phases, the chance of
technology will likely be misused or discarded will
be eliminated (Rieber and Welliver, 1989)
Regarding on how technology has been
implemented into teaching and learning process and
how it is beneficial for both instructor and students
to reach the learning’s objectives, previous studies
were dominated on the discussion of the positive
impacts gained by integrating such educational tool
in the classroom, but they did not mention the
obstacles found during the process. To fill the gap,
there should be a further study on how the
integration of technology as a learning media also
creates challenge for students. Therefore, this study
would like to investigate the implementation of
Powtoon to design presentation and students’
responses on its implementation, especially the
challenges that they face on the process.
2 METHODS
This study employs a qualitative approach which
data was collected from three sources: observation,
students’ interview, and questionnaire. The subjects
of the study are lecturer and students taking part in
two ESP classes. The implementation of Powtoon in
learning process took approximately 21 days
consisting of one-week introduction to Powtoon
features and two weeks of students’ designing
presentation in Powtoon. The first week was used to
slightly introduce the features of Powtoon to
students with the help from Youtube’s explanation
and a demo to show the example of making Powtoon
from a scratch. The next two weeks were the time
for students to explore Powtoon by themselves the
discussed what will be the content of their
presentations. Guidance were given during the two
weeks meeting to ensure that students understood
the objective of the task and successfully produced
the presentation which met the criteria. The next
stage after the task was done was questionnaire
given to the whole students. Several students were
purposively selected to be interviewed to explore
their responses the implementation of Powtoon in
learning process and on the benefits and obstacles
they found during the process of finishing the task.
Students’ Voices on the Use of Powtoon as a Tool to Optimize Their Skills in Designing Presentation
411

3 FINDINGS AND DICUSSIONS
3.1 The Implementation of Powtoon in
Learning Process
Based on result of observation, there were two
stages implemented on the use of Powtoon as a tool
to optimize students’ skills in designing
presentation: introduction to Powtoon features and
design the presentation.
3.1.1 Introduction to Powtoon Features
This study began with one-week introduction given
by the lecturer that helps the students to
acknowledge what Powtoon looks like and how does
it work. The introduction consisted of a brief
explanation of Powtoon and its features to support
students in designing presentation. Students found it
useful to know features of Powtoon from the one-
week introduction given by the lecturer in the
beginning of the study. The introduction is also
beneficial for students and lecturer to keep them on
track with the learning objectives. Students were
actively asking questions as the lecturer explained
the features that will be mostly used by them during
the making of presentation.
3.1.2 Design the Presentation
The next two weeks were the time for student to
explore Powtoon and design their presentation. Time
limitation for each presentation was five minutes
which consists of maximum 10 (ten) slides. The
theme for the presentation was in the scope of
teaching English for young learners, so they have to
create interactive and attractive media to teach kids
about English by using Powtoon. During this
process, the role of lecturer is vital in minimizing the
possible troubles by guiding, monitoring, correcting,
and evaluating the whole process.
3.2 Students’ Responses towards the
Learning Process
The result from observation, students’ interview, and
questionnaire shows that students gave various
responses towards the implementation.
Questionnaire reveals that students had good
impression towards the media since the beginning of
the study. They were attracted to the features offered
by Powtoon which could not be founded in the usual
PowerPoint such as music addition and cartoon
animation. Those two elements are the key points
that make Powtoon as an interactive learning media
that will be beneficial for the students.
Figure 1: First impression of using Powtoon.
Figure (1) shows that as the students are in the
sixth semester, they have been equipped with certain
writing skills that they have learned in their previous
semesters. Integrating Powtoon into classroom then
helps them in terms of enhancing their writing skill.
Some students said that Powtoon ‘forced’ them to
arrange simple and communicative words to be
written in their presentation design as each slide was
meant to be as interactive as it could be, so the
power of animation combined by effective writing
skills will make the presentation be more effective.
Besides, students were trained to make summary of
the material they presented and choices of words
were very important to keep the presentation
interactive and straight to the point.
The interactive features of Powtoon also lead to
positive responses expressed by the students. For
example, Powtoon adds new experience in using
technology while also gives them more knowledge
in creating a good presentation. Since the user
interface is colorful, students are able to create their
works for certain objectives: media for teaching
English for young learner, media for product
campaign, and so on. Powtoon also allows students
to improve their abilities in collaborating design into
their works since Powtoon lets them explore the
media with various choices of animation, sound
effects, slide movement, and collection of cartoon.
Those features, in fact, create fresh and dynamic
learning environment among them as they can also
share with others regarding the design of their
presentations. It means that the objective of the task
which is to create better learning experience can be
realized.
Figure 2: Powtoon motivates to learn English better.
In figure (2), the motivation to learn English
better was also expressed by the students. They have
experienced another fun and interesting way to
develop their abilities in designing presentation,
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
412

composing good writing skill, as well as improving
their English skill.
However, since the questionnaire show more
than 70% of the students are not familiar with
Powtoon., some challenges arose as they tried to use
it for designing presentation. Some technical issues
are related to computer or laptop as their media to
work and also the internet connection. The first
challenge was Powtoon requires certain computer or
laptop specification to run smoothly. In fact, some
students’ computer did not meet the specification
and force them to work extra with time as the
program did not run normally. Another challenge is
that Powtoon requires lots of data connection as the
features selections are various. The availability of
Wi-Fi helped some students to work fast as the
connection was more stable yet others still depended
on portable modem or their mobile phone that
worked as data connection source. To overcome the
challenge, students were suggested to work in a
coworking space, campus, or public spaces that
provided free and fast internet connection.
Besides technical issue, time limitation of free
version of Powtoon somehow limited the students to
explore the media maximally. The five minutes
allowance in free version forced them to cut some of
the content that had been prepared in the beginning.
Furthermore, some pro features were only available
in pro version, so they still had limitation to design
the content maximally. In addition, for some
students who had little interest in design, Powtoon
was such a burden since they have to start designing
from a blank space. They felt that it took more time
to think about the design rather than composing the
content, as it can be seen in figure (3).
Figure 3: One challenge in using Powtoon.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The implementation of Powtoon in this study is to
optimize students’ skill in designing presentation.
Through one-week introduction and two weeks
observation, some positive responses toward the
application has been given by the students who
admit that Powtoon offers advanced features of
design such as various animation, music, and stop-
motion. However, limited duration of displaying
presentation which only provides five minutes and
some technical issues such as internet connection
makes it difficult for the students to obtain the
optimal result of their presentation design. This
study also suggests that the role of lecturer is vital in
minimizing the possible troubles by guiding,
monitoring, correcting, and evaluating the whole
process.
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