Electronic Village Online 2008

Teaching with Technology: PowerPoint in the Classroom

WEEK 3: January 28-February 3, 2008

Objectives

• continue building and expanding PPT skills

• become aware of and discuss technical and pedagogical considerations of animation

• become aware of and discuss the use and usefulness of special effects in PowerPoint.

Discussion Topics

In the Teaching with PowerPoint YahooGroup (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeachingwithPowerPoint/), click Messages > Post to write your comments to the following questions.

1. What is your reaction to one of the articles on PowerPoint or Project-based Learning (see the Reading Choices below)?

2. How can you use PowerPoint with your students? (discussion led by guest moderator Scott Buswell, Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria, VA)

3. What should you consider when using custom animations?

Tasks

Task 1: Making PowerPoint Slides -- Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides (PowerPoint slide show, download)

Task 2: Using PowerPoint for Student Projects in the CALL Classroom
See how an ESL teacher incorporated PowerPoint into his curriculum.  The slide show includes several voice-narrated slides with purposeful animation effects, positioning PowerPoint in CALL theory and pedagogy. Click on Student Projects with PowerPoint.  Please make sure you have your speakers on.

Task 3: Continue building and expanding your PPT lesson/project
Expected outcome: 3-4 additional slides for your lesson/project, including pictures, animated objects, and slide transitions

• Use your PPT from last week and build on/expand it. 
• Modify and improve your previous work, reflecting new insights gained. 
• View the model PPT presentation in our YahooGroup > FILES > Model PowerPoint Presentations > Model PPT--Week 3," to see how the features for this week are incorporated.
• Click on the link to the PowerPoint 2002 Beginning tutorial.  Walk through the tasks on pages 11-15:

Pictures (from Clip Art, from Files, from the Internet--p. 11)--moving, resizing, rotating, compressing (p. 12/13)--Animating an Object (Text or Pictures) (p. 13), Changing the Order Objects Play (p. 13), Slide Transitions (p. 14), Self-Running Show (p. 14), Printing (p. 15)

See also the Microsoft tutorials, Add Animation Effects to diagrams in PowerPoint presentations or Custom animation (with voice) or Custom Effects for Text and Pictures.  A tutorial on Motion Paths might also be interesting.

Special considerations (technical and pedagogical) for animation effects:

• Preview your slides as a full slide show, i.e. in Play mode (not just in the Edit mode).  View it from the point of view of your audience (your students, your peers) with respect to when/how fast/how much of the text comes in.

• Check the transitions of slides and custom animation for mouse clicks.  Consider the pros and cons of mouse clicks vs automatic timings.

• ***VERY IMPORTANT Notes about Animation--READ and CONSIDER CAREFULLY: Although animations are wonderful, they increase file size immensely.  Please use your best judgment as to what animations would look good and work well for pedagogical purposes.  Please review your slideshow from your audience's point of view.  Animating each letter to rotate or fly in individually is not appropriate in a technical or pedagogical sense.  Use the full slide show view (Play mode) to review your work, not just the View Slide Show in edit mode, as it does not reveal how the text animations work.
  Please view this example of purposeful animations, created by a language teacher: Teaching Direct Object Pronouns in Spanish.

Use the Checklist, Elements of Effective PowerPoints--Week 3 to make sure you have included the necessary components.
Upload your lesson/project to the Teaching with PowerPoint YG > Files > Week 3 Participant PowerPoints.  Request feedback from the group.
Important note: To save file space in our YahooGroup, we may have to delete previous week's PPTs or store them in an archival YahooGroup.

Optional--Task 4: Group chat
If there is a need, you may attend a group chat at Alado.net (http://www.alado.net/webheads) this week. Please see the instructions for it on the Syllabus.  Be prepared to share your ideas for your Power Point project and provide feedback to others.

NOTE: The readings are organized around topics related to the use of PowerPoint in face-to-face teaching situations where technology is used as a tool. 

Choose ONE of the articles from the topics below (see Discussion Question 1).  Post a brief reaction in our Teaching with PowerPoint YG (Messages > Post).  Put an abbreviated title of the article into the subject heading of the message.
For additional articles on each of the topics below, please click Additional Reading Choices.

Topic A: PowerPoint

1. Review Christine's Tips for PowerPoint for creating effective slide shows (for teaching and Web viewing, links to effective presentations, free clipart/templates, and more) 
2. 15 PowerPoint Tips. http://www.mindconnection.com/library/computertips/ppt_tips.htm 
3. Managing graphics to reduce size. http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpoint_tip.html#managing 

Topic B: Project-based learning

1. ALTec--the University of Kansas (2004).  Project-based learning: What is it?  <http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/> Building Motivation; Using Multiple Intelligences; Project-based Learning Checklists; Involving Students in Checklist Creation

2. Starr, Linda (2000, updated 2004). PowerPoint -- Creating Classroom Presentations <http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech013.shtml> 

I have ......

1. viewed a model PPT slide show on skills that go beyond the basics;
2. viewed a narrated slide show of using PowerPoint in the classroom;
3. expanded my PPT lesson/project and incorporated elements that go beyond the basics; considered the technical and pedagogical effects of animation, mouse clicks, automatic timing; uploaded the project to the Yahoo!Group Teaching with PowerPoint YG > Files > Week 3 Participant PowerPoints;
4. read an article on a chosen topic and posted a brief reaction to it in the Yahoo!Group;

Next, click on the link to the Activities for Week 4.