Effective PowerPoint © Presentations Julia Harbeck Sarah Cheverton

Educational Objective Drives Technology What is your educational objective for using a PowerPoint presentation? In-class Online What do you want your students to take away from your class? PPT should _________, not replace lecture while in-class.

Benefits of Using PPT (Cleland, 2001) What do you think are the benefits of PPT presentations? Multimedia: Animation, video and sound Links to the WWW: Simple access to other resources. Editing: Can easily update

Benefits (Cleland, 2001) Distribution: Printing or exporting to WWW Cost: Low cost, assuming projection facilities are available Non-linear: Have capability of breaking away from linear presentation of materials to non-linear organization models.

Disadvantages (Cleland, 2001) With a partner, come up with a list of 4 characteristics of PPT that you think are disadvantages of its use in a classroom setting. Lack of interactivity: Teacher no longer interacts with the media. Promotes ________ learning. Resolution: Best resolution is 1024 X 768 but 35 mm slides are 4000 X Brightness: Room lights must be dimmed which promotes _________ and reduced __________.

Disadvantages (Cleland, 2001) Pacing: PPT slides can be displayed very quickly, leaves illusion that the pace is too __________. Distractions: Some get too carried away with bells and whistles and forget the __________ _________of the presentation Linear straight jacket: Although have the ability to do non-linear presentation, can get locked into linear mind-set

Twelve Tips for Effective PPT Presentations (Cleland, 2001 & Holzl, 1997) 1. Develop a visual __________ for your presentation, keep it in front of you throughout development. 2. Use sound and video only for __________ purposes. 3. Look for relevant ways to provide “___________ _______”.

Twelve Tips for Effective PPT Presentations (Cleland, 2001 & Holzl, 1997) 4. Pre-select a standard sans-serif font for clarity and readability a. Serif is the little tail added at the end of letters, Times New Roman. This is Times New Roman. See the little tails? b. Sans serif means without the tails, Arial. This is Arial. Notice the plain block type lettering.

Twelve Tips for Effective PPT Presentations (Cleland, 2001 & Holzl, 1997) 5. Consider the size of the room when choosing font size. a. > 200 seats = Headings: 42 point; Main text: 36 point b. < 200 seats = Headings: 36 point; Main text: 28 point c. < 50 seats = Headings: 32 point; Main text: 24 point

Twelve Tips for Effective PPT Presentations (Cleland, 2001 & Holzl, 1997) 6. For maximum effect choose predominantly _________ case letters. 7. Preview the effect of your chosen colors: a. Have no more than ___ regions of color b. Be consistent with your colors c. Consider the cultural significance of color d. Text color should complement and be _________ from background color e. If you grade colors (light to dark) the intensity should __________ as you move to the bottom of the frame. f. Consider the psychological effect of color.

Twelve Tips for Effective PPT Presentations (Cleland, 2001 & Holzl, 1997) 8. When choosing build (movement within a slide) and transition (movement between slides) effects, consider effect on audience learning. 1 sec. Transition between slides. 9. Choose pictures and clip art that enhance your presentation message. 10. Know what version of PPT is on the machine where you will be doing the presentation.

Twelve Tips for Effective PPT Presentations (Cleland, 2001 & Holzl, 1997) 11. Always have a back-up: transparencies, handouts, web-site 12. Practice. 13. What are some tips you’ve found useful that we haven’t covered here?

Examples of Bad PPTs

Inserting Audio When would you want to run a sound file? Here is a sound file: See Handout

Inserting Video Can you think of a topic in your course where showing a video would be beneficial? See Handout Here is a video clip:

Narrating a PPT presentation When would you want to narrate a presentation? See Handout

Active Learning Fill-in-the-blank: Provide print-outs or have them bring print-out to class if online. Don’t provide every little detail in the presentation-require that students _______ listen, take notes. Mix activities in with PPT. Can ask questions and list answers in PPT

Posting Online If post online, determine why. Study guide? Include blanks? Could make speaker notes available if online. If save as an html, save for Netscape and Internet Explorer. Can also save as a ppt Will display in IE window. Netscape, opens in PPT If no PPT, then can’t view in Netscape

Other Sources sld001.htm erpoint/Default.htm Holzl Cleland

Summary Let educational objectives be primary concern. Follow basic guidelines. Err on the side of simple. Design differently for Online as opposed to in-class presentation. Engage students whenever possible.

Questions?