module 12. multimedia

Module 12. Multimedia

EDLS 618. Fall 2009

• On any slide limit use to no more than six text items as phrases or bullet points. – Any more than this and the text will be too small or

there will be so many points that it is hard for the audience to keep in mind.

• If you have more than five or six points, consider grouping them into subtopics, then present the list for each subtopics as its own side.

• Always choose a few high-contrast colors for your presentation, but remember that too many colors can become confusing, and a lack of contrast between your text and background can render your presentation unreadable.

PowerPoint: Design Basics

Module 12. Multimedia Presentations2

• While people prefer to read dark text on a light background, light text and dark backgrounds are also acceptable.

• Be certain, though, that the contrast is sufficient. • Consistently test all elements of your presentation,

including microphones, speakers or any other associated equipment you may need to use.

• For purposes of presentation, it is best to use clean fonts and large font sizes.

• Avoid using decorative fonts, and instead use the classic Arial or Roman font types.



• When presenting, a 20-36 point font size is good for distance reading.

• Avoid writing in all upper case, even for titles.

– The shape of a word can make it much easier to comprehend, and all caps make all words have the same block shape, so use lower case for most of your text.

• Since students have become accustomed to writing and style conventions used for the Internet and the web, it is a good idea to be sparing in your use of the underline and limit it to URLs and references only.


4Module 12. Multimedia Presentations

“Interactive lessons take the form of self-paced, student-controlled, individualized learning opportunities embedded with assessment events along the way. In practice, these lessons are offered to students who need individualized instruction, corrective instruction, additional practice, or topical enrichment activities.” (Tomei and Balmert, 2000)

Interactive Lessons(Tomei, Balmert, 2000)


• Tomei and Balmert further define an interactive lesson as one that:

• Is a visually-based, behavior-oriented teaching strategy appropriate for learners of all ages who benefit from the concrete learning experiences that graphic presentations offer.

• Contains self-paced instructional content appropriate for students who learn best when instructed at their own pace, or who need the benefits provided by remedial instruction outside the classroom.


Module 12. Multimedia Presentations 6

– Offers specific, logical, systematic lessons that foster individualized instruction and sequential learning.

– Is student-initiated and student-controlled learning that places a good deal of the responsibility for mastering the material directly in the hands of the learner.

– Embraces all phases of the Mastery Learning instructional technique. It suggests alternatives for presenting the initial mastery objectives, corrective instruction, and enrichment activities.



• Two very easy types of interactivity that can be included into any PowerPoint presentation are navigation and feedback.

• For navigation, you can use onscreen buttons and hypertext for a branching structure, allowing the user to visit the sections as they wish or to provide the option to gain more information on topics of interested.

• For feedback, slides can present questions and offer choices of answers. With proper scripting, when students make choices they are either given feedback on the slide or are taken to new slides which provide information.

• Benefits for the user of this structure include increased engagement, control, and interest along with immediate response.

Interactive Presentations


• Action buttons are built-in button shapes that you can add to your presentation and then assign an action to occur upon the click of a mouse or when someone mousesover the button.

• You can also assign actions to clip art, pictures, or the text in a SmartArt graphic.

• The idea is that when you deliver your presentation, you can click or mouse-over an action button to:– Go to the next slide, the previous slide, the first slide, the last

slide, the most recent slide viewed, a specific slide number that you specify, a different Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation, or a Web page.

– Run a program – Run a macro – Play a sound

Source: MicroSoft

Action Buttons


To add interactivity through hypertext for menus and links:

• Highlight text• Then right-click the selected text to choose Action

Settings (2003) or click on Insert, then Action (2007)

• Select an action for the text: (such as)– link to another slide– link to another PowerPoint– open a file– open a specific web page (URL)– run a program– run a macro– play a sound or video

Adding Interactivity


• A trigger is nothing more than an item on your PowerPoint slide — it could be a picture, a shape, a button, or even a paragraph or text box — that sets off an action when you click it.

• The action might be a sound, a video or video clip , or an animation, such as text becoming visible on the slide.

What About Triggers?


• Animation, like colors and graphics can either add to or detract from your message.

• So…use it sparingly and in appropriate ways.• Animation is excellent as a means of

attracting attention and directing the focus of the viewer.

• It can also serve to reinforce information discussed in previous lessons or prepare learners for new information and concepts.

What about Animation?


The Last Leaves of Fall


The Animation Track


What About Videos. E.g., YouTube?


Linking YouTube


Which font should you use?

• The US State Department recently banned the use of Courier New 12 in all official correspondence.

• Beginning February 1, 2004, all State Department correspondence must be in Times New Roman 14.

• So should we follow the lead of our friends at State and use Times New Roman in all of our PowerPoint presentations?

Module 12. Multimedia Presentations

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Subjective test results

In subjective tests measuring how people judge the screen readability of different typefaces (from 0 to 5, I think), most people prefer Verdana. (Hoffman, 2004)

1.24

1.56

1.81

2.27

3.11

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Arial

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18Module 12. Multimedia

Presentations

Screen v. print font

• Verdana, Trebuchet, Georgia, Geneva, and New York are all examples of screen display fonts, fonts specifically designed to look good on a computer screen.

• Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica are actually print display fonts, fonts specifically designed to look good on paper.

• People strongly and consistently judge screen display fonts to be easier to read than print display fonts. (Hoffman)


Presentations

Subjective v. objective

• Is there a difference between screen display and print display fonts when it comes to reading speed or accuracy?

• Nope! (Hoffman)• The difference in reading speed of screen

presentations that use Verdana, Trebuchet, Arial, Times, or Helvetica is statistically non-significant. (Hoffman)

• And there is no difference at all in reading accuracy between those five type faces. (Hoffman)


Presentations

In English…

• The font you use in your PowerPoint presentation will probably have no impact on your student’s reading speed or accuracy.

• But, people THINK Verdana and Trebuchet are easier to read.

• So try to use Verdana or Trebuchet (or some other sans-serif screen display font).– The downloadable version of this

presentation uses Verdana.– When I give this presentation in

person, though, I use Myriad Web because it is (currently) my favorite sans-serif screen display font.


Presentations

Serif v. sans-serif

• On paper, people prefer reading serif fonts—fonts with a “tail” (like Times New Roman.)

• On screens, however, prefer sans-serif fonts—fonts without a tail (like Verdana).

• So, use serif fonts (like Times New Roman) for your handouts and a sans-serif font (like Verdana or Arial) for your on-screen presentation.


Presentations

Comic Sans: threat or menace?

• Comic sans is a both a screen display font and a sans-serif font, so you should use it liberally, right?

• WRONG! Unless you are creating presentations for VERY small children, you should avoid comic sans like the plague.

• Not only does comic sans look unprofessional, it “was NOT designed as a typeface… [and] [t]here was no intention to include the font in other applications other than those designed for children.” (Connare)


Presentations

Friends don’t let friends use comic sans!


Oh sure, it LOOKS good ...

• Even if you use a screen display font, reading from a computer screen [or projector] is still about 25% slower than reading from paper. (Nielsen, 1997)

• And if you change the contrast between the text and the background, reading from a computer screen becomes even slower than that.


The contrast problem

• Many of PowerPoint’s built-in templates use light text (like a white or yellow) on a dark background (like blue or red).

• The problem is that when light text is placed on a dark background, the text may seem to “glow” (or “halate”), making the text harder to read. (AT&T, 1989)

• Ambient light also tends to wash out PowerPoint presentations with dark backgrounds, totally throwing the contrast (and legibility) out of whack.


Suggested contrast combinations

• Instead of light text on a dark background, try dark text on a light background.– If your projector is “too hot” or the room is too

bright, you’ll lose the background (the frills) but the text will still be legible.

• Three decent color combinations:– Green text on a yellow background– Black text on a yellow background– Black text on a white background


Our key points

• Don’t detract: Stay away from PowerPoint’s bells and whistles like builds, transitions, animations, and sound effects.– The bells and whistles are for selling, not for

teaching.– If you absolutely have to use PowerPoint’s frills,

only add them to slides that contain non-testable content.

• Only use pictures to teach, not to decorate or entertain.


Our key points

To maximize student performance on fact-based tests,

– Have your students take notes during your presentation and then give your students a copy of your presentation (and lecture notes) afterward.

– OR give your students a skeletal outline before your presentation (with lots of white space), have your students take notes during your presentation, and then give your students a copy of your presentation (and lecture notes) afterward.


Our key points

• Because of diminishing attention spans, front-load the first 10 minutes of your presentation.

• Use a sans-serif screen display font like Verdana for your on-screen presentation, and use a serif print display font like Times New Roman for your handouts.

• Use dark text on a light background.


Our goals

• Look at the process we all go through as we learn PowerPoint

• Investigate student perception of PowerPoint in the classroom.

• See if student performance supports that perception.

• Talk about PowerPoint and student note-taking.

• Learn a little bit about PowerPoint usability.• DO ALL OF THIS IN ENGLISH!


Slides 13 – 27 were copied from “Now that I know PowerPoint, how can I use it to TEACH?”, a presentation by Patrick Douglas Crispenwww.NetSquirrel.com. This presentation also includes a very good list of additional references related to the design and utilization of PowerPoint. I recommend it highly.

You can access additional presentations by Patrick Crispen and that you may use freely at this site:http://www.netsquirrel.com/powerpoint/bydate.html

Please note:


http://www.netsquirrel.com/

http://www.netsquirrel.com/powerpoint/bydate.html

http://www.netsquirrel.com/powerpoint/bydate.html

• http://www6.district125.k12.il.us/staffdev/tutorial/ppt/ppt102.html

• A good article that explains how to create interactive PowerPoint presentations. http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/interactive

• Use triggers to create an interactive slide show in PowerPoint http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA010873001033.aspx

• Interactive: PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 command reference guide http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101490761033.aspx

• How to Create and Use an Interactive PowerPoint Quiz Game http://www.joe.org/joe/2003april/tt2.shtml

Strategies and Resources for Teaching with Multimedia Technologies

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http://www6.district125.k12.il.us/staffdev/tutorial/ppt/ppt102.html

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/interactive



http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA010873001033.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101490761033.aspx

http://www.joe.org/joe/2003april/tt2.shtml

• Tomei , L., & Balmert, M. (2000). Creating an Interactive PowerPoint Lesson for the Classroom. THE Journal, Retrieved March 6, 2008, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/14916_1.

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2003: Using Animation http://www.uwec.edu/help/PPoint03/animate.htm

• PowerPoint 2007: Animation and Slide Transitions http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/HowTo/PowerPoint/animation.html


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Strategies and Resources for Teaching with Multimedia

Technologies

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/14916_1

http://www.uwec.edu/help/PPoint03/animate.htm

http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/HowTo/PowerPoint/animation.html

http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/HowTo/PowerPoint/animation.html

• Embed A You Tube Video http://comp-tutor.blogspot.com/2009/03/embed-youtube-videos-in-powerpoint.html

• Inserting YouTube Videos into Power Point – an animation that carries you through the process of linking You Tube videos into a Power Point Presentation http://pandora.tcs.tulane.edu/blogs/clay/captivate/youtube_powerpoint/YouTube_PowerPoint.htm

Sources and Resources


http://comp-tutor.blogspot.com/2009/03/embed-youtube-videos-in-powerpoint.html

http://comp-tutor.blogspot.com/2009/03/embed-youtube-videos-in-powerpoint.html

http://pandora.tcs.tulane.edu/blogs/clay/captivate/youtube_powerpoint/YouTube_PowerPoint.htm

Designs/Templates:• Bing http://www.bing.com/ • Slide World Free Education Templates

http://www.slideworld.com/ppt_templates/free-powerpoint-templates.aspx/?page=1

• Powered Templates http://www.poweredtemplates.com/03875/0/index.html

• Education Presentation Solutions.com http://www.educationpresentationsolutions.com/education-powerpoint-images.html

• About.Com – “Desktop Publishing” http://desktoppub.about.com/od/templatespowerpoint/Free_Microsoft_PowerPoint_Templates.htm



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• Microsoft Online – Templates for Education http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT101427471033.aspx

• The Power Point Templates http://www.thepowerpointtemplates.info/

• Google Images – Search results for Power Point Templates/Designs http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&um=1&q=free+powerpoint+templates&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=20

• Powerbacks – offers free templates/designs in education as well as other areas (http://powerbacks.com/). To connect directly with education designs, click here: http://powerbacks.com/pages/education.html



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