Visual Annotation

Actually, YOU have to make your PowerPoints more powerful - technology can’t necessarily do that.  Take a look at Presentation Zen for great tips, tricks and advice.  However! if you’re an avid PowerPoint presenter that email’s .PPT files to students and colleagues, and you’ve never used VoiceThread, prepare for a delightful paradigm shift!  VoiceThread.com is a free (and quite useful) web application that will allow you to stream your PowerPoint slides online AND integrate an interactive discussion around your presentation content.  One key benefit that faculty will love is the ability to add an audio narration to each slide.  This narrative could include more information such as a story, additional context, or relevant examples, etc.  There’s even a ‘doodle’ tool that will allow you draw on the slide as you’re emphasizing your points!

Once these initial elements have been mastered, you’ll notice that VoiceThread also opens up a plurality of opportunities for interactive discourse and community participation from students (or the Internet at large!).

Take a look at the following VoiceThread concerning the issue of “Saving Darfur”.  You’ll notice how a multi-modal conversations (or threaded voices) have taken place around these political illustrations.  Commenters can posit their feedback via text and audio and video recordings.  I personally prefer video comments, but you have to have a web-cam on your computer to do this.  If you dont have a web-cam or microphone, you can also call a phone number to leave feedback on a VoiceThread.  It will record your audio over the phone, and append it to the presentation over the web! Amazing!

For more great information about Using Voicethread for interactive discourse and dialogue, feel free to take a look at Bill Ferriter wiki on what VoiceThread is and how you can use it in your courses.

Enjoy!

–SAMPLE VOICETHREAD FOR WORKSHOP–

Original post by Kenneth

Actually, YOU have to make your PowerPoints more powerful - technology can’t necessarily do that.  Take a look at Presentation Zen for great tips, tricks and advice.  However! if you’re an avid PowerPoint presenter that email’s .PPT files to students and colleagues, and you’ve never used VoiceThread, prepare for a delightful paradigm shift!  VoiceThread.com is a free (and quite useful) web application that will allow you to stream your PowerPoint slides online AND integrate an interactive discussion around your presentation content.  One key benefit that faculty will love is the ability to add an audio narration to each slide.  This narrative could include more information such as a story, additional context, or relevant examples, etc.  There’s even a ‘doodle’ tool that will allow you draw on the slide as you’re emphasizing your points!

Once these initial elements have been mastered, you’ll notice that VoiceThread also opens up a plurality of opportunities for interactive discourse and community participation from students (or the Internet at large!).

Take a look at the following VoiceThread concerning the issue of “Saving Darfur”.  You’ll notice how a multi-modal conversations (or threaded voices) have taken place around these political illustrations.  Commenters can posit their feedback via text and audio and video recordings.  I personally prefer video comments, but you have to have a web-cam on your computer to do this.  If you dont have a web-cam or microphone, you can also call a phone number to leave feedback on a VoiceThread.  It will record your audio over the phone, and append it to the presentation over the web! Amazing!

For more great information about Using Voicethread for interactive discourse and dialogue, feel free to take a look at Bill Ferriter wiki on what VoiceThread is and how you can use it in your courses.

Enjoy!

Original post by Kenneth

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We all look for shortcuts. When taking a long trip, we see where we can cut out a few miles. When cooking we look for ways to cut down the prep time or cook time. Students are forever looking for ways to short cut the learning experience. Well, recently I worked with a faculty member preparing a conference presentation and demonstrated some keyboard shortcuts to use during the presentation to help with navigation.

The faculty member was using PowerPoint and showing clips from a DVD in Windows Media Player. The first shortcut was how to toggle between applications. By holding down the ALT key and pressing the TAB key, you can navigate through your open applications. This is a Windows shortcut and is not program specific. Instead of using your mouse to navigate and click on the applications in the status bar, simply hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key until the application you want is highlighted.

Open your PowerPoint presentation and instead of selecting “Slideshow->From Beginning” or clicking on the “Screen” in the bottom right, press F5 key. This begins your presentation from the first slide. There are other shortcuts as well. Here are some from PowerPoint Help:

A lot of these shortcuts work on a Mac as well. Instead of ALT + TAB use the Apple Key (next to the space bar) + TAB. There are many more shortcuts and most are labeled next to the command in the dropdown menus in most programs. For instance, if you select File -> Print… the Keyboard Shortcut is CTRL + P. You can use CTRL + A to select all text, CTRL + X to cut text, CTRL + C to copy text, and CTRL + V to paste text.

In the end, the idea here is efficiency. The more you can do with your hands on the keyboard, the more efficient you will be!

Original post by Jon

In fall 2008, Kim Klinker decided to try a new approach with her Introduction to GIS class. Instead of the traditional lecture-and-lab format, she designed her class as a five-week “bootcamp,” where students learned critical concepts of geographic information systems and the ArcGis software, and used the rest of the semester for field- and project-work. The result? A success. The students developed a map for students with disabilites to use to navigate their ways around the UR campus. Kim’s students presented their research and final project to the campus community on December 5, 2008.

Klinker’s class studied other schools’ maps, such as Bucknell and UVA-Wise, but think UR is one of the schools with the biggest campuses to attempt such a project.

What’s in store for the spring semester? Kim’s Advanced Spatial Analysis class will be taking the map to the next level, adding additional functionality, and publishing the map online. These maps, eventually, would allow a disabled student to input his or her location and destination, and give the student the shortest and quickest possible routes this student could take that don’t have, say, the interference of curbs and stairs.

Original post by aczapracki

. . . then they really know their stuff. The team behind Durante Design helped Al Gore design the “An Inconvenient Truth” presentation. Currently, Nancy Durante has a free online video available called “Creating Powerful Presentations.“

It’s a little long, but has the advantage of being broken into chapters so you can easily jump around or come back to sections easily.

If you have any interest in picking up some great tips be sure to check this out.

This information was found via the Presentation Zen blog which I enthusiastically encourage you to check out.

Original post by Tom Woodward

Check out this comedy routine based around serious PowerPoint mistakes.  It’s a lot better than that description sounds and it’s got a lot of really good information as well.

I don’t agree with everything Dr. Abela says but he does have some strong points. He’s repeating some of the concepts we’ve talked about before-

• Purify your slides
• No useless transitions or animations
• Use lots of graphics and little text

He also advises using only black and white unless you’re using color to emphasize a point in the slide. Dr. Abela feels that lessens the cognitive load on the view who will be trying to apply a rationale to your color choice (even if there is no rationale). I’m not sure I’ll go that far as I feel that color plays a role in the audience’s engagement and the proper use of color tends to make your presentation appear more professional.

The Key to Moving People is Moving People « Chalkdust101

Sitting in Estes’ presentation, I learned that I have not been nearly observant enough of my audience; your audience and being able to read them and redirect them through the use of movement, storytelling, and, of all things, touch, determines the success or failure of your message. Information without reflection and discussion does nothing for learners. Give them the chance to hash out what you are saying and clarify it for one another and you stand a much better chance of making a difference in their learning.

Some really great presentation tips regarding some things that are rarely done in presentations- human touch and movement.

Lawrence Lessig at TED

Another high slide count presentation. Pay attention to how often the slides change as he speaks. Lessig uses an interesting mix of images and words to keep things moving.

Dick Hardt’s OSCON Identity 2.0 Presentation - a great example of a well timed and humorous presentation. This presentation style takes a lot of practice and work to get the rhythm down.