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e-learning and PowerPoint – where do I begin?

By on April 7, 2011 in Using PowerPoint

e-Learning is such a wide-ranging topic it is sometimes difficult to know where to start. I suspect that any research into e-learning has probably left you more confused.

So, where do you begin? First of all decide what you think e-learning is all about.

e-Learning is about using technology to give someone the opportunity to learn.

This is a really good palce to start but if you would like more information to help you formulate your own idea of e-learning, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning. For now, let’s settle on using my definition.

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How to make a good PowerPoint presentation for the classroom

By on March 31, 2011 in Using PowerPoint

Before you go much further have you seen this video? It really is worth a watch!

We’ve all seen them – good presentations and bad presentations. Every time we instinctively know when a presentation has been good but why is it that we all make the same mistakes!

PowerPoint is a powerful tool, ‘power’ is in the title but we seem to assume that because it can do so much we should accept default settings in order to make a really good presentation and the ‘power’ in PowerPoint is just about tinkering with the presentation to make it perfect.

Nothing could be further from the truth here. The basic default settings in PowerPoint will provide a very basic, poorly designed and, let’s say it – boring presentation!

What simple steps can you take when creating a PowerPoint presentation?

When you start PowerPoint you are given a blank page so don’t start cluttering it up with text and bullet points. If you must use a standard layout choose the one with just a title space at the top and give yourself a blank canvas.

But, before we go any further let’s just consider a couple of things.

What are trying to achieve? Are we trying to provide information? Are we wanting to inspire? Do we want our students to learn something? Who are our students? What do they like? How can I make this content relevant to them?

Whoa! That’s more than a couple of things!!

The point is that there is a lot to consider before making your PowerPoint presentation. On top of those questions you will need to think about what message each slide is hoping to convey.

OK, so what works?

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