Week 06-2: Creating Students-centered Classes and Interactive PowerPoint

Engaging Students 2 – Interactive PowerPoint

PowerPoint Best Practices
1. Think about goals and purpose of handouts.
2. Minimize the number of slides; be core and concise.
3. Don’t parrot PowerPoint; use PowerPoint as a visual aid not as a reciting script.
4. Hold up your end; don’t put the cat before the horse. Keep students focused on you, not on your slide.
5. Time your talk; let students check a slide first before your saying.
6. Give it a rest; use blank slide as an effective means for thinking.
7. Make it interactive; let students engage in learning as active learners, not as passive learners
8. Mix up the media.
9. Hide you pointer; Ctrl-L (hide), Ctrl-A (display)
10. Rehearse before presenting.

Top Ten Slide Tips
1. Keep it simple; the less cluttered, the more powerful.
2. Limit bullet points and text; good slides will be of little use of without you.
3. Limit transitions and builds (animation); do not overuse transition effects.
4. Use high-quality graphics; avoid banal and trite graphics like PowerPoint Clip Art.
5. Have a visual theme, but avoid using PowerPoint templates; make your own background templates more corresponded to your needs.
6. Use appropriate charts; ask yourself ‘How much detail do I need?’
7. Use color well; color usage is important for increasing interest and improving learning comprehension and retention.
8. Choose your fonts well; use the same font set entirely and use no more than two complementary fonts (e. g., Arial and Arial Bold).
9. Use video or audio; use them when suitable and avoid unnecessary sound effects included in PowerPoint.
10. Spend time in the slide sorter; the smaller chunks or segments, the more comprehensible.

Sources:
PowerPoint Best Practices
- http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/powerpoint/docs/presenting.pdf
Top Ten Slide Tips
- http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/slides.html