A Short Course in PowerPoint

Agenda

• Overview of features

• Building a slide show

• Implications of PowerPoint

The basic unit is the slide.

This is a slide.

Add a second slide...

Slide

Slide Show

…and you have a slide show.

A very plain--and brief--slide show.

Templates

Add one of the templates included with PowerPoint software. Each has a distinctive graphic, layout, and color scheme.

This template is “Fireball.”

Layouts

Choose a layout. This one is called “bulleted list.” Bullets express points in your presentation. From very important…

• to important,– to less important

• to even less important

Layouts

• This layout is called “two-column text.”

• Useful when you want contrasting lists or to squeeze in more items.

Layouts

• This layout is called “text and chart.”

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1stQtr

2ndQtr

3rdQtr

4thQtr

EastWestNorth

Readability: quantity

Keep it brief

Follow the “6 X 6” rule

Readability: type size

Don’t use tiny type.• This is 18-point.

• Use at least 32-point type

• This is 40-point type

• This is 48-point type

•This is 60-point type

Readability: fonts

Select fonts carefully.

• This is Times New Roman

• This is Arial•This is Catchup•This is Diploma•This is Zelda

Builds

Use builds to:

• focus student attention

• prevent students from rushing ahead

“Graying out” previous points is helpful

Builds

Don’t overdo builds.

Avoid gimmicks, such as this typewriter effect. Very annoying. Very, very annoying.

Transitions

PowerPoint also allows for a number of transitions between slides...

Transitions

…such as dissolve. Many other transitions are available. Choose carefully, however, and don’t overdo it.

Clip Art

Clip art can add visual interest to your presentation. PowerPoint

has a small clip art library.

Inexpensive clip art

collections are also

available.

Photographs

Photographs are

easy to add.

Use your own

photos or photos

from many other

sources.

Other Tools

You may also add:

• sounds

• video clips

• graphs

• tables

• hyperlinks

Using PowerPoint

Besides using PowerPoint for slide shows, you may also:

• print slide show for your files

• print handouts for students

• make transparencies

Using PowerPoint

Students can also use PowerPoint. Let’s think about how--and why!

Implications

PowerPoint has advantages and disadvantages. Can you think of one of each?