Explore these hints and tips for using PowerPoint as an instructional and learner tool. Discover features that you will wish you had known before and examine methods that will add flair and enhance your presentation s content. Why use PowerPoint as an instructional resource? PowerPoint is the most used multimedia software and is easy to learn. PowerPoint presentations are both fun to watch and to make. They can accommodate all learners' needs and serve as a motivational tool. Teaching resources created in PowerPoint can be saved for future use or stored online to be shared with other teachers and parents. PowerPoint slides assist the instructor in providing speaking prompts and the learner as they can provide visual resources in addition to audible information. Features Text Change text font, color, size, add Textboxes and Word Art. WordArt can also be formatted to change the font, size and color. (Click Format in the top menu line WordArt.) 1
Design Templates Creating Your Own Presentation Design Templates 1. Open PowerPoint, click Format Design Template. Choose a design template as a starting point. 2. Click View Master Slide Master. 3. Insert the desired images using clipart or autoshapes. To remove or images that are already a part of the design it might be necessary to ungroup them. (Right click and choose ungroup). 4. Save the template: Click File Save As In the File Type section at the bottom of the Save window choose Design Template (*.pot) Create a name for the design template Change the Save in location to C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Templates/Presentation Designs Graphics Grouping graphics will enable them to animate together. Graphics can also be grouped with textboxes. To group graphics, click the first image, hold the Shift key on the keyboard, and continue to click the remaining graphics. Do not click the last image to be grouped, RIGHT-CLICK that image and choose Grouping Group from the menu box. All images selected will now become one 2
image. To ungroup images, right-click the image and choose Grouping ungroup. Graphic Order You can change the image order by righ-clicking the image and choosing Order. Images can be sent backward or forward, placed in the front or back. Video PowerPoint always needs a copy of the video file in order to play it. When using a video as part of your presentation, keep a copy of the video in the same folder as your presentation! This will speed up the loading process, and ensure PowerPoint can always find the video if you switch computers. To insert video into PowerPoint, the video must be converted into a digital video format. There are several digital video formats available, but PowerPoint primarily supports.avi (Video for Windows) files. PowerPoint XP recognizes several additional formats. Display the slide in Slide View to insert the video clip. Select menu item Insert - Movie from File (or Gallery). Locate the video file and click OK (or Insert). You will be asked if you want the video to play instantly. Sound PowerPoint recognizes.wav files. PowerPoint XP recognizes.mpg and.mid files in addition to.wav files. Sound files can accompany an animation or a slide transition. Animation Any object on the slide (image, text, a textbox, or WordArt) can be animated. 1. Click the object to be animated. 2. Click Slide Show in the top menu line. 3
3. Click Custom Animation 4. Choose the desired animated. Sound may also be included. Slide Transition is also a type of animation in which the entire slide is animated. 1. Click Slide Show 2. Click Slide Transiition 3. Choose the desired transition. Sound may also be included. Copying and Pasting from Word/Web/Excel 1. From a Word Document to PowerPoint From the original Word document, click and drag the mouse across the desired text. Click Edit (from the top menu line) Copy Open the PowerPoint presentation and click inside the text box on the slide that will received the copied text. Click Edit (from the top menu line) Paste 2. From the Web to PowerPoint Locate the desired text on the Internet, click and drag the mouse across the desired text. Click Edit (from the top menu line) Copy Open the Word document and click Edit Paste In PowerPoint presentation and click inside the text box on the slide that will receive the copied text. Click Edit (from the top menu line) Paste Note: If Internet Explorer is used as the browser the text will be formatted. 3. Copying Pictures from the Web Locate the desired picture and position the mouse directly over it. This procedure is only an option in the Internet Explorer browser. Right-click the mouse Left-click Copy on the menu Open Word or PowerPoint and click Edit Paste NOTE: You cannot paste an image into a PowerPoint textbox. Make sure no textbox has been selected before choosing paste. Right-click the mouse to view this menu. Left-click copy. 4. Copying from Excel to PowerPoint 1. To copy a graph or table from Excel to PowerPoint, select the table or graph. 2. Click Edit copy 3. Open PowerPoint and click Edit Paste 4
Tips 1. Don t missing the (Power) Point by becoming so enamored with the features of PowerPoint that the content of the Presentation takes a back seat to it. 2. Computers crash, networks go down, viruses can plague computers! Always have a back-up plan! 3. Overuse can bore learners and diminish PowerPoint's effectiveness. 4. 5 x 5 rule No more than 5 words per line, no more than 5 lines per page is a good rule for presentation slides in lectures; although you can use more for tutorials. 5. Be consistent by using thematic background design and font throughout the presentation. Vary it only slightly to break the monotony. 6. Use graphics sparingly as these could be distracting and therefore defeat the purpose of drawing attention to your message 7. Avoid using all the bells and whistles all at once. You don t need sound at every page turn. Limit slide transitions, videos and animations. 8. Font Size should never drop below 32 points if the presentation is to be a whole class presentation. Hints Change the Font Syle by clicking Format on the top menu line, select Replace Font. Choose the replace font style and click OK. Change the Design Template by clicking View (from the top menu line) Title or Slide Master. Click the body of the slide then right click the slide and choose Group Ungroup. Delete any part of the design you desire. Then right click and choose Group Regroup. When completed choose the slide sorter view mode from the lower left-corner of the screen. Using Guides If you like using guides, but wish there were more, you can create additional Guides by simply holding down the CTRL key while dragging on 5
an existing Guide. This will create a new guide. To get rid of guides, just drag them off the edge of the slide. Creating Pages with Slides and Descriptive Text for printable pages that have notes or descriptive text associated each slide, use the Notes Pages, or Speaker's Notes feature. Go to the View menu and select Notes Pages. You will see an image of your slide there, and a placeholder for adding your script, notes, or any other text you wish. You can cut-and-paste text from Word here if you like. To print these pages, bring up the Print dialog, and at the bottom of the dialog where it says "Print What:", select Notes Pages. These pages were originally designed to be used as audience hand outs. To return to the normal view click the Slide View button in the lower right corner. Building Presentations for Distribution to Others: If you're making a PowerPoint presentation that you intend to distribute to lots of different people, here are some important things to watch out for that will cause problems: 1. Stick with the fonts that come installed with Windows; Fancy fonts that appear on your machine will cause problems if everyone else doesn't have them. 2. Avoid embedding sounds and videos: these will not go from Mac to Windows gracefully, and you have to be very careful about how you insert the files in order to get them to "travel" properly. See the FAQ section for more information on this. 3. Design the presentation on the lowest version that you think might be in use. Easily Changing from Caps to Lower Case (or Vice Versa): If you have text that is in the wrong case, select the text, and then click Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you like. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles. This useful trick works with Word too! Nudging Objects by using the arrow keys to move objects very small distances. This is a big win for those laptop users who no longer have mice. Select the object, then use your arrow keys. Each press of the key will move the object on "grid unit" (1/12th of an inch, don't ask why); if you hold down the Ctrl key while nudging, or if you have the grid turned off, you can move the objects one pixel at a time. Customize the Toolbar by adding buttons for tasks that you routinely conduct. Click View Toolbars Customize. Click the Commands Tab and choose the desired task. Click and drag the accompanying icon to your preferred location in the toolbar. Close the customize window. Setting up the Show to run continuously, click Slide Show Set Up Show. Check loop continuously until ESC and click OK. To set up the presentation with timed settings on each slide, click Slide Show Rehearse Timings. As each slide appears a rehearsal clock will appear in the upper left corner. When the desired time has expired click the mouse to progress to the next slide. After 6
viewing the entire show you will be asked if you wish to save the rehearsed time. Click Yes. To record your own narration for the presentation click Slide Show Record Narration. Saving Shows as a PowerPoint Show (.pps) and your presentation will open straight into screenshow mode. To create a webpage from the presentation, click File Save as a Web Page. Do not use more than one word in the file name. Printing the Presentation You have many options for printing your presentation. Click File Print. You can choose to print it as slides or handouts and choose how many will fit on a page, print it as a Notes Page, or print it in the outline view. Other options include to print it in Grayscale, Pure Black and White, or with Animations. You can also choose to print only specific slide numbers or print all slides. Scrolling Credits: Scrolling text can be an effective means of ending or beginning a presentation. Click the desired text. When the Custom Animation text box opens, click the Effects tab. Click the arrow at the right side of the Entry Animation list box to expand the list. Locate Crawl From Bottom and select it. Check the list box labeled Introduce Text. If it isn't set to All at Once, click the arrow at the right side of the list box and select All at Once. Click the Timing tab and select the radio buttons labeled Animate and Automatically. Click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes. 7
Use the Blanking B Key Pressing the "B" key when presenting in PowerPoint immediately puts a black, blank slide on the screen until some other key our mouse button is pressed. Note that the blanking feature of the "B" key is only available when actually in the presentation mode. You cannot use it for this effect when editing slides. (Press the W key for a white slide) Other Special Keys Press the "F1" key while in presentation mode and PowerPoint will give you a list of shortcut keys to use during presentations. Use The Pointer And Pencil PowerPoint normally clears off the mouse pointer when in presentation mode. Move the mouse around when presenting and the arrow will reappear. Use the mouse pointer to point to things for emphasis. It looks a lot better than using a bouncing laser pointer. Click the right mouse button to get to a screen that allows you to activate the pencil marker. This allows you to actually "draw" on the PowerPoint screen and select a pen color. Slide Jumping While in slide show, press the desired slide number, plus enter on the keyboard to jump to that slide. OOPS! Go Back While in the slide show, press the P (previous) key on the keyboard to go back one slide or animation. More To draw a line that is perfectly horizontal or vertical hold the Shift key while dragging to create your line. To draw a perfect square hold the Shift key while dragging to create your square. To draw a perfect circle hold the Shift key while dragging to create your circle. To preview a presentation in black and white, click on View Black and White. To hide part of a graphic use the Crop icon contained within the Picture toolbar. To embed TrueType fonts that that your presentation will display the current font even when used on a different PC that does not have the fonts you have used installed locally, click File SaveAs command. From within the SaveAs dialog box, click on the Tools icon drop down menu. Select the Embed TrueType fonts command. 8
Resources: Media Channel Educational Videos http://www.mediachannel.com/guides/educate1.htm Instead of clicking the link to the video to view it, simply right click and choose save target as to save it. Be sure the video is in a format that is recognized by the version of PowerPoint installed on your computer. (An alphabetical listing of Thomas Edison s movies can be found and downloaded at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvalpha.html) Clipart http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/tools/clipart.html Sounds http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/tools/sound.html Tutorials Jefferson County School PowerPoint Tutorials http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/ppt.html PowerPoint in the Classroom http://www.actden.com/pp/ PowerPoint Tutorial http://www.electricteacher.com/tutorial3.htm PowerPoint in the Classroom http://www.esu5.org/techteacher/powerpoint.htm Creating Classroom Presentations http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech013.shtml Using PowerPoint in the Classroom http://internet4classrooms.com/ideas_pp.htm Advanced PowerPoint Tips http://emints.more.net/profdevelopment/modules/powerpoint2.pdf PowerPoint Collection http://jc-schools.net/ppt.html These language arts, math, science, social studies, and art/music presentations are Microsoft PowerPoint files in either a viewable or downloadble format. To view them, use the Internet Explorer web browser (not Netscape). The downloadable PowerPoint presentations have been "zipped" to make them faster to download. To unzip the presentations you will need to have WinZip installed on your computer (http://winzip.com). PowerPoint Games http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/ppt-games/ PowerPoint Web Presentations http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/pptweb.pdf Demo of Web Presentation http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/pptweb-demo.html 9
Keyboard Shortcuts Activity Insert a new slide Switch to the next pane (clockwise) Switch to the previous pane (counterclockwise) Make a duplicate of the current slide Start a slide show Promote a paragraph Shortcut Keys CTRL+M F6 SHIFT+F6 CTRL+D F5 ALT+SHIFT+LEFT ARROW Demote a paragraph ALT+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW Apply subscript formatting CTRL+EQUAL SIGN (=) Apply superscript formatting CTRL+PLUS SIGN (+) Open the Font dialog box Repeat your last action Find View guides Delete a word Capitalize Bold Italicize Insert a hyperlink Select all Copy Paste Undo Save Print Open CTRL+T F4 or CTRL+Y CTRL+F CTRL+G CTRL+BACKSPACE SHIFT+F3 CTRL+B CTRL+I CTRL+K CTRL+A CTRL+C CTRL+V CTRL+Z CTRL+S CTRL+P CTRL+O 10