PowerPoints that Teach Effectively

Here's an interesting article about the pedagogy (educational theory) behind effective PowerPoint presentations.  If you ever use PowerPoint in your teaching and learning, this might be helpful:-

Using cognitive load theory to improve slideshow presentations

It's by Andy Tharby, of Durrington Research School, West Sussex - part of the Research Schools Network.  It'll take 5-10 minutes to read, maximum, and will warn you off ever showing  large screeds of text on powerpoint!

Of Course, You Love Giving Presentations?! Try This ...

Everyone knows of PowerPoint.  Good old dependable PowerPoint, with a reasonable array of different formats and applications.  But have you ever wished you could try using something different?

Perhaps you've already turned to Prezi?  Many people love it.  Used well, it's great.  Used badly, the audience can end up feeling dizzy as you whizz across the screen, in and out of bubbles, generally mimicking a mosquito on speed.  It's not for everyone!

Our professional association, CILIP, featured a new kid on the block, recently: PowToon. Karen explored it briefly last week, and decided it might make a useful alternative for presentations that aren't trying too hard to be serious and scholarly.  This is just a first impression, and maybe a little unfair, since she didn't look at all the templates PowToon had to offer.  Still, it was easy enough to use, and you can share your finished presentation by hyperlink or email.  We haven't yet tried to see if a PowToon presentation can also be saved to USB stick, so that's something we'll need to find out about and report back on.

Why not visit the website and experiment with the free basic sign-up?

Truly Fabulous - British Library Photostream on Flickr - Lovely Old Images

The British Library has uploaded lots of historic pictures which might be very useful indeed for stage and costume designers, or indeed as a source of images for a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation on a historical subject.

These are breathtaking - take a few moments to sample what's on offer:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary

Elevator Pitch - Promoting the Whittaker Library

A Very Brief Powerpoint!

How do you promote a library in three minutes?  Karen was up for the challenge, today.  After the Freshers' Week round of library introductions telling students what the library has to offer, this week it was time to share what the library can offer to academic staff.

Here's her Elevator Pitch for The Whittaker Library, devised for a meeting of part-time teachers and lecturers.

Pecha Kucha? Gotcha!

A Pecha Kucha presentation sounds intriguing or intimidating, depending how tech-savvy you are.

There is nothing to it!  (The http://www.pechakucha.org/ website explains that it's just a way of presenting 20 slides for 20 seconds each.  It also tells you about scheduled pecha kucha events - but you can adopt the principle without signing up to the pecha kucha website.)

My first timed pecha kucha

Obviously, what you want is a visible timer to keep you right, and automated slide advances.  (You also want to make sure your slides are simple, clear, and can be covered verbally in just under 20 seconds!)

So, here's how to get a visible timer into your presentation.  (I did mine the easy way, but I've since played around with templates and worked out the proper way to do it!)


EASY.  If you're not comfortable with templates, you can do it this way:-

1.  Make your presentation
2. Here's a link for a countdown timer gif -open the link then select and copy the red timer
3. Insert a countdown gif on each slide (use Control + v) - make sure it's the same position every time, so it doesn't "jump" visually when you advance slides in your presentation.

PROPER WAY.  Create a template with your timer on it.

1. Here's a link for a countdown timer gif -open the link then select and copy the red timer
2. In PowerPoint, click New.
3. Click on View
4. Click on Master layout
5. Add your timer to top or bottom right hand corner (Control + V)
6. Save as Powerpoint template, with a recogniseable name
7. Use this template whenever you need to use a timer - it should appear on every slide, if you've saved the master.

Whichever way you chose, you now want to get your presentation advancing automatically:-

1. Go to Transitions
2. Look at the Advance Slide tab
3. Adjust to the number of seconds you want.  (To fit in with the 20-second timer, clearly you need a 20 second advance!) 

Save the presentation!  Take care - if you've made a template, you now want to save the finished presentation as a PowerPoint, but not as a template, ie pptx not potx format.

I've uploaded my presentation on http://salctg.blogspot.com - but I'm sharing a version without the whizzy timed presentation, in case the embedded version couldn't handle it.

The leading researcher

Vitae publishes a series of booklets for researchers starting out on their research career. 

Now, a new booklet: The Leading Researcher - click here for the pdf.

Alternatively, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland researchers can wait for a print copy.  Karen has just requested some.

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Anyone needing to give a public presentation may be interested in a blogpost by Patter (Pat Thomson), a Nottingham professor in Education: it's called 'Killing me softly, slide by (PowerPoint) slide'.  Recommended.  Read it here.