Using PowerPoint in Online Courses

CIT :: Using PowerPoint in Online Courses

Using PowerPoint in Online Courses

This page presents an overview of using PowerPoint in online courses.

Introduction

Native PowerPoint (.ppt files)

Web Pages (HTML)

PDF (slides and handouts)

Narrated Presentations

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I. Introduction

Every year, more and more course instructors are using PowerPoint presentations in their lectures. For many instructors, slide carousels are becoming a thing of the past as laptops running PowerPoint presentations are being used in ever-increasing numbers. In the normal classroom or lecture environment, the instructor using PowerPoint is in control of the presentation. The instructor might use the PowerPoint presentation to help provide structure to the lecture. More importantly, the instructor is actually in the room, giving the lecture in-person. He or she can highlight certain points, move quickly past others, and answer questions from the students as they arise.

PowerPoint presentations are vital educational assets. Quality PowerPoint presentations take time to develop; many include important graphs, photos, radiographs, and other multimedia. It makes sense that instructors will want to make use of them in the online courses they develop. For instructors taking their first steps into the world of online instruction, placing existing PowerPoint presentations into their WebCT online courses is a great way to get started.

This section provides information on the various methods that course designers can add PowerPoint presentations to their WebCT online course. It is important to keep in mind, however, that a PowerPoint presentation used in an online course is not the same as one given by an instructor in a real classroom setting. Here are some useful rules-of-thumb to keep in mind when adding PowerPoint presentations to online courses:

Instructors may want to create an online version of their PowerPoint presentations. In the online versions, there might be more text to explain certain points. For example, instructors may want to include speakers notes that actually provide a narrative that students can read in the online version;

Remember that the online versions will be sent across the Internet. Keep in mind that many students use slower dial-up connections. If your PowerPoint presentations include images, it is best to keep the file sizes of these images as small as possible. The overall size of the resulting PowerPoint presentation will be smaller, which means that the online version will also be smaller (and can therefore be downloaded faster). Many instructors probably don't consider image file size when creating PowerPoint presentations since they usually plan to deliver these in class. File size is an important issue in the online environment. Just about any graphics program (e.g., PhotoShop) will be able to optimize graphics for online delivery.

PowerPoint Hint:

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Note: Much of the information and many of the examples in this section applies to the Windows version of PowerPoint. In the future, the CIT plans to add Macintosh-specific instructions. In the meantime, UCSF WebCT course instructors who are designing courses on the Macintosh can contact CIT staff for assistance.