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CIT
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Using PowerPoint in Online Courses
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PowerPoint and WebCT
PowerPoint and WebCT
This tutorial details and demonstrates the steps necessary to add PowerPoint slide shows to WebCT. The process involves five steps.
General Rules of Thumb:
• No illegal characters in file names (e.g., punctuation).
• Keep file names simple. It is best to keep file names short with no spaces.
• Use titles in your PowerPoint slides since they will be used as the titles for the Web-friendly version.
I. Converting PowerPoint slides to HTML
Since PowerPoint presentations are not saved as a web-friendly format with its default .ppt extension, you will need to export your PowerPoint presentations to HTML if you wish to place them in WebCT and enable them to be viewed with a web browser.
Fortunately, PowerPoint does have an option of saving the presentation as a web page with its associated GIF and JPEG images.
Although transitions will be lost during the conversion, the universality of HTML and GIF/JPEG image formats allows the presentation to be viewed using any standard web browser.
Follow these steps to save your PowerPoint presentation as a collection of web-friendly pages which you can upload to your WebCT course...
Note: These instructions are relevant to PowerPoint 2000 on Windows.
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Figure 1a: Saving your presentation as a Web page
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- In Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, select File from the menu bar and choose Save As Web Page...
The dialog box in Figure 1a should display.
- Click the Publish... button displayed in Figure 1a.
The dialog box in Figure 1b should display.
- The Publish as Web Page options window should appear as in Figure 1b.
If you need your speaker notes to display on the web version of the presentation, be sure to check the box next to Display speaker notes.
If you prefer to keep your speaker notes private, be sure to uncheck the box since they are enabled by default.
Click to view an example of a presentation with and without speaker notes.
Select Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later option under browser support.
You can change the title of the presentation by clicking the Change... button to the right of Page title:.
To preview the published web page output, check the box next to Open published Web page in browser.
Advanced output options are availabe by clicking the Web Options... button, but the default settings for the advanced options should be optimal in almost all cases.
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Figure 1b: Publishing your presentation to the Web
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- Once you are ready to publish, enter the File name and click the Publish button.
Please note that all files that are to be placed on the Web --including those destined for WebCT-- should not contain any illegal characters such as colons or slashes in the file name.
Any illegal characters in your file names will prevent the transfer of the converted PowerPoint presentation into WebCT.
In previous versions of WebCT spaces were considered illegal characters, and older computers or web browsers may not properly handle spaces in file names, so the use of spaces in filenames is also discouraged.
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Figure 1c
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- The publishing process will have created a file with the same name as your PowerPoint file, replacing .ppt with .htm as the file extension, and will have created a folder that holds the images and metadata of the presentation as shown in Figure 1c.
For example, if your PowerPoint presentation is called MyPresentation.ppt, the web page will be called MyPresentation.htm and the image and metadata files will be placed in a folder named MyPresentation_files.
If you have set up Drag and Drop access to WebCT, then you can drag and drop both the .htm file and the _files folder to your WebCT folder.
This also allows you to skip steps II, III, and IV and proceed directly to Step V.
If you haven't set up WebDAV Access to WebCT, then you must zip the .htm file as well as the folder that contains the images and metadata in order to properly place the presentation in your WebCT course.
Instructions on how to zip these files are locate in Step II.
II. Creating a Zip file using WinZip
In Step I you learned how to convert a PowerPoint presentation into a web-friendly collection of HTML pages and GIF/JPEG images that you can place in your WebCT course.
Since WebCT allows you to upload only one file at a time, uploading the entire collection of HTML files and GIF/JPEG images created in Step I would be incredibly tedious and take a significant amount of time.
You can spare yourself from this process by creating a zip archive of the files created in Step I.
This step will detail the process of creating a zip archive, a single file which you can upload into WebCT (covered in Step III) and unzip using WebCT's built-in unzip tool (covered in Step IV).
Follow these steps to create a Zip archive of your PowerPoint web files to upload into your WebCT course...
Note: These instructions are relevant to users of WinZip on Windows.
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Figure 2a: Naming the Zip archive file
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- Double-click the My Computer icon on your Windows desktop and navigate to the location of the web files that were created during the conversion in Step I.
- Click once on the .htm file that was created during the conversion in Step I.
While holding the Ctrl key, click once on the folder of image files (,which ends in _files,) that was created during the conversion in Step I.
For example, if your PowerPoint presentation is called MyPresentation.ppt, click once on MyPresentation.htm and hold the Ctrl key while clicking on the MyPresentation_files folder.
- Next, right-click on either the MyPresentation.htm file or the MyPresentation_files folder and select Add to Zip.
It is important that both the MyPresentation.htm file and the MyPresentation_files folder be selected during this operation.
- WinZip should launch, with the Add window displayed and waiting for your input as shown in Figure 2a.
Enter a file name for the .zip archive in the input field under Add to archive:.
The three-letter .zip extension will be automatically added if the file name you enter does not end in the extension .zip.
Once the file name has been entered, click the Add button.
- WinZip will display the list of files that are contained within the .zip archive you just created.
The collection should include some .htm files, .gif and .jpg images, and one or two .xml metadata files.
You are now ready to proceed to Step III, where you will learn how to upload the .zip file from your computer into WebCT.
III. Uploading a Zip file into WebCT
In Step II we covered how to create a single Zip file from a collection of web pages and images that were created when one exports a PowerPoint presentation as a web-friendly collection of files and images.
This step will cover the process of uploading a Zip archive into WebCT, and the next step will cover the process of unzipping that archive using WebCT's built-in unzip tool.
Follow these steps to upload a Zip archive into WebCT...
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Figure 3a: Uploading the Zip file
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- Log into WebCT and click on your course at the myWebCT page.
- Click the Control Panel button and then the Manage Files link.
- Under Actions, click on the Upload button. You should now see what is displayed in Figure 3a.
- Click the Browse... button and select your Zip archive either by double-clicking the zip file or by clicking once on the file and clicking the Open button.
- The file path of your Zip file should now appear in the Filename input field. Select the Destination folder, and click the Upload button.
IV. Unzipping a Zip file in WebCT
In Step III we covered how to upload a single Zip file into WebCT.
This step will cover the process of unzipping a Zip archive in WebCT.
Follow these steps to unzip a Zip archive in WebCT...
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Figure 4a: Unzipping a file in WebCT
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- Click the Manage Files link in the Control Panel. As you perform the following actions, use Figure 4a as a guide.
- Navigate to the Zip file you uploaded in Step III. You may need to click on each folder to view the files contained in each folder. For example, if you uploaded the MyPresentation.zip file into the My-Files folder, you may need to click on the My-Files folder to view the MyPresentation.zip file uploaded in Step III.
- Click on the check box next to your Zip archive to select the zip file. The box next to the Zip archive should now be checked.
- From the list of Actions at the right (under Options: Files) click on Unzip.
- Select where you would like to place the files after they are unzipped and click the Unzip button.
V. Adding a Link to the Presentation Using WebCT's Single Page Tool
In Step IV we covered how to unzip a file using WebCT's Unzip tool.
The final step involves the process of making your presentation available in WebCT using the Single Page Tool.
Follow these steps to reveal your presentation in WebCT...
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Figure 5a: Enter the title and open in a new window
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- Click the Add Page or Tool link from the Control Panel.
- In the Pages column, click on Single Page.
You should now see a page that has the options displayed in Figure 5a.
- Type a name for the presentation next to Enter a title for this item.
- Click the Browse... button. You should now see what is displayed in Figure 5b. Select your presentation .htm file. For example, if your PowerPoint presentation is named MyPresentation.ppt and you exported the file as a web page named MyPresentation.htm, select the radio button next to the MyPresentation.htm file and click the Add selected button. Be sure to select the .htm file rather than the .zip file.
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Figure 5b: Pick the .htm file
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- Select where you would like to place the link to the presentation.
To place it in the left navigation bar, check the box next to On the Course Menu,... To place the link to the presentation on a particular page, check the box next to On an Organizer Page and select the page from the drop-down menu.
Tip: To place all of your PowerPoint presentations on a single page, first create an organizer page (--named "Lecture Slides", for example--) and add a link to each presentation on that organizer page following the instructions in this step.
- Click the Add button. A link to the presentation should now appear where you selected it to appear in V.5. Unless any problems have occurred, you have successfully added a PowerPoint presentation to your WebCT course.
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PowerPoint web example with speaker notes