Create a Dynamic Presentation

colored pencils

In the previous section, you chose an application for your presentation that you are working on for your assignment. 

No matter which application you have chosen, the design principles are always going to be similar. Below you are going to learn about design that includes graphics and layout. You will also learn about planning the final stages of creating your presentation as well as tips for presenting effectively. 

Don't miss the additional resources on the right-side menu.

Steps:

1. You are ready to create your presentation. You should have your message, an outline created, and an application chosen for the creation. 

2. Depending on the application you have chosen there may be different themes available. Choose a design that is effective for your message and audience. You will want to choose font style and size that is easy to read especially when it is presented to your audience. 

3. The layout is very important. Your text and images should be balanced on the page. Size, shape and colors are very important. In terms of aesthetics you will want to use contrasting colors, etc. Create a sample slide and project it in the room you will be presenting in. Is the text legible in every spot in the room? (Arial and Helvetica are good choices)

REMEMBER: Less text is better! Bullet your main points. Use visuals instead of text as they can convey messages too. 
 
 Tips:

  •  Do not put text on your slides for your audience to read AND read it to them. They can’t process the auditory and visual cues at the same time.

  • If you put a quotation or any sentence text up for your audience to read, tell them to read it, but do not read it to them. One quote/big idea per slide, no paragraphs.

  •  If the application has slide notes, type what you are going to say there. Your audience does not have to see all the text that you are going to say. 

  • Watch the transitions. It is fine to experiment with transitions and flying bullets, but they should not be a distraction.   

  • Read this article on How to Write Powerful Bullet Points.  

4. Visuals are essential for presentations. You can choose images and/or videos to convey your message. 

  • Images should either be ones that you created/took yourself, are in the Public Domain, or listed as copyright free to use and/or modify so that you don't run into issues with copyright.

  • Videos: You may want to embed or link to videos from popular sources like:

5. You want to connect with your audience and one way might be a poll to assess pre or post knowledge of the topic. You may want to create polls ahead of time or do them on the fly. The polls will create conversation during your presentation so that you are not the only one speaking. 

 

6.  Other resources to use are audio files and music clips. You do need to make sure that these are also in the Public Domain as using other's music without permission is not acceptable. 

 

7. When you have completed your presentation you should always run it in by a peer or colleague for feedback. Many of the applications have a sharing feature so you can share it with them electronically. Some applications even have a comment feature where the person editing can share feedback that you can delete after you have made changes.

8. Read aloud and practice your slides ahead of time. You may even want to record yourself on a couple of them and listen to yourself. Listen to your inflection and practice pauses. 

9. When you are ready to present, you want to have an effective and engaging presentation that addresses your topic clearly. There are several important things to remember as you are presenting.

Important things to remember

  • Be present in the moment
  • Be relaxed and make sure to hook your audience from the start
  • Leave your audience with a task
  • Thank them for listening

Move on to the Recording your Presentation to Video

Addressing the ISTE Standards For Educators


Learner
1a. Set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness.
1c. Stay current with research that supports improved student learning outcomes, including findings from the learning sciences.

Leader
2b. Advocate for equitable access to educational technology, digital content and learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students.
2c. Model for colleagues the identification, exploration, 
evaluation, curation and adoption of 
new digital resources and tools for learning.

Collaborator
4b. Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources anddiagnose and troubleshoot technology issues.
4c. Use collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally.

Designer
5a. Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
5b. Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
5c. Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.

Analyst
7a. Provide alternative ways for students to demonstrate competency and reflect on their learning using technology.

Four Ways to Embed a video on a Google Slide. Includes how to control the portion to play, play options, size and position.

How to embed a video on PowerPoint 365

You can create a cartoon-like character of yourself using bitmoji.com. You have to download the app to your smartphone and create an account first, then create your own cartoon-like character, then you can add the bitmoji exrension to a chrome browser to generate different poses and actions. All still images.

Free Cartoon-type images for classroom use:

 http://clipart-library.com/school-cartoon-images.html.

There are animated images at https://www.animatedimages.org/cat-school-276.htm.

There are colored education images at https://pixabay.com/vectors/search/classroom/?cat=education.