Oct 302015
Sep 042013
Quite often, questions that teachers ask me turn into great ideas for a new blog post. Today, I was asked how to embed an existing PowerPoint presentation into a Google Site. Excellent question!
The screencast below will show you the steps to do this. The bullet points are:
- Upload your existing PowerPoint presentation file to Google Drive, converting it to the Presentation Drive file type
- In your site, create a new ‘Web Page’ type page, or edit an existing page of the same type.
- Under the ‘Insert’ menu, select Drive –> Presentation and choose the newly uploaded and converted presentation.
- Edit the settings/properties to your liking, Save the insert, then save the page.
Mar 092012
via prezi.com
This makes me very happy! It’s still a beta feature, but it’s a good sign of progress.
More and more I find less and less need to use Office. Is it only me?
Apr 062011
Today we'll spend some time getting reacquainted with your SMARTBoard or Interactive White Board (IWB). The goal of today is to make this as much of a hands-on experience as it can be for you all. PLEASE don't hesitate to ask any questions you have or that pop up during the training.
See the attached SMART Demo Notebook File, along with a PDF version of the same document.
We'll??also take a little time to introduce you to your new computers – you have both a new operating system AND a brand new version of Microsoft Office that you may have never seen before. I don't have a lot of experience with either Windows 7 or with Office 2010, but thankfully I know where to find EXCELLENT quick-guides for these new tools.
I can't re-post them here, but all of the quick guides that I'll share with you today came from Custom Guides Quick References. You can follow that link and after a quick registration gain access to the following guides, along with almost any other software or operating quick guides you can think of – both on the Mac and PC:
- Windows 7
- Office 2010 Overview
- Microsoft Word 2010
- Microsoft Excel 2010
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
Nov 032010
via prezi.com
More on Prezi Meeting. They have kept it very simple and straight forward. When in Prezi editing mode, just click Meeting –> Invite, and you are presented with a link that you can share with your collaborators.
You can also create a shared Presentation link that you can send out to view a Prezi on separate machines anywhere in the world together. The only thing about this that I don’t really like is that the Presentation link expires after only 10 minutes… I guess this is for security, or that they don’t want people randomly joining in a Prezi a year after the fact, but it would be nice to have a permanent presentation link to post to a web site for training purposes.
Great stuff from Prezi.
Nov 032010
via prezi.com
I liked Prezi before, but this is fantastic. I love showing teachers and students the collaborative power of using Google Presentations. This takes that collaboration to another level.
As the video says… Thanks Prezi!
Sign up for an Edu account now: http://prezi.com/profile/signup/edu/
Oct 272010
Here’s the files, images, and information that we’ll use today to learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation about how YOU celebrate Halloween. We’ll start off with an empty template file, and work our way up to the completed project, found here:
Jump to the next page for all of the images and information you will need!
Jul 142010
View the presentation from the session here:
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Avoid:
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Seven Deadly Sins of PowerPoint, and How To Avoid Them:
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Avoid PowerPointLessNess in your Classroom:
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Do:
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Tips for Effective Presentations:
- Stay Consistent:
- Each slide has the same look and feel
- If transitions are used, use the same throughout
- Only deviate to make a point of emphasis
- Keep it Simple:
- Use a single, easy to read font.
- Never let the font size auto adjust to a smaller size
- Use dark backgrounds with bright text
- Follow the 6×6 Rule:
- Only 6 bullets per page
- Only 6 words per line
- Never more than 6 images/slide
- Space and the number of slides are unlimited, so don’t crowd the slides!
- DON’T CLUTTER THE MESSAGE!
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Alternatives:
Animoto:??
I’ve written about Animoto before, but let’s take a closer look…
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Animoto videos/presentations are created in 3 easy steps:
- Upload pictures, add text, and arrange them in the order you want.
- Pick your music – upload your own or choose from their many options.
- Select your animation theme, and let the site do the rest.
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All of the hard part – putting in the motion, transitions, music and effects, are done automagically by the site. Don’t like the results? You can remix it as many times as needed. You can also go back and edit the project to add to it or correct mistakes once it’s produced.
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Here’s an example that I created in about 10 minutes – National and State Parks in Maui
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- Animoto for Education:??Features
- Examples from??Educational Case Studies
- Free Pro account??“for a cause”??if you apply on their site??- Education counts!
- You can even??create and view Animoto slideshows from your iPod Touch or iPhone!
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- Prezi is a whole new approach to presentations
- Size and scale are used to show??heircachy, not slides and bullets
- You work in a presentation ‘space’??and create the flow of the presentation with simple and intuitive tools.
- The trick is to??start to think??in multiple??dimensions!
- Great Prezi example -??Mixing Mind and Metaphor
- Make sure you??sign up for the “Edu Enjoy” account, which is the $59/year account that is free for educators (Thanks, Prezi!)??
- Prezi is a little different than any other presentation method you may have seen before. Take the time to??learn how to use it to it’s full potential.
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Google Presentations:
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Google Docs in Plain English:
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- The only thing that is Light Years ahead of anyone else here is the Collaboration.
- 10 people can edit a presentation at the same time. However, you can share a presentation with up to 200 people!
- The Good News???You probably already have it!
- Teachers in the SEDC region??have Gmail-based Email, and??have email along with:
- Presentations with Docs, Spreadsheets, and Forms
- Calendars
- Sites
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In the classroom….
- Teachers can set up presentation ‘templates’ where each student (or small group) is in charge of one or many slides.
- Students become the CONTENT EXPERTS for that topic during slide(s) creation
- The process takes what would have been multiple files on multiple topics, and transforms it to ONE DOCUMENT.
- Student Content Experts then teach their concept to the rest of the class
- We have done collaborative projects with:
- Rock Identification
- Math Story Problems
- Writing Across The Curriculum
- View examples on the SEDC Site