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Technical Skill Module 1 -- PowerPoint

Skill Module Objectives
  • Be able to create a PowerPoint presentation

Completion date:

Introduction

As you will notice as you go through the course, at some level it is always concerned with storing, using and sharing "information".

In this Technical Skills Module you'll be learning how to organize and present information using PowerPoint software.

Microsoft's PowerPoint is a powerful tool for communicating ideas and information. It is used in classrooms, training sessions, and any situation in which information is presented to groups of people. Using PowerPoint lets you place your content into a presentation consisting of a series of computer generated "slides" which can then be projected for an audience, printed and distributed as handouts, published on the Internet or used in numerous other ways.

One of the strengths of PowerPoint is that it’s a multimedia application, meaning that you can add text, various types of images, sound and even video clips to your presentation to help engage your audience

Resources Required

For this Technical Skills Module you may use one or more of the online PowerPoint tutorials linked below. You are responsible for knowing how to do skills listed below. Your mastery of these techniques will be demonstrated in Assignment #1.

The basics of PowerPoint 2007 will be covered in class. Handouts will be distributed during the labs. If you miss a class, you may obtain copies of the handouts from your course website.

Required Skills

  • Use of different slide layouts
  • Use of design templates
  • Creation of colour scheme elements [fonts, background, etc.]
  • Use of the transition effects that come with PowerPoint
  • Use of timing/transition function to control how long slides remain on the screen
  • Setting up presentation to run automatically
  • Use of different fonts during presentation
  • Use of bullets, including use at different levels of indentation
  • Use of clipart
  • Use of embedded PowerPoint animation effects
Optional Skills (bonus marks)
  • Use of sound effects
  • Use of video/movies
  • Use of Word Art and Auto Shapes
  • Use of "Action Settings" to create links to WWW sites or to Word/PDF documents
  • Use of drawn shapes with coloured or textured fill
  • Use scanned personal photos


General Articles and Web Sites

 

The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation
http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/

Comments on "PowerPoint Makes You Dumb" [see "PowerPoint is Evil" below] http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1040423/posts#comment
http://tinyurl.com/z7jv [from SlashDot]

In Defense of PowerPoint [essay from Donald Norman]
http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/in_defense_of_powerp.html

And the Research Says?  PowerPoint Meets Cognitive Science
http://www.presentersuniversity.com/visuals_cognitive.php

Dilbert & PowerPoint
http://www.idblog.org/archives/000277.html

Learning to Love PowerPoint
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt1.html

PowerPoint effect: Does it spark or numb creativity?, by Rachel Konrad
http://tinyurl.com/4ejuh

PowerPoint Is Evil - Power Corrupts, PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely, by Edward Tufte
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

The Seven Deadly Sins of Powerpoint Presentations
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/marketing/a/7sinsofppt.htm

Turning Heads With PowerPoint
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,61485,00.html%3Ftw=wn_tophead_3

Online PowerPoint 2007 Tutorials

Add Music or Sound to PowerPoint 2007 Presentations
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2001/ss/07soundfromfile.htm

Add Movies to PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH101956311033.aspx

Add, Rearrange or Delete PowerPoint 2007 Slides
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/rearrange_delet.htm

Add Sound to PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH101956281033.aspx

Adding Animation
http://tinyurl.com/2d3zb7

Adding charts, diagrams, or tables in PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH100675761033.aspx

Adding Graphics
http://tinyurl.com/2xvboz

Adding New Slides
http://www.ppt07.com/adding-new-slides.htm

Adding pictures, shapes, WordArt, or clip art in PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH100675771033.aspx

Animating Text
http://www.ppt07.com/animating-text.htm

Animation effects in PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH100673441033.aspx

Applying Design Templates
http://tinyurl.com/2x5r7d

Background Colors and Graphics in PowerPoint 2007
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/07background.htm

Beginner's Guide to PowerPoint 2007
http://tinyurl.com/24dawp

Changing the Slide Layout
http://tinyurl.com/2ycv62

Changing the Slide Show Order
http://tinyurl.com/2xgpay

Creating A Presentation Based On A Template
http://www.ppt07.com/presentation-based-on-template.htm

Creating a presentation in PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH100668191033.aspx

Custom Animations in PowerPoint 2007
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/07custom_animat.htm

Design Themes in PowerPoint 2007
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/designthemes.htm

Different Ways to View PowerPoint 2007 Slides
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/07slideviews.htm

Embed True Type Fonts in Word and PowerPoint 2007 Documents
http://tinyurl.com/2ft562

Features that are lost when you open a presentation created in an earlier version of PowerPoint in PowerPoint 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2eqheq

Format slides or presentations in PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH100673421033.aspx

Formatting Text
http://www.ppt07.com/formatting-text.htm

How to create a widescreen slide show in PowerPoint 2007
http://tinyurl.com/23edrr

How to Draw Evenly-Spaced Shapes in PowerPoint 2007
http://www.lifespy.com/2007/office-tip-how-to-draw-evenly-spaced-shapes-in-powerpoint-2007/

How to Extract Images and Sounds from PowerPoint
http://www.lifespy.com/2007/windows-tip-how-to-extract-images-and-sounds-from-powerpoint/

How to insert Flash into PowerPoint 2007
http://www.dmxzone.com/ShowDetail.asp?NewsId=13958

Import content from other PowerPoint versions
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH100673491033.aspx

Interactive: PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 command reference guide
http://tinyurl.com/2b6woo

Locations of PowerPoint 2003 commands in PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/CD102151041033.aspx

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 In Pictures
http://inpics.net/powerpoint.html
http://inpics.net/tutorials/powerpoint2007/list.html

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Tutorials
http://www.uwec.edu/help/ppoint07.htm

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Tutorials - free video tutorials
http://www.softwaretrainingtutorials.com/powerpoint-2007.php

Modifying Slide Layouts in PowerPoint 2007
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/07modifyslides.htm

New Stuff in PowerPoint 2007
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm

Open a PowerPoint 2007 presentation in an earlier version of PowerPoint
http://tinyurl.com/2avpvx

Play a CD Track in a PowerPoint 2007 Presentation
http://tinyurl.com/5rq7jd

Powerpoint Backgrounds
http://www.ppt07.com/powerpoint-backgrounds.htm

PowerPoint Fonts - How to Font-Proof Your Next Presentation
http://publicspeakinghacks.com/powerpoint-fonts-how-to-avoid-on-screen-disaster/

PowerPoint ribbon mapping workbook
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128641033.aspx

PowerPoint 2007 Guide: PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 interactive command reference guide
http://tinyurl.com/2vkrax

PowerPoint 2007 Courses [from Microsoft]
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/CR100654571033.aspx

PowerPoint 2007 Features: Gradients
http://www.echosvoice.com/gradients.htm

PowerPoint 2007: Keyboard Shortcuts
http://tinyurl.com/6clnjd

PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 command reference guide [from Microsoft]
http://tinyurl.com/ysh8l9

PowerPoint 2007 Help and How-to [from Microsoft]
http://tinyurl.com/yxd2ox

PowerPoint 2007 Sound and Music Problems
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/ppt2007soundmusic/f/07sound_probs.htm

PowerPoint 2007 Tutorial - covers lots of topics [from Florida Gulf Coast Univesity]
http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2007/ppt/index.asp

PowerPoint 2007 Tutorials
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007_tutorials.htm

PowerPoint 2007: WordArt & Shapes - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0OmNZgdbSY

Powerpoint Views
http://www.ppt07.com/powerpoint-views.htm

Record Sounds or Narration in PowerPoint 2007
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/07recordsound.htm

Save a PowerPoint 2007 Document in PowerPoint 2003 Format
http://tinyurl.com/258jpr

Saving a PowerPoint 2007 presentation
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH101956351033.aspx

Slide Layouts and Slide Types in PowerPoint 2007
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/2007slidelayout.htm

Starting Your Presentation From Scratch
http://www.ppt07.com/creating-a-blank-presentation.htm

The 10 Most Common PowerPoint 2007 Terms - PowerPoint 2007 Quick List of Common Terms and Definitions
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/a/ppt2007terms.htm

Use the PowerPoint 2007 Sound Clip Organizer
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/07soundclip_6.htm

Use Slide Transitions for Movement on PowerPoint 2007 Slides
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/07transitions.htm

Using templates and masters in PowerPoint 2007
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH100668201033.aspx

Why Doesn't the Music Play in My PowerPoint 2007 Presentation?
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/ppt2007soundmusic/f/07sound_probs.htm

Graphics Resources -- Clipart & Backgrounds

AAA Backgrounds
http://www.aaa-backgrounds.com/html/mainback.shtml

About.Com Clipart
http://webclipart.about.com/

Absolute Background Textures Archives
[entire collection can be downloaded in one step]
http://www.grsites.com/textures/

Absolute Web Graphics Archives [entire collection can be downloaded in one step]
http://www.grsites.com/webgraphics/

Backgrounds [from About.com]
http://webclipart.about.com/msubmenu19.htm?once=true&

ByDezign [clipart, backgrounds, interfaces]
http://www.graphicsbydezign.com/

Canadian Flag Clipart Gallery
http://canflag.ptbcanadian.com/

Clip Art Warehouse
http://www.clipart.co.uk/index.shtml

Clipart.TheLinks.com
http://www.clipart.thelinks.com/

Cool Archive
http://www.coolarchive.com/

Eos Development - great backgrounds, textures. buttons, bullets, and navigation symbols
http://www.eosdev.com/ForYouFromEos.htm

Library Clipart, Symbols & Such
http://www.ssdesign.com/librarypr/toolbox.html

Microsoft Office Clipart
http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/

Multimedia Place [animations, including Canadian flags]
http://www.multimediapalace.com/

Screen Beans [from A Bit Better Corp.]
http://www.bitbetter.com/freebie.htm

Photos [Be sure to check on copyright status of any photos you wish to use]

AltaVista Photo and Media Finder
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/simage

Creative Commons Search [lets you limit your search to sources with Creative Commons licenses]
http://search.creativecommons.org/

Fast Image Search
http://multimedia.alltheweb.com/?cat=img&cs=utf8&q=&rys=0&_sb_lang=pref

Find free images online! [HeyJude]
http://heyjude.wordpress.com/find-free-images-online/

Google Image Search
http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en

Lycos Pictures and Sounds
http://multimedia.lycos.com/

PicSearch
http://www.picsearch.com/

Smithsonian Institution's photostream
http://flickr.com/photos/smithsonian

25 Free Stock Photo Sites [digital image magazine]
http://tinyurl.com/6z6g22

Microsoft Photo Editor Tutorials

Microsoft Photo Editor Tutorial
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6470/photoed.htm

Using Microsoft Photo Editor
http://k-12.pisd.edu/techs/dhitt/edit.pdf

Sources for Sounds on the WWW

Fonts & Web Design

BIG BAER Explains CSS Font-Size
http://www.bigbaer.com/css_tutorials/css_font_size.htm

Common fonts to all versions of Windows & Mac equivalents
http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html

Creative Connectivity
http://www.crecon.com/newbanners.html

FlamingText.com
http://www.flamingtext.com/start.htm

lFonts
http://coolpagehelp.com/index.html?row2col2=fonts.html

MediaBuilder 3D TextMaker
http://www.3dtextmaker.com/cgi-bin/3dtext.pl

Web Safe Fonts
http://www.vortex.co.uk/content/editorials/typography/typeboxes/webfontbox.html

Web-Safe Fonts for Your Site
http://designgraphics.org/article20.html

Web Safe Fonts Preview - Font Tester
http://www.fonttester.com/web_safe_fonts.html

Web Type 101, a Primer, by Daniel Will-Harris
http://www.efuse.com/Design/web_fonts_basics.html

Web Typography Tutorial Overview [from WebMonkey]
http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/design/fonts/tutorials/tutorial3.html

 

 

 



The World of Fonts
http://webreference.com/dlab/9802/

Guides to Creating High-Quality Presentations

Dealing With Presentation Disasters
http://www.strategiccomm.com/disasters.html

The Key Steps to An Effective Presentation, by T. S. Eggleston
http://www.the-eggman.com/writings/keystep1.html

Preparing Effective Oral Presentations, by Jeff Radel from The University of Kansas Medical Center
http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Preparing_talks/TalkStrt.html

 

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