So What Does this Section Give Me?
1. How to Design Engaging, Interactive Content.
2. Tools to Take your Content to the Next Level.
3. Examples of Lessons
2. Tools to Take your Content to the Next Level.
3. Examples of Lessons
The Design
The design is so important in getting the presentation of your content right. Bad design can make the presentation boring, and it can be distracting. It may even lead to confusion amongst your students. This section focuses on some general design principals to make that content really pop!
Design Principals
1. Make it Interactive
- The worst kinds of presentations to students put them in a position of passive note-takers. That used to be the only way, and it meant engagement hinged on the charisma of the presenter. Today's world is different. There are so many ways and tools to add interactivity to a presentation that there is really no excuse not to have it. It adds engagement.
- Unless you have amazing oratory skills and charisma (there are folks who do) , your presentations whether direct or indirect should be limited to 20 minutes. This can be incredibly hard as there is so much content at the high school level. Sometimes you are going to go over, and that's ok. You could also have students continue the presentation on their own at home as a way to supplement time.
- You have a conundrum with this one. If you don't have enough text your presentation loses some of the messages and becomes less likely to be a home resource. If you have too much text it becomes overwhelming, and you lose engagement. The key is to have a few succinct bullet points as well as plenty of imagery
- Images can be powerful, but they can also look terrible. We won't get into the image copyright debate here, but there are some key ways to handle images you pull from the internet. Below you will find some image tips
- Find an image that fit: Look for the bigger size images because they can be scaled down without a real loss in quality. The smaller images usually lose quality when they are scaled up.
- Pull from the corners, not the middle to expand: When you pull from the middle, it can throw the aspect ratio of the image.
- Arrange in a pleasing way: Arrange your images in a pleasing way to add to the engagement. Don't have them all over the place. A good way is to have a large image, and then overlay a smaller image at the large images corners. You can even turn the smaller image 45 degrees to add effect
- Animations and Transitions are awesome when done right. They can be used as methods of questioning, ways to revel, and much more. They can also be incredibly distracting. When building your content, just be consistent. Use the same transitions and animations, but feel free to use one or to others if the way the content is presented calls for it.
- Please, embed your video in your presentation. There is nothing worse than having someone present content and having to wait for them to go somewhere else for a video. It's a giant time suck. There are so many ways to do this, and it really depends on your presentation maker. Also, be aware that some presentation makers will require the file to be with the presentation in order for it to work
- Don't be Lazy, your students learning is at stake! If things don't look pleasing to you or you think the content is boring, find a way to change that! There are so many ways you could adjust!
The Tools
The time of PowerPoint is over! There are so many better ways to put together presentations that really up both the engagement factor and the design. Many of these tools also allow you to use your old Power Points, so you don't necessarily have to start over.
As we look at tools, we are going to split them into two groups: Presentation Tools and Add Something Tools. Presentation Tools are tools that for the most part have everything you need to be built in to build engaging interactive presentations. Add Something Tools are tools that allow you to add things like questions to existing presentation and video formats.
As we look at tools, we are going to split them into two groups: Presentation Tools and Add Something Tools. Presentation Tools are tools that for the most part have everything you need to be built in to build engaging interactive presentations. Add Something Tools are tools that allow you to add things like questions to existing presentation and video formats.
Presentation Tools
Nearpod: nearpod.com
Nearpod is the true PowerPoint on steroids. It has three big differences from a traditional PowerPoint: 1) The presentation goes from the front of the room to a device in front of the student. 2) It has all kinds of interactive components you can add including a draw it function and virtual field trips. 3) You can choose to put them in a teacher directed mode or in a student directed mode. Best of all, it's easy to take your old power points and insert them.
It can be a powerful tool to personalize, and you can even flip your lessons using the self-directed homework mode. You can use HTML embed, and embed the Nearpod right on your website. Then students can access them from anywhere. |
|
Pear Deck: peardeck.com
|
Pear Deck is also another PowerPoint on steroids. Its major differences between PowerPoint are: you put the presentation on a device in front of the student, and it has great interactive components. It also has great ways to share out the data, and it easily integrates with Google Apps for Education.
|
Office Mix: mix.office.com
If you just can't get away from PowerPoint, don't worry Microsoft has got you covered. Microsoft now has an add-on that allows you to use PowerPoint to create videos, annotate, and assessments.
|
|
Touchcast: touchcast.com
|
Touchcast takes your videos up about three notches. It is a video app (only for Ipad! Sorry!) that gives you every kind of video tool you would ever want while also allowing you to put interactive content in your video!
Touchcast has a feature built into it called vapps (or video apps). This feature allows you to input a news style graphic into your video that with one touch users can interact with some sort of interactive web-based content. This means you could put all kinds of other interactive websites into the Touchcast, quizzes, google forms, and much, much more. It really opens your video to the web. The vapps make Touchcast worthwhile, but they go one step further. Touchcast has every kind of video tool you want to be built into the app, and it's all free! This includes things like titles, annotations, sound effects, a green screen, and even a teleprompter. |
Add Something Tools
Zaption: zaption.com
Zaption takes existing videos and it allows you to add all kinds of interactive content to it. You can add text, pictures, questions, and more. You can also trim the videos. You can use almost any existing video including Youtube and a host of others. Zaption also works incredibly well with Google products.
You can find a host of tutorials on Zaptions channel at this link. |
PlayPostIt: playposit.com
PlayPosIt is a tool that allows you to overlay questions in existing videos. It supports all kinds of pre-made videos like Youtube, Vimeo, TeacherTube, and More. You could also add question-based content to your own video creations.
PlayPosIt Also has a channel that is full of links which can be found here |
Ed Puzzle: edpuzzle.com
Ed Puzzle is an app that lets you crop, add voice overs, and add questions to existing videos. It supports things like Youtube, National Geographic, Khan Academy, Vimeo, and More. It also would allow you to add interactivity to a video you made on a platform that was not interactive.
Ed Puzzle has a channel that is full of tutorials. You can find that channel at this link. |
Example Lessons
All the tools to the right are great, but what does a lesson look like on their platform. What can it be? This section's intent is to give you some great examples of ways other teachers present content. When possible, we will try to include contact information in order for you to be able to ask questions of that content creator.
Nearpod: nearpod.com
*You can also join by going to Nearpod and using the pin WRGTY.
For more information, you can connect with Jodee Lund through Twitter @JodeeLund
Touchcast: touchcast.com
*Connect with Liz on Twitter @lizmeredithtech
Zaption: zaption.com