INSYS 400 - Class #9 Resources

1. View our class grades which is a link from our home page. This is a pdf file. You must have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in installed on your computer in order to view pdf files in your Web browser.
   
   
2. Discuss the revision of some of the remaining assignments:
   
   
• Web site does not have to be uploaded to GeoCities. It must be printed out and submitted to the instructor on a floppy disk.
• Only 2 lesson plans are necessary instead of 3 since you do not have to use both your PowerPoint presentation and your Web site in your Unit.
• You may use technologies in your Unit such as Internet search engines and other Web sites
• See the new online Teacher's Guide to Writing Web Pages - pdf version
  
  
3. Demonstration - Creating a multimedia presentation with PowerPoint
   

• The Multimedia Presentation assignment
  
  
• Use my Teacher's Guide to PowerPoint - pdf version
  
  

• You should develop your presentation by storyboarding the slides first and then use PowerPoint to create them. This will lead to a more consistent presentation and it will make your more efficient.
  
  

• You may use the available templates in PowerPoint to easily create a PowerPoint presentation.
  
  

• You should focus on several aspects while creating a multimedia presentation:
  
  

  • functionality - Above all your students must be able to use the presentation. Be sure to critique your presentation from a student's perspective before you use it.
  • organization - There are a number of arrangements that could be used in your presentation. Typically a PowerPoint presentation is linear in that each slide leads to exactly one other slide. This provides for a very structured lesson. However, you may wish to give the student choices and require higher-level thinking by giving him/her several choices from a number of slides.
  • documentation - Does the presentation contain the instructions necessary for a student to successfully complete the lesson? Do you have handwritten notes that remind you (the instructor) how to use the presentation. If you do not use PowerPoint that often during the school year, you may need to write out special instructions as a personal reminder.
  • user interface - Can ALL of your students use the presentation without help from others? Each slide should be understandable with adequate directions. Even if adequate directions are given, is the presentation consistent? The student should have a pleasant experience with the lesson.Use meaningful icons, analogies, and metaphors so that a non-technology expert can follow the lesson.
  • creativity - Nothing is less effective than a boring multimedia presentation. If you do not take advantage of the essence of PowerPoint, you may as well have used a boring worksheet. Be sure not to go overboard though and violate other principles listed here. Use a variety of multimedia elements such as text, sound, images, graphics, color, audio, and video. Animation can also effectively be used.
  • hyperlinks - While most people think of the World Wide Web along with hyperlinks, a standalone (offline) multimedia presentation actually should contain links between its slides. Constructivist learning can be encouraged with an intentional, well-executed presentation. An expert in a subject area (such as a teacher) can model a presentation to reflect his/her own mental understanding and lead the student to adopt that framework of understanding. Better yet, he/she can arrange the information (via hyperlinks as well as spatially & sequentially) so that the material could be understood (semantically constructed) in various ways. By the way, it is possible to create a hyperlink on a PowerPoint slide that connects a student to a Web page in Netscape!
  • space, arrangement, and physical layout - The student must be able to see important elements on each slide. The student must also be able to move the mouse effectively and "find" hyperlinks. Sometimes "less is more" and an uncluttered arrangement leads to maximal understanding and navigability.
    

Homework Assignment

• Online participation - This is your last chance to participate online!
• Finish your online course and submit the typed description of your experience.
• Finish your Web site, print out the Web pages, & bring your web site folder on a floppy disk to give to the instructor. If you can, upload your Web pages to your GeoCities Web server.
• Finish your Multimedia Presentation, print out the slides, and bring the PowerPoint file on a floppy disk.
• Finish your Instructional Unit including the two - three required lesson plans. Bring the printed lesson plans and handout.
• Send your INSYS 400 Self-evaluation via email to mrminich@minich.com