Spoiler Alert! The app I’m about to review is for MAC USERS ONLY (which might be apparent since it is an app and not an application)!
Hype is a relatively new tool available to Mac users for creating media rich HTML5 content. Don’t know what HTML5 is? Don’t worry; all you really need to know is that it is the new programing language that makes coding and creating content for the web much easier. Hype is a great tool for users that want to create great looking web content without having to understand coding.
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In a previous post, I talked about creating hyperlinks in PowerPoint. Today, I’m going to show you how to create hidden shapes in PowerPoint to then create hyperlinks. Hidden shapes are useful for creating hyperlinks in PowerPoint because you don’t want to make your actual images or text into a hyperlink. It’s too easy to forget your hyperlink is there if you need to change the text or image, and it makes it hard to quickly create hyperlinks by copying shapes over and over.
The attached video will show you how to create hidden shapes, how to use the Selection Pane in PowerPoint to keep track of your elements on your slides, and will review again how to create hyperlinks. I created this video using Articulate Storyline’s Screen Recorder. Storyline is a new product that I plan to talk more about in later posts.
Click here to see the demo and enjoy!
I’ve often said that PowerPoint doesn’t bore people; people bore people. Most folks who use PowerPoint, frankly, use it poorly and nowhere near to its potential. That’s not really their fault…PowerPoint makes it easy to use badly. But that’s a post for another day. Today, what I’d like to write about is one way you can make PowerPoint a lot more powerful as a teaching tool.
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So I’ve been dealing with a problem lately. The problem is with PowerPoint. Now I know that it is a good tool that has many possibilities but recently it has been giving me a headache. And the add ons I own such as Camtasia and Articulate? They’ve added to the mess. Let me explain.
On the surface, PowerPoint presents itself as a presentation program that can do everything and distribute your presentation anywhere* (I added the star since I know that this statement isn’t true). Many times, in order to get your presentation distributed to people on the web, you need a good add on program that enhances your distribution capabilities. Some of the major brands out there are Adobe Captivate, Camtasia, and Articulate. Well, I have all three of them on my machine. Through using these programs, I am able to take a PowerPoint presentation, distribute it for the web without having to do any heavy coding work. For many straightforward presentations, these solutions work great. But not always.
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A friend of mine the other day clued me into a new free web based tool that I was so excited about, I just had to share. It’s called Screenleap. What it does is allow anyone to share her screen using only a web browser and Java. Nothing else has to be installed on either machine. In less than a minute others can be seeing your screen from any device, including tablets. And the best part is that it’s free!
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Recently the PTSG was commissioned to create a series of training videos for UC’s Public Safety Department. These videos are to be used to help train faculty, staff, and students about what to do in case of emergencies on campus.
The discussion started when the Public Safety folks were looking for some way to enhance their normal Presenter-with-PowerPoint methodology of teaching safety. It became obvious that the key was to get the audience ‘in the moment’, and the best way to effectively do that was to tell them a story…
So now that you’ve heard about the Instructional Design and Content team, read about us, followed our blog, and maybe even had some ideas percolating in your minds about potential projects… You may be wondering, “How does a project work with these guys?” Well, we’ve got a firsthand example for you that’s currently in the works!
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One of the easiest ways to create online interaction for your students is through the use of the collaboration tools now found on Blackboard. Where once you were limited to only the Discussion Board and the cranky and dysfunctional Lecture Hall and Chat Room, now there are real Web 2.0 tools to use in your online and hybrid class to foster student to student, student to content, and student to instructor interaction.
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Image courtesy of arinas74
This quarter marks the one-year anniversary of the FTRC’s Equipment Lending Program (ELP). In that time, we’ve had 174 applicants and 39 participants. Now that we have decent population sizes, we’ve begun to notice some interesting trends.
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source tqn.com
So last week Apple made one of their big, press filled announcements last week in New York City. They launched iBook 2.0 and used the launch to show off their new interactive textbooks. They also showcased a new tool for making your own textbooks called iBook Author which allows users to create their own materials and then publish them on iTunes for use by students. It was all pretty amazing and could definitely move learning in a different direction.
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