PowerPoint and videos: why the Media Development Team chose these

The technology options that are available to create educational media are numerous and growing. One of our main goals is to help instructors increase their abilities to create relevant instructional media; so to succeed with this we need to narrow down the options. We have chosen to use PowerPoint and video, but you may be wondering why. If so, read on.

First of all we need to look at why we need media at all. Traditional learning has revolved around face-to-face classes, text-dominant class textbooks, lectures and discussions with note-taking. This is a highly oral/audio- and text-based way of learning. The visual element has been limited or neglected altogether, although research has repeatedly found that visuals aid understanding and memory - hence, learning. Our aim is to get more visuals into educational materials - both still images and moving images - and to be able to share these materials with each other, learners, and other organizations. Below are the seven conditions we considered before choosing the media that will allow us to use visuals most effectively.

This article and more information are available on the Foundational Learning Curriculum Website with the Why PowerPoint and Video? link.

Accessibility

PowerPoint has become standard in all offices and office software packages, so not only is it accessible to instructors it is also accessible to learners. LIkewise for videos; they can be uploaded to online sharing sites, such as YouTube, which makes them easy to access in the classroom, at a learner’s home, or on a mobile phone.

User friendly

Anyone who has used any MS Office product will be familiar with the layout of PowerPoint which means it will be easier for beginners to navigate than other slideshow or presentation software options. As of 2009, YouTube became the second largest search engine, meaning that there are a lot of people already accessing the videos hosted there. As such, it has attracted many instructors who create and post free educational content that learners are actively looking for. Lastly, both PPT and YouTube have simplified media options; this means that no one has to be a technology expert to use them effectively.

Stability

Some tech comes and goes. Lots of interesting and innovative stuff is out there, but it doesn’t all have staying power. We don’t want to have everyone learn new skills and produce great learning materials that are not relevant or useable in two years. Both PowerPoint and YouTube have proven staying power which means it is worth investing our time to learn how to use them.

Sharing options

Sharing is a key component of the way we develop curriculum. If you can’t share it with others who need it, how valuable is what you created? PowerPoint presentations and videos can be shared through email, posted to websites and learning management systems (such as BlackBoard or Desire to Learn), and uploaded to the internet on sites such as YouTube. YouTube is also a great way of sharing media for those who watch it on mobile devices.

Integration

Rapid development is another focus of our curriculum process. We like all of our technologies to integrate with each other so that we can save time. We start by creating a PowerPoint presentation. To create a video, we take the PowerPoint and load it into Camtasia Studio (video creation software). Camtasia Studio is fully compatible with PowerPoint,so we can use the slides “as is” and add narration, motion, and annotation. Camtasia Studio then allows us to upload our completed video directly to YouTube. And YouTube videos can be easily embedded on most any website and work well with the mybvc portal. Additionally, PowerPoint presentations can easily be saved as PDF files for viewing on mobile devices or printing off for in-class use.

Support options

When selecting software we need to consider what support will be needed to use it and what is support is readily available. In terms of training, the Foundational Learning Media Development Team can offer workshops and one-on-one help with PowerPoint, Camtasia Studio, and YouTube; as well, the Teaching and Learning Enhancement (TLE) Team in the LRS are also skilled in these software options. Additionally, if technical problems occur, the BVC IT team is already set to help with MicroSoft products, including PowerPoint, and Google has accessible support for their products, including YouTube.

Forward Thinking

Even stable technology changes over time; it gets updates, enhancements, and new features. When selecting educational technology we need to consider which types of skills we will be able to transfer to future technologies. History has shown that when PowerPoint gets updates, the base technology skills are still relevant. The growth of the internet and of online education over the last decade has shown that the technology skills of searching and uploading digital content (such as with YouTube) are, and will continue to be, valuable. Besides technology skills, media creation requires many visual skills; the visual literacy skills used with the technology in our media projects can be applied to other mediums - photography, print, and other digital presentation formats, for example. Another big change in technology is the growth of mobile learning and the need to make educational content easily accessible on cell phones and tablets. Many software products do not display well on mobile devices which limits their future usability.

The Unrealized Potential of Visuals

Photographs, drawings, and videos all have the ability to help learners understand course content better - when used appropriately. Part of our aim with the Media Development Project is to help instructors understand how to use visuals effectively. This post captures some key elements from chapter one in the research-based book Graphics for Learning by Ruth Colvin Clark and Chopeta Lyons (2004).

The Unrealized Potential of Visuals

Have you designed a handout for your class and at the last minute added some clip art in the corner to make it look nicer? Clark and Lyons note that visuals are often an afterthought added to instructional material used to add visual interest. Unfortunately, this means that the true learning power of the visual is not used - and, worse, some visuals can actually interfere with learning.

Three Factors of Effective Visuals

1) Function

Surface features - the features that stand out when looking at a visual, such as whether it is a photo or an illustration, a video or an animation. Research found that surface features do not impact the effectiveness of learning; basically, people can learn from all types of visuals depending on the other factors.

Communication function - what are you trying to communicate with the visual? The authors present seven different communication categories (p 15).

• decorative - used to make something look good or add humour
• representational - used to show something as it really is (as with a photograph)
• mnemonic - used to provide retrieval cues for factual information
• organizational - used to show qualitative relationships
• relational - used to show quantitative relationships
• transformational - used to show changes in objects over space or time
• interpretive - used to illustrate a theory, principle, or cause-and-effect relationships

Psychological function - how visuals can support the learning process. This can be done in six separate ways (p 16).

• support attention - by drawing attention to important elements and minimizing divided attention
• activate or build prior knowledge - by engaging existing mental models or providing an overview to support learning of new information
• minimize cognitive load - by minimizing unnecessary mental work and working memory load
• build mental models - by helping construct new long-term memories
• support transfer of learning - by promoting deeper understanding and realistically showing key features
• support motivation - by making material interesting but not depressing learning

2) Instructional Goals and Lesson Content

Not all visuals match all instructional goals. Certain visuals will provide memory support, some visuals will assist in creating relationships between pieces of information in the lesson and thus help learners build mental models. These concepts are expanded on in a later chapter in the book.

3) Learner Differences

Not all learners will glean the same information from the same visual. Both prior knowledge of a subject and one’s spatial abilities influence how helpful a visual may be to a specific learner. These concepts are expanded on in a later chapter in the book.

Choosing Instructional Graphics

The authors provide three guidelines for choosing effective graphics.

1. Graphic effectiveness depends on graphic functionality - focus on the communicative and psychological functions rather than the surface features
2. Guidelines for graphics should be based on research evidence - their guidelines are based off of research, most of which was done with college-age people
3. Context will influence use of visuals - graphic selection needs to be based on the entire instructional landscape (ie: delivery mode, budgets, etc.). This concept is expanded on in a later chapter in the book.

Want more details? This article talks about much of the same content as this chapter of the book.

Educational PowerPoint

With low quality photos, irritating colour combinations, and text swirling and darting across the screen, it can be painful to sit through a PowerPoint presentation. But done well, PowerPoint can be a very useful educational tool.


In Academic Foundations we started the Media Development Project to help instructors learn how to use PowerPoint effectively and educationally. In terms of design, there are three main concepts that need attention.

1. Instructional Design
• Align to a specific learning outcome for a specific course
• Limit the amount of information to be covered
• Do more than present information - get learners thinking and applying skills
• Ensure the sequence of slides is logical for the topic
• Ensure all visuals are educational, not decorative

2. Visual Design
• Choose colours for contrast that is easy on the eyes
• Use a font that is easy to read
• Be generous with white space
• Be consistent in style and colour throughout the presentation
• Use high-quality, high-resolution images
• Keep images simple
• Ensure that you have the right to use the images you choose
• Use animation and images for effect, not decoration
• Minimize text

3. Presentation Design
• Have a beginning, middle, and end
• Have only one idea per slide
• Write clear and adequate notes in the Speaker Notes section
• Understand that this is not a stand-alone resource; the presenter needs to be equally prepared

There is a lot to consider for each of these three concepts. Watch this blog for more detailed posts about each one.

For an entertaining overview of everything not to do, check out this video: Life After Death by PowerPoint.