Teaching with Multimedia Applications (such as Power Point or Inspiration)

Background to the assignment:

Teachers in the "old days" didn't use to "give an overhead projector" -- they merely taught a lesson and used the overhead projector as a visual aid. Similarly we, as teachers today, do not "give PowerPoint or Inspiration presentations." Instead we use PowerPoint or Inspiration presentations as one of the tools we use in our teaching. Both PowerPoint and Inspiration are very versatile multimedia tools, and should be used as such. Please resist the temptation to say that you are going to "give a PowerPoint/Inspiration presentation." Rather say you are going to teach a lesson using PowerPoint/Inspiration.

In Educ 3412/5412 you learned how to create PowerPoint slide shows using the various features of PowerPoint. In Educ 5413 we you have learned to use the features of Inspiration. In this course I expect you to be able to create PowerPoint slides or an Inspiration file (with hyperlinks to other relevant files) using the basic & advanced features of these programs. If you need a refresher on how to use these features, I have the guidelines online. Please review these and make sure that you are able to perform these skills. If you need assistance on any of this see me during or after class or seek assistance from another student.

Introduction to PowerPoint and Taking PowerPoint to the next level
Inspiration tutorials (a) basics (b) beyond basics

Overview of the assignment:

The purposes of this assignment are for you:

to demonstrate how to use PowerPoint/Inspiration effectively as a multimedia tool to enhance student learning.
to analyze the videotape of your teaching and critique your teaching following the criteria and rubric that we developed as a class.

Task:

Read carefully McKenzie's articles: Scoring with PowerPoint and Beyond Information Power
Using the rubric developed in class as a guide, plan ten minute lesson to the class using a PowerPoint/Inspiration presentation that you have created as a visual aid or tool specifically to assist you in the delivery of your lesson.
Bring to class a printed copy of your slides/document (if you have used PowerPoint, print the notes page view and if you have used Inspiration, have all notes showing before you print so that Kyle & Helen can see your notes and the slide and write feedback directly onto this as you teach).
Teach your lesson (no more than ten minutes). Kyle and Helen will video tape your teaching and provide you with a copy at the end of the day.
Analyze your lesson and critique the effectiveness of your teaching using the rubric developed in class. Provided a detailed written analysis.
Submit an electronic copy of the folder containing all elements of your assignment (your written analysis, the PowerPoint/Inspiration files, all sound and music files).

Caution: The focus on this lesson is on your use of PowerPoint/Inspiration, not on the creation of the slides. Thus you should plan the slides and your presentation accordingly. Students who have taken a PowerPoint/Inspiration presentation created for another purpose and used it for this assignment have tended to score lower if they failed to adapt it appropriately for the intended purpose of this assignment.

I have not stipulated the number of slides or how many different features you should use. This will depend on the topic and nature of your lesson. However, you should consider as a guide no fewer than 5 slides and no more than 15 for a ten minute lesson. Since you are demonstrating your ability to use PowerPoint/Inspiration as a multimedia tool, you should use graphics as well as text.

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