Teaching With Technology Certificate Hub

Earlier in the semester, Tips #4: Killing Bullet Points made some suggestions for how to include student interaction within a class session, including quick polls or quizzes. Quizzes can be used before presenting a concept to gage what attitudes or perceptions a student may have ahead of time. They can also be used after presenting a concept to see if students grasped what you were trying to teach.

Some products which include options for building a quiz in PowerPoint are:

Tim Plummer of Adobe has recorded several training seminars for the Penn State audience:

* Photoshop CS4 (New Features)
https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a500201843/p60084180/

* Captivate I (Video Screen Capture/Slide Presenter)
http://se.adobe.acrobat.com/p48996893/

* Captivate II (Branching/Quizzing)
http://se.adobe.acrobat.com/p21376673/

* Presenter (Powerpoint plugin for Adobe Connect)
Session 1 - http://se.adobe.acrobat.com/p39213717/
Session 2 - http://se.adobe.acrobat.com/p24241827/

Are your PowerPoint files over 10M in size? Maybe the problem is the size of the images within the files. The tips below can help you use an image editing program like Photoshop or other image-editing program to reduce file size. Believe it or not you may be able to convert an 12 MB PowerPoint file to only 1 M just by reducing the file sizes before importing them into PowerPoint.

The official deadline for TWT portfolios being submitted to your department coordinator is next Monday, November 3. If you intend to finish, but need to make alternate arrangements, please contact your coordinator.

A map of where wireless networks is available is posted at
http://wireless.psu.edu/locations.html

Note that not all wireless networks are administered by the same unit. Some may be administered by different departments or colleges and not available to all Penn State users. See information on specific buildings for more details.

In addition to material from ITS Training and elsewhere, the Student Computing Lab Web site includes information on how to get started with Office 2007 for Windows at

http://clc.its.psu.edu/Labs/Windows/Software/Office2007.aspx

The page includes links to video tutorials from Microsoft.

This tip forces you to ask the dreaded question - "Am I prepared to go on if the projector bulb blows out?" Below are some ideas on how you may be able to prepare ahead.

For a blown projector

• Have printed copy of the presentation with you. You can always post the file in ANGEL after the fact for students.
• Write down the phone number for tech support
• If there's an overhead projector in the room, bring blank transparencies

Post backup files in multiple locations

Registration is open for the free workshops offered by ITS Training Services that are designed to meet the needs of graduate students at Penn State. Many of these workshops are available over the fall break, including SPSS, EndNote, Scientific Computing, Blogs at Penn State, Penn State Thesis Template, and more. Visit the ITS Training Services Web site to register for any of these sessions at http://its.psu.edu/training/ .

Here are some tips to make the text on your slides more legible.

1. Use high contrast color schemes - You can either dark text on pale backgrounds or light text on dark backgrounds, but you should avoid mid colors on mid colors such as oyster gray on pewter gray or aqua on sea green.
   Tip: Ask yourself if the slide could be read if it were converted to black and white.

From the ITS News Wire
http://news.its.psu.edu/story-1040