Before beginning the tutorial for Microsoft PowerPoint's Do's and Don't, I was visualizing all of the "don'ts", which included: a highlighter colored background, a neon font, and text flying in from all corners of the screen with an obnoxious typewriter sound accompanying its entrance to the slide. Surely, when used appropriately motion and sound within a PowerPoint can be beneficial, but through the years of watching it being poorly used I have realized that there can truly be an art to using PowerPoint.
Upon beginning the tutorial I almost immediately had an "Ah-Ha" moment when reading about Master Slides. I had never known that this option existed and whenever I would make a PowerPoint I would go through and add a background to each slide individually. The Master slide is a huge time savor and helps convey a consistent theme throughout your slideshow.
The Charts option of PowerPoint was another interesting feature to read up on. When thinking of using PowerPoint I envision pictures and bullet points to make your points clear and concise. However, with the user friendliness of adding pictures it only make sense that you would also add charts and diagrams where appropriate. With over 20 different choices, charts can be used to give information to a slide without having to add any further explanation.
Animations and movies are another tool that can be used to add originality to your PowerPoint. When used correctly it can add some energy to a slideshow that can help capture and contain the viewers attention better than simple writing would. Lastly, and almost most importantly is the use of hyperlink. The possibilities with hyperlink are seemingly endless. Hyperlink is a great tool to help guide the viewer to specific slides within your slideshow without having to scroll through x number of slides. It is also a great tool to use to connect the viewer to a specific website, as used in WebQuests.
All of the features that Microsoft PowerPoint offers are extremely beneficial to education on both the student and teacher side. I hope that student's can become more knowledgeable on all of the aspects of PowerPoint and we can further the use of PowerPoint in the education field.
I think PowerPoint is also a great resource for the classroom. I love the idea of being able to add movies and other media to the slides to create a more in-depth presentation too. However, I need to read up on how to do the whole hyperlink addition! I think that once I understand how to utilize the hyperlink, my slide presentations will be enhanced more. I think that PowerPoint may have it's limits, but once you really understand all the tools and how to implement them, then really it is only your mind that will limit your creativity!
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