Week 6 Post 2

Interactive PowerPoint Presentations

Two very easy types of interactivity that can be included into any PowerPoint presentation are navigation and feedback. For navigation, you can use onscreen buttons and hypertext for a branching structure, allowing the user to visit the sections as they wish or to provide the option to gain more information on topics of interest.

 For feedback, slides can present questions and offer choices of answers. With proper scripting, when students make choices they are either given feedback on the slide or are taken to new slides which provide information. Benefits for the user of this structure include increased engagement, control, and interest along with immediate response.

        A more common application of non-linear PowerPoint presentations is in reviewing knowledge. With just a little practice, you can create quizzes. In these slide shows, students are asked questions and then click on what they think is the answer. If the answer is correct, the show moves to the next question. If the student answers incorrectly, the show moves the student back to re-answer the question or, if the question is of the True/False variety, explains why the answer was incorrect before moving them on to the next step. 

The student participates by not simply clicking in one direction but makes choices that affect what slide comes next: making the presentation interactive and non-linear. The movement between slides is not one-way, not linear, the pathway is determined by the student's interaction with it.