e learning
The applications of screencasting to eLearning are obvious. It is a great way for educators to share information with students. In general, most Power Points fall into one of two categories: boring and too text-based or compelling and uses a lot of images. I am a huge supporter of the "Beyond Bullets" movement of Power Point design. Beyond Bullets Points (2007) was a book published a few years ago by Cliff Atkinson. The text is a call to all users and consumers of Power Point to stop putting users to sleep utilizing slide after slide of dead, text-based, instruction.
After all, we are all literate. We can read. If the entirity of your presentation is just you reading off of those slides then why don't you post your presentation to slideshare or email it to the audience, and allow them to budget their time more efficiently rather than having you put us all to sleep as you drone on and on about whatever.
After all, we are all literate. We can read. If the entirity of your presentation is just you reading off of those slides then why don't you post your presentation to slideshare or email it to the audience, and allow them to budget their time more efficiently rather than having you put us all to sleep as you drone on and on about whatever.
Go Beyond Bullets
Instead, Atkinson encourages readers to use images to paint thought pictures for the audience about their topics. When I evaluate an instructor, and their slideshows are just slide after slide of text, I loan them my copy of Beyond Bullet Points. I encourage them to look for images that help them explain their subject matter on microsoft’s clipart site, in google images, pinterest, and on flickr. Most instructors are able to change how their Power Point slides look over the course of a diligent semester or two.
These instructors always sing my praises for coaching them up about how they can unlock their natural voice, be more powerful, and convey their points more easily. I know their students appreciate the changes too. They tell me they do. We can all do our part to improve eLearning one screencasted slide show and digital learning object at a time.
In the video below Cliff Atkinson briefly outlines his system for using images in Power Point. When an instructor combines the lessons learned in Beyond Bullet Points with emotionally evocative, high resolution digital images, subject matter expertise, a little bit of hardware and software, they are able to construct great digitally mediated learning objects.
These instructors always sing my praises for coaching them up about how they can unlock their natural voice, be more powerful, and convey their points more easily. I know their students appreciate the changes too. They tell me they do. We can all do our part to improve eLearning one screencasted slide show and digital learning object at a time.
In the video below Cliff Atkinson briefly outlines his system for using images in Power Point. When an instructor combines the lessons learned in Beyond Bullet Points with emotionally evocative, high resolution digital images, subject matter expertise, a little bit of hardware and software, they are able to construct great digitally mediated learning objects.
Some Practical advice for how to get started
In addition to the recommendations of Cliff Atkinson. I also recommend an article that I recently found online from Emily Moore, an instructional designer in the online learning office at Texas State Technical
College @ Harlingen. She has some great advice about how to rework your Power Points from text to images to enhance learner "take away" from your screencasting project.
College @ Harlingen. She has some great advice about how to rework your Power Points from text to images to enhance learner "take away" from your screencasting project.
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