PowerPoint Add-ins

An interesting blog post on the PowerPoint FAQ Web site, mentions both Windows and Mac possibilities for importing batches of images into PowerPoint: Batch import images into PowerPoint, by Stephen Rindsberg, last updated 10th December 2009.

One example of a tool to import images into PowerPoint is the Image Importer Wizard for PowerPoint 97 or later. More information about the Wizard is also available here: http://skp.mvps.org/iiwfaq.htm

Although there are much better options available to work with PowerPoint and audio, such as Adobe Presenter, if useful, here are some links to free add-ins for PowerPoint version 2003:

• Producer for PowerPoint: this provides a drag and drop interface to synchronize audio and video with your PowerPoint slides.
• PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Presentation Broadcast: this is another approach to synchronizing the audio and video delivery of your PowerPoint presentations.

Links

• Adobe Presenter: “Rapidly create high-impact Adobe Flash presentations and eLearning courses from PowerPoint”
• Coral Presenter: create interactive Flash presentations from PowerPoint
• Articulate Presenter: “Quickly create Flash-based presentations and e-learning courses from PowerPoint”

Technologies reliant on PowerPoint?

In the literature review I have tried to cover as many presentation technologies as possible, as well as examples of best practice in their use. One point that strikes me is that many technologies, such as classroom software, and Adobe Presenter, use PowerPoint. This obviously makes sense, because it is what people are familiar with and what is often most readily available, however it also raises new questions for me e.g.

• What happens to features in a PowerPoint presentation when it is imported into different technologies?
• What features of classroom software, such as Desktop and Application sharing, could be used to drag and zoom in on images without the need for PowerPoint e.g. by using whiteboard functionality (but what about image captions?)

In terms of online collaboration software, Wimba Classroom makes sense for institutions that already use Blackboard. However its implementation is about more than just software; it is aligned to hardware, pedagogical needs (and the potential effect on students), advocacy (i.e. ‘why should I use this?’), and rights management; and factors outside an institutes’ control such as students’ Internet connection speed off-campus. This video, one of many on YouTube, highlights an approach to informing staff how to use Wimba:

• Watch Northern Illinois University Wimba Classroom video on YouTube

Fashion Promotion and Imaging

Last Wednesday I began my case studies by interviewing Jules Findley, Course Leader for Fashion Promotion and Imaging at the University for the Creative Arts, Epsom campus.
I also met with Kristy Widdicombe, Faculty Librarian For Fashion and Management, who used Adobe Presenter with Adobe Captivate last year to produce a learning and teaching object on ‘research’.
Kristy introduced me to Neville Kemp, Careers Adviser with the University’s Careers Service, who gave me a really useful demo of the Wimba Classroom software that they are trialling at the moment. Our conversation also raised issues to do with the role hardware has to play in multimedia presentations.