Archive for the ‘Presentations’ Category
Visuals and Dumping the Drone
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Distance Learning, Instructional Design, Presentations on May 29th, 2009
With the Online Modules pilot group, we’ve been discussing ways to make our presentations less wordy, and more visual. I was impressed with this slideshow on dumping the drone form our presentations, and the way it used so few words—yet it’s still easy to follow even without the audio (narration) or script!
It’s geared toward online corporate presentations, but it’s relevant to the elearning modules that a number of faculty in the school are currently developing. There are also some great nuggets in there for any of our presentations. Take a look.
Faculty Spotlight: IDE Online Presentations
Posted by: Greg Whisenhunt in Distance Learning, Faculty Spotlight, How To, Instructional Design, Just for Fun, Presentations, Tools on April 27th, 2009
Indigent Defense Education
- Faculty: John Rubin, Whitney Fairbanks, and Alyson Grine
- Program Manager: Meredith Murray
- Events: Indigent Defense Education
- Type: Narrated PowerPoint: recorded during live presentation
- Tools: PowerPoint, Adobe Presenter, lavalier microphone
- Date: Fall 2008-ongoing
- Clients: Indigent Defense
- Link (view sample):Involuntary Commitment Process
Objective:
Make Indigent Defense training available for clients unable to attend live sessions.
Identifying Audience Needs
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Instructional Design, Presentations, Teaching on April 7th, 2009
(requires SOG Intranet authentication)
Dona Lewandowski recently created a powerful introduction to her course that really anchors and gives a human face to the technical information she was attempting to communicate to her Magistrates. Dona considered her clients, identified a “missing link” in her course, and came up with this solution. Her solution is simply brilliant, easy to make and will be remembered! (SOG intranet password required)
As teachers we are 1/2 of the learning equation, the client too must be an active participant for learning to happen. But it is incumbent on us to put our self in our client’s shoes, learn their needs, and do what we can to eliminate obstacles to learning. If you were in their shoes listening to you, would your information and activities be useful? Would it be busywork, or engaging and relevant? If you were them, is there something else you wish you’d be getting from your course?
Let’s assume for a moment that as a high-performing organization–intent on helping public officials and citizens understand and improve state and local government–that what we teach is critical information for their jobs. Have you made clear why the information you are sharing is critical and helpful to them? Before we make that assumption, is there a way we can check that assumption? Consider the following:
- Use (or revise and use) your course evaluation as a tool to really solicit feedback on the effectiveness of your course in meeting learner needs
- Create a client survey to gather info on your specific client training needs?
- Use TurningPoint at the end of class to gather (and save) anonymous client responses. Let the rank order preselected topics of interest and value to them. Who knows? maybe choosing to display the results might show clients how difficult it is for your presentation to meet all their diverse needs.
The TLS team can help you design a survey, design some TurningPoint poll slides and provide additional tips on ways to consider your learners’ needs.
-Joel G.
Blogs = Websites
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Did you Know?, Presentations, Tools, Try it!, Uncategorized on March 23rd, 2009
view my presentation and a short video on blogs
Today’s blogs are yesterday’s websites. Saying that, however, does not do them justice. Today’s blogs aren’t even yesterday’s blogs–which essentially started out as online journals that allowed the author to easily post daily text entries. Today’s blogs are media-rich, online publishing platforms–while simultaneously being very easy to create, edit and manage.
A blog can be used to:
- publish your thoughts
- update clients on important issues or legislation
- share online resources (articles, websites, media)
- invite discussion about important topics
- solicit conference or training ideas
- extend conference themes beyond event date
- post media (pictures, audio, presentations, documents,video, news feeds)
- foster transparency in local government
- encourage citizen participation
- change the course of elections
- launch a thousand ships
- …and so much more
There are a host of blogs to view out there, but there’s no substitute for simply starting your own–either for personal purposes (www.blogger.com , www.wordpress.com), or for SOG purposes. If you’d like to learn/explore how blogs might help you have greater impact, contact your nearest, friendly neighborhood TLS team member.
Check out Jeff Welty’s blog at : http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/ncclaw/
Diagnose and Remedy Presentation “Issues”
Posted by: Nancy Kiplinger in Presentations on March 5th, 2009
A lot has been written about effective presentations, effective use of PowerPoint, and connecting with your audience. Still, well meaning people who know their content well, continue to dismay audiences. Here are three of my favorite resources that identify some common presentation issues and suggest remedies:
The Truth is….You Gave a Lousy Talk http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/12/2007122101c.htm
Death by PowerPoint http://www.slideshare.net/thecroaker/death-by-powerpoint
Presentation Zen http://www.betterppt.com/powerpoint_live/video/intelligentpres.htm
Then, if you want more how-to, practical guidelines, read SOG’s Planning Your Presentation at the School of Government, a guide for outside presenters (and SOG instructional faculty, too), as well as Making PowerPoint Work for Your Audience.
Case studies and role plays
Posted by: Nancy Kiplinger in Presentations, Uncategorized on February 25th, 2009
Looking for help writing case studies or role plays?
The best guidance I have found so far is short and helpful and comes from an article by Turning Point (not to be confused with the classroom polling software we use), a program at the University of Washington in Seattle. The article is called Collaborative Leadership: Introduction, Overview, and Resources (Facilitator’s Guide). You can find the guidelines as follows:
- case studies, pages 7-9
- role plays, pages 10-11
View the .pdf version of the article, or visit a TLS literature rack to pick up a copy (3rd-floor break room or next to the 4th-floor mailboxes).
There’s nothing like experience…coupled with feedback, reflection and do-overs.
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, How To, Presentations, Tools, Uncategorized on February 12th, 2009
I made a presentation today to the SOGroovy photo club on framing and composing principles in photography. In the process–and courtesy of my fellow SOGers–I (re)learned a couple key teaching lessons:
- Relate the material to your audience’s experiences. Angela W. was bold enough to speak out and mentioned how similar some of these design principles were to the page layout work she’s done. I’m glad she made the connection, because I missed that important teaching opportunity, to relate the material to my audience–or even to ask them to reflect and share on how it related to them.
- When showing examples, also share appropriate “non-examples” (aka poor examples) to allow your audience to see the contrast and value of following your proposed procedure. On this note, I received feedback (always nice, thanks Cindy L.) that some poor examples would have been helpful in understanding the design principles I was trying to teach.
- Take a calculated risk, and learn/try something new. We often expect our students to learn new material and procedures, but may be unwilling ourselves to learn or try something new (i.e. change our slides, class format, learning activities, lecture style, handouts etc.). Knowing I would have a very gracious and forgiving audience, I tried a unique, new presentation tool* (NOT PowerPoint). It took some getting used to, but I’m getting the hang of Prezi and am impressed. I practiced a good deal, and felt I was ready to break from my traditional presentation routine–based on feedback, the risk paid off.
Click image to launch presentation
I’m glad we’re a learning organization at the SOG–willing to speak up and share ways we can all improve. I believe all present were instructed and edified by the experience. If you’re interested in seeing the presentation (or simply the tool), view my online Prezi presentation here: Framing and Composition 101
*If you’re up to try a new approach, and have a creative glint in your eye, ask your TLS representative if Prezi is right for you.
-Joel G.
TurningPoint: Why use TurningPoint?
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, Distance Learning, How To, Presentations on February 4th, 2009
Here’s a summary from SOG brownbag participants of great reasons/ways to use TurningPoint:
-Increase interaction
- increase likelihood of participation over “raise your hand” questions (Rich D.)
- Engage your audience and involve participants in your presentation. (Rich D.)
- Increase trainee attentiveness (TLS).
- empower audience with instant results “most of us chose ‘D’, why was that wrong?”
Distance Learning options at the SOG
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Distance Learning, Presentations on January 29th, 2009
Here are my slides on distance learning options at the SOG. Press the [cc] button on the player controls to display the slide “notes” for additional info, and note the button for watching the presentation full screen. Some example links may no longer work.
I hope this helps make the options a little more understandable.
-Joel G.
