|
 Each
classroom should
plan a five to seven minute presentation about one
city in Michigan. The presentation
may include photos, graphics, video clips, etc. The media
used for your presentation will often depend on the equipment
available for your video conference. Talk to your distance
learning coordinator or technology coordinator to
find the best options for presentations at your location.
- You may use printouts
on a document camera that includes photographs.
- Or if there is a computer
connected to your video conferencing system you may
choose to design a PowerPoint presentation or even
a web page or wiki! However, remember that long PowerPoints
can be boring. The students want to see each other
too. Use balance and judgment in your decision.
- If you have a VCR
attached you may even want to video tape the clues
to share with others.
- No matter what you decide
to do be sure to use a large text size so the
words can be seen by other participants.
- Please avoid taped
presentations. One of the curriculum goals for
this project is to give students practice in oral
speaking in a live connection. In addition, taped
presentations are difficult to understand and hear
when sent over compressed video. It also is easier
for students to answer questions about their presentation
if their research is fresh in their mind.
More tips for
visuals for your presentation:
- Change the visual or the
focus often.
- Don't leave the audience
looking at the document camera or PowerPoint for too
long. Show the students or presenter again. People
can feel distanced if they are just looking at visuals
and not people.
- Practice the presentation
with the visuals.
- Have a backup plan if
you are using a computer presentation (such as print
copies of the presentation).
- Use horizontal or landscape
paper using the 4x5 ratio for TV.
- Use blue ink on a light
colored paper for easy reading.
- For computer presentations
use a dark background with light colored thick./bold
font (yellow text on blue background is great). (Hint:
assign your students to watch the news one evening
and take notes on the colors used for text and text
background. Are they readable? These are generally
good colors to use!)
- Use large fonts such as
24 pt or higher.
- Leave a 1.5 or more border/margin
around the edge of the document.
- Be careful of colors:
avoid red/hot pink and green, avoid solid blocks of
white, black or red.
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