Presentation software

Draft

Definition

According to Wikipedia, a presentation program is a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show. It typically includes three major functions: an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted, a method for inserting and manipulating graphic images and a slide-show system to display the content. ([1], retrieved 17:59, 1 January 2007 (MET))

See also:

• Direct instruction (pedagogy)
• on-screen annotation (technology)

Links

How to tutorials

Active Learning with PowerPoint. A Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota tutorial.

Critique

• Why Universities Should Get Rid of PowerPoint, by GDC Team | Jul 11, 2015. Quote: “An article in The Conversation recently argued universities should ban PowerPoint because it makes students stupid and professors boring. I agree entirely. However, most universities will ignore this good advice because rather than measuring success by how much their students learn, universities measure success with student satisfaction surveys, among other things.”

Software

Indexes

• Presentation software. A list of other software
• Presentation Software - The Top Ten from presentationhelper.co.uk

"Standard" software

• MS PowerPoint
• Open Office Impress (free)
• Apple Keynote

With a wordprocessor

• Adobe Acrobat is quite handy together with FrameMaker if you need to produce lots of slides containing code. Daniel K. Schneider uses this combo, e.g. here. All you have to do is write pages in landscape format and define some 30+ styles.

Web-based

• Prezi, on-line tool for "zooming" non-linear presentations, includes a free (100MB, public) version. A desktop "pro" version exists ($60 annual fee for educators)
• Ahead, on-line tool (same spirit as prezi, but different, i.e. more geared toward interactive web presentations)
• Slideful (simple to use)
• Kizoa (collage program)
• Animoto (collage program)
• Slides. Online tool for creating, presenting and sharing slides (HTML based). Commercial, but free "public" decks.

Light-weight (XML, HTML etc based)

• JessyInk which is an [ Inkscape] extension, e.g. read How to create a digital presentation with Inkscape
• Slidy, Slide Shows in XHTML by Dave Ragget
• S5, A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System
• impress.js (for geeks)
• Sozi a zooming presentation editor and player (SVG + JavaScript)

Flash-based

• See Flash for presentations tutorial (rather useless)

See also

• Concept maps. These also can be used for presentations, in particular when presenting complex concepts or many featured issues.
• Presentation Assistant, A series of presentation aid softwares allow you to highlight, zoom, spotlight, capture and annotate screen that can aid during presentations.