Assignment Concept:
Many students are familiar with PowerPoint features and able to produce complex technical effects. Encourage students to think of communicating with their peers as the primary goal of this task. Presentation software is a tool for communication. A PowerPoint slide show can stand alone or support a speech. In this assignment it is used to support a spoken presentation. Students should outline the content of the slide show with concise wording and carefully connected ideas. When the student presents, he/she elaborates on the outlined concepts. This slide show is not meant to stand alone, but requires the enthusiastic delivery of the presenter to convey complete ideas to an audience.

An article called Scoring Power Points from an issue of From Now On, by Jamie McKenzie, contains helpful suggestions. One of McKenzie’s points is that when a PowerPoint presentation is the sole outcome for a student project, ideas can remain condensed and incomplete. If an additional product is required, such as a thoughtfully written report or essay, then the student must be responsible for thoroughly presenting ideas. You may want to assign a companion essay that is part of the Word Processing module.

Requirements & Guidelines:
The Requirements include specific content features, and the Guidelines are related to the quality and effectiveness of the contents. Direct your students to the grading sheet, so they will see that the guidelines need to be met along with the requirements.

Peer Feedback:
Give students a date to complete their Slide Show—like the due date for a rough draft. Schedule a “gallery walk” for about 30 minutes, during which students will leave their presentation open on their computer while they walk around the room to evaluate other students’ work. Each student evaluates 2 other sites, using the Slide Show Evaluation Form (also in Student Resources—“Peer Evaluation Form”). The student places a completed form under the keyboard of the computer site, with a limit of 2 evaluations per site. This activity serves two purposes:

• Students get feedback from their peers
• Students get ideas by seeing other students’ presentations

Assessing the Presentation:

• Students must complete the Function Sheet & Storyboard to turn in just before giving the class presentation. Use it to help assess whether the presentation meets the assignment criteria.
• Use the Grading Spreadsheet to grade the student presentation. The spreadsheet can be copied to the number of sheets necessary for the members of a class:
• Edit > Move or Copy Sheet > Create a Copy.
• Double click on sheet tab to rename it with a student’s last name.
• Save a workbook for each class period.
• The spreadsheet is protected except for the cells bordered in red, where you will enter points. The Points Earned column will automatically reflect your entries.
• If you need to change the point values of the of the grading sheet, go to Tools > Protection > Unprotect sheet so that you can make changes in the Points Possible column.
• There is a comment area at the bottom where you can enter text. (This is also unprotected.)

Sources of information on using PowerPoint:

"PowerPoint in the Classroom"--A software tutorial produced by the actDEN Digital Education Network, in conjunction with Microsoft Corporation.
http://www.actden.com/pp2007/index.htm