Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Abstracts due today to Cindy Ford

Send your abstracts to Cindy Ford at cford@umdnj.edu. She just needs the text ASAP -- and no later than today if possible.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Basic PowerPoint Resources

For those looking for a simple guide, here are a couple places to start:

Create a Basic Presentation in PowerPoint
If you are struggling just to get started, here is not a bad place to begin. Throw on a template and you are in business.

PowerPoint 2007 Tutorial
A useful tutorial with pictures by topic area. Easy to navigate.

PowerPoint 2007 Reference Guide
A nice two-page handout for familiarizing yourself with PowerPoint 2007 features.

Add Video

Embed YouTube Video into PowerPoint 2007
A useful 4-miute video, but this method only works if you will have access to the web.

Embed ... with no internet connection
Shows how to use Firefox Add-on "Video Downloader" to embed video you have locally stored.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Transforming Boring Slides

I am going to discuss how you transform boring "text-based" slides to more engaging visual ones today in class. Here are some of the resources I will use in doing that.

Doing Research

You can find good information online. But please try to distinguish between academic quality sources and Wiki-type sources. Compare these two, for instance:
Better sources can usually be accessed via the library website. Using a Rutgers computer, you can access the "Indexes and Databases" at the Libraries site:
Some of the better ones we will mention:
  • Academic Search Premier
  • AccessMed
  • Medline
  • Lexis Nexis Statistical
Working with Photoshop

There are so many good sources for photoshop tutorials on the web that you can usually just try a Google search for what you want to accomplish and then pick the tutorial that sounds closest to what you want. You can also search in YouTube. For example, I was teaching students how to make a grid using Photoshop and found a dozen tutorials -- some text based, some video, and each offering a slightly different way to do it.

Let's start by trying to create some Ataxia images.
Selecting images
There are several ways to work with your images. I usually save them to the desktop to start. But you can also right click on them and copy them to the clipboard, then go to Photoshop and choose "New." You should get a new blank document into which to paste the image you chose that is the same size as the image itself. You can also change the size to fit what you want. I usually work on an 800x600 canvas.

You can also use Print Screen to get images. For the Mac, the best one is usually "Apple key ⌘ + Shift + 4" which allows you to select exactly what you want from the screen. If you use a 3 instead of a 4 you get the whole screen. It then prints an image to the desktop called "Picture#" with the latest number. For PC, you can use the Shift-Print Screen to get a picture onto the clipboard and then paste it as you wish.

Create a border
To create a border around your pictures, open the "Select" menu and choose "Select All." To create a border around a certain section, use the "Selection" tool in the toolbar and select the area you want. Once you make your selection, go to the "Select" menu, choose "Modify" and then "Border." In the dialog box, choose the pixel size of your border and make sure that the color is correct. Now "Save for Web and Devices" to create your final image.

PowerPoint
Once you have the images you want to use, open up PowerPoint and let's get started incorporating them.

With PowerPoint 2007 it might be useful to have some tutorials. Especially if you have only had experience with the old PowerPoint, you are going to be in for a shock with 2007. Here are some good places to start:
There are more tutorials linked below.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

PowerPoint 2007 Resources

The following resources are helpful for learning more about PowerPoint 2007:

MS PowerPoint 2007 New Interface
A great handout to print and view.

PowerPoint 2007 Demo: Create a basic presentation quickly
A good, complete tutorial on the basics.

PowerPoint 2007 Demo: Get up to speed
The best video for beginners.

Up to Speed with PowerPoint 2007
A Microsoft tutorial that discusses what's new with 2007.

PowerPoint 2007 in Pictures
An easy to use, silent, click-through tutorial with pictures. Useful in the lab setting. Covers "Creating a Presentation," "Customizing Presentations," and "Working with Animation."

PowerPoint 2007 Tutorial - Changing the World
This video tutorial posted on YouTube that focuses on animation. It is a bit quickly presented and really seems intended for expert users. The presenter is not a native speaker of English and seems to be working on the fly, but the material is very good. He basically shows you how to animate still images, bringing them onto the screen.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Effects Tutorial
A very clear and cool effects tutorial for relative beginners that focuses on making your images look three-dimensional.

Embed YouTube Video into PowerPoint 2007
A solid presentation designed for people using a live internet connection to show a YouTube video. If you will not have a live connection during your presentation, you will need to use the tutorial above instead.