Secret of live online teaching: assuming you already know how to use your video conferencing platform's Share Screen feature, then you can show your students anything.
But if you start showing your students everything, that's when I'm sure you are over-complicating things for everyone.
Example.
The plan for your 40-minute lesson includes the use of:
1. Quizlet to present vocabulary in the form of flashcards
2. Miro, for a class brainstorming activity
3. the British Council's website, for a listening task
4. Kahoot, to check comprehension
5. Google Docs, because students will have to complete a short grammar task
6. Wordwall, for a cool speaking activity based on a boardgame.
I think this is a good lesson plan, I honestly do. The teacher is going to pre-teach vocabulary, set a gist and a detailed task around some audio-based material, there's a grammar focus too and the lesson closes with a free-speaking activity in which students have the opportunity to practise with the grammar and vocabulary they've learnt while expressing themselves.
But still, 6 between platforms and websites! Without counting whichever video-conferencing app they are using (7) and the browser itself (8).
A bit of maths here: 40:8 = that is about 1 EdTool every 5 minutes of lesson. Let's not forget the, let's say, 2 hours between finding and creating materials and planning activities?! I think we can agree it's not very efficient. Or relaxing. Or well-paid, that matters too.
THE SOLUTION
When teaching, whenever possible, let's use one tool only in addition to Zoom: PowerPoint. I'm sure everyone has it already installed on their laptop. If you really don't, then Impress of the LibreOffice suite is completely free and works exactly the same. In case you are wondering: yes, there are alternatives out there but they are mainly web-based and need you to register. Two reasons for which I don't recommend them.
Benefits of using Power Point and forgetting other apps
Time saved when preparing material.
We won’t have to look for the best platform to do XYZ.
We can easily create content or adapt ready-made activities from our coursebook or from lesson plans we like, the way we like it.
Lessons will run more smoothly as we won't have to jump from one website to another
Lower chances of students getting distracted while we're transitioning from one activity to the next.
Fewer things to manage - because you know, hosting a meeting is no joke. We constantly have to monitor the chat box, mute/unmute students, use the annotation tool, let late-comers in, answer students' questions, fix technical problems… Oh, and remember our lesson plan, possibly.
Unaffected internet speed - PowerPoint does not rely on wifi.
One file only to share with students after the lesson so that they can have a reference of what has been done.
What you need
PowerPoint ( or Impress of the LibreOffice suite)
Picpick (occasionally). It's a free tool that lets you capture selected areas of a screen. Great when you want to copy areas from a PDF file, a webpage or a picture. It's for Windows only so if you have a Mac, you could try with this.
CONTENT OF THIS TUTORIAL
We'll see how to:
create a Power Point slide
change the layout for student view optimisation
create digital flashcards
embed audio files
embed videos, both online and offline
create both image and text-based interactive worksheets (e.g. For matching, completing, brainstorming)
create board games (yes, dice included)
All the videos in this tutorial are very short, between 10 and 90 seconds, and will help you to visualise the instructions given and hopefully to think about how you could adapt what you see to your specific needs.
1. Creating a slide and optimising its layout
Tip! Create a square slide. I do this because when sharing my screen in Zoom, I find it’s easier to move the PPT window to the left of my screen so I can still see my students' faces on the right in Zoom’s Gallery View. Having a smaller area to fill in will also help you focus on what matters most, you will think twice about whether you really need to include that particular picture/question/long text or not.
To make your slides square: click on Design/Page Setup and make the slide's height=width.
To create a slide, Home/New Slide/ Blank.
Tip! Minimise distractions and let your material shine.
Minimise the Tools Ribbon (double-click on Home).
Resize the Slides pane (drag left).
Resize the Notes pane (drag down).
2. Flashcards
There are two ways you can make digital flashcards.
OPTION 1. GOOGLE IMAGES
Copy a picture from Google and paste it onto a slide.
To create text: click on Insert/Text box. Make sure the font is big enough. I go for 28-32.
Tip! Learn shortcuts to copy (CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL+V). Using shortcuts will soon become second nature, and you’ll save tons of time preparing your material.
OPTION 2. A PICTURE FROM A PDF
Let's imagine you found some great material online (I'm using a free sample unit of a book I like, Storyfun). You can just copy what you like from the PDF and paste it on PPT.
3. Hide/show content
Tip! you can hide any slide’s area behind a shape: Insert/Shape/Rectangle.
This is a good option when you want to hide:
flashcards’ names
answers to a task
a picture, in case you want to play memory
parts of a picture, if you want to play guess the object
parts of a text: students imagine what is going to happen next, then check.
You can delete/move the shape to show the hidden content.
4. Embedding audio files
You can embed audio files in a PPT slide by just dragging and dropping them onto a slide. You'll have fewer files to remember to open before the lesson. Once it's listening time, just double-click on the file icon and the audio will start on your player - your students will still see PowerPoint and not the player app, which is perfect in case you want to include some questions they need to answer.
Tip! You can use the app PicPick to copy areas of a screen. (right-click on the app’s thumbnail/capture/region).
In this example, I’ve used the app Picpick to copy and paste a listening activity from the Storyfun sample unit I found online.
5. Embedding videos
I have a very old version of PPT (2010) which does not allow me to embed online videos [If you have a more recent version though, you can follow the tutorial here]. However, the 2 solutions I’m going to present will work with any PPT version you have.
OPTION 1. LINK IN NOTES
This is pretty basic: save the Youtube link in the Notes pane and open it in a browser (I use Brave because it's ad-free).
OPTION 2. EMBED A VIDEO FROM FILE
Save the Youtube video you want to embed as an mp4 file, then click Insert/Movie/From File. This option is great for two reasons:
you'll save on internet speed - always a bonus when teaching large groups online
if necessary, you can show questions below the video so that students can read and watch at the same time.
To play the video: double-click. To pause/restart: click once.
6. Interactive worksheets
FILL-IN TASK (USING TEXT)
Tip! Most times, you can create content using text boxes only. Using text is great if you are planning a speaking activity in Breakout Rooms afterwards. You'll just copy the text and paste it into each Breakout Room's chat box so that students will be able to read the questions.
In this video for example, I’m adapting some material I found: first, students will complete the questions with the words given; later, I’ll copy and paste the same questions in Zoom’s Breakout Rooms’ chat boxes for them to practise speaking in pairs.
To create a text box: Insert/text box.
Tip! Use shortcuts to copy (CTRL+C), cut (CTRL+X) and paste (CTRL+V)
BRAINSTORMING BOARD
For class brainstorming activities, you could use:
text boxes (Insert/text box)
or tables (Insert/table), great if there’s more than one category (e.g. Pros/Cons, Pets/Wild animals, Phrases to Agree/Disagree/Propose solutions etc.)
Students will present their ideas and you’ll write them down for all learners to see.
MATCHING TASK (USING PICTURES)
Having the possibility to drag and drop pictures or words around helps students visualise concepts better. This is very easy to do with the use of the app Picpick.
Capture a region of the screen
then copy objects one by one onto the PPT slide.
In this activity for example, I adapted the task found in Storyfun’s sample unit. I want students to tell me if some nouns are countable or uncountable.
FILL-IN TASK (USING SCREENSHOTS)
In this other activity, I like the worksheet but I would like to adapt it reducing the options given. Again, I’ll use Picpick, capturing a region of the screen, then copying objects one by one onto my PPT slide. I’ve also coloured the options (Picture tools/Format/Recolor).
7. Board games
You can easily make your own board game using Power Point.
Copy and paste a Board Game you like from Google Images
Create counters using shapes (Insert/Shapes)
Create a dice by downloading this video and then embedding it from file (Movies/From File). To roll the dice: double click. Students can say ‘Stop’ when they want you to stop the dice (click once).
In this example, tiles are either yellow or white and purple. Later I’ll colour-code my questions (easy or hard) writing them in new slides.
CONCLUSIONS
First, we had a look at the benefits of using only one tool when teaching online. Later I’ve demonstrated how to create common-type tasks on PowerPoint.
If (like me) you like experimenting with Edtech tools, is there something else you wish you were able to create using PowerPoint?
Instead, if you are looking for more tools, make sure you check this article, you’ll find a list of the only tools you really need when teaching online.