View source for IDEAS to make your PRESENTATION OF CONTENT more ENGAGING

Our students want opportunities to interact with course materials. Online students need more than a textbook reading, or a long page of boring text pasted into Sakai. They need to discover how the materials and courses relate to their lives. We already have materials we've been using and have important facts and ideas we need to share.

''We can help our students by using the following ideas to organize facts and convey important concepts in a variety of formats. Each "idea" has links to instructions and has been assigned a difficulty level to help you get started or advance your skills:''

{| class="wikitable" border-width: 1px;" 
|- class="wikitable" style="color: black; background-color: #ffffcc;"
| '''What have you already got or what do you need to convey?'''
| '''Ideas to make it more engaging'''
| '''Difficulty Level'''
|- 
|  style="vertical-align:top;" | Does your content consist of lengthy,<br />
boring '''TEXT''' pasted in Sakai or in Word docs?
| Improve the formatting and add images 
* [[May_2016_Favorite_Tech_Tools |Photos for Class]] makes it easy to find images you can use without copyright concerns 
Embed YouTube videos to add variety (in [[Sakai: Lessons |Lessons]]) 
* Search [[May_2016_Favorite_Tech_Tools |YouTube]] and filter for subtitled/CC videos
| style="vertical-align:top;" | Easy<br /><br /><br />Very Easy! 
|-
|  style="vertical-align:top;" | Do you give '''PowerPoint''' files to students?
| Add images to PowerPoints that primarily contain text and bullets
* [[May_2016_Favorite_Tech_Tools |Photos for Class]] makes it easy to find images it's safe for you to use in your PowerPoints 
Use your PowerPoint notes to create multimedia presentations 
* [[Media: Handout-Narrating-PPTs.pdf|Narrate your PowerPoints]] and turn them into videos
| style="vertical-align:top;" | Easy<br /><br /><br />Medium
|- 
| Do you already link to (or embed) '''videos'''?
| style="vertical-align:top;" |
* Add worksheets for students to complete, emphasizing key points in videos<br />
* Use [[EDpuzzle |EDpuzzle]] to make videos interactive and to stimulate thinking
| style="vertical-align:top;" |Easy<br />Medium
|- 
| Do you need to '''draw or illustrate''' something to explain it?
| Use [[May_2015_Favorite_Tech_Tools |ExplainEverything]] to "draw" and narrate complex info
| Medium
|-
| Do you need to '''demonstrate or explain''' something on your computer screen? 
| Use [https://courses.durhamtech.edu/wiki/index.php/Sakai:_Warpwire#Workshop_Handouts Warpwire] to create a screencast video
| Medium
|- 
|  style="vertical-align:top;" | Do you need to provide a '''quick oral explanation''' to clarify a point?
|
* Use [https://courses.durhamtech.edu/wiki/index.php/Sakai:_Warpwire#Workshop_Handouts Warpwire] to create a short voice recording.   
* Use [https://courses.durhamtech.edu/wiki/index.php/Sakai:_Warpwire#Workshop_Handouts Warpwire] to create a short "selfie" video 
* Or use your smartphone or tablet to make the video, then  publish it to [https://courses.durhamtech.edu/wiki/index.php/Sakai:_Warpwire#Workshop_Handouts Warpwire]
| style="vertical-align:top;" | Easy<br />Medium<br />Easy 
|- 
| Do you need to '''interact with students''' in real time?
| Use [[Sakai: Meetings |Sakai's Meetings]] tool to hold a webinar-style meeting with students online
| Advanced
|-
|}
<!-- Add back after fixed-audio files don't work after import: https://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/SAK-33674 
* Use Sakai's Audio Recording Clip tool to create a three minute or less voice recording. Here's the [https://courses.durhamtech.edu/wiki/images/f/f4/Sakai-RecordAudioTool.pdf step-by-step instructions (pdf)].
* Add examples of selfie videos  ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HR9AN4pc-k Example selfie] at 3:24)
* Add examples audio recording, screencast video too? 
-->