Record Narrations in PowerPoint and Upload to YouTube

Durham Tech's Instructional Technologies team teaches workshops on using Office Mix to narrate PowerPoint presentations.

Office Mix is our preferred tool because...

• it's free and easy to use,
• lets you add engaging elements like webcam, quiz questions, inking, etc.
• most important! provides a simple way to upload your finished presentations to a streaming web server, for viewing by your students

One drawback, however: Office Mix is currently available for Windows computers only. For those who want to create narrated PowerPoints on a Mac -- or for those who just like to do things differently! -- basic instructions for an alternative method are provided below.

IMPORTANT:

• After narrating your PowerPoint, you should not attempt to email the narrated PowerPoint file to your students or post it in Sakai. PowerPoints enhanced with audio are too big and unwieldy to put on the web or send via email. You must upload your narrated PowerPoint to a streaming server so students can view it. If not using Office Mix, we recommend uploading to YouTube.
• By default, YouTube allows you to upload videos that are no longer than 15 minutes. If your video is longer than 15 minutes, you can follow YouTube's steps to increase your video length limit.

To Create Narrated PowerPoints WITHOUT Office Mix

• You can use PowerPoint's built-in feature to record slide narrations. Here you can find instructions for many versions of PowerPoint:
  • Microsoft's Instructions: Record a slide show with narration and slide timings
• When finished with your narrations, save your presentation as a video (MP4 file).
• Upload your video to YouTube (Gmail account required)
  • Remember: If your video is longer than 15 minutes, you'll need to follow YouTube's steps to increase your video length limit (if you haven't done so previously).