Using Office Mix to Improve Learning

Using Microsoft Office Mix to Improve Learning

MIXing it Up

education

FOREWORD ...................................................................................................................................... 3

WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF THIS EBOOK? ............................................................................. 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................17

USEFUL LINKS AND REFERENCES ........................................................................................18

The Microsoft Brand Guidelines for Education | 27

the microsoft visual identity

The Microsoft Brand Guidelines for Education | 27

the microsoft visual identity

Contents An Essential Guide to Office Mix

Page

SECTION ONE: An introduction to Office Mix

5Page

SECTION TWO: A walkthrough of Office Mix

7Page

SECTION THREE: Making the most of Office Mix

12Page

SECTION FOUR: Adding Office Mix to PowerPoint

15Page

SECTION FIVE: Feedback

16Page

education2 An Essential Guide to Office Mix

The greatest presentations I’ve ever seen are ones that have a combination of a great visual background and a presenter who is able to tell their story, not only with their voice but with their energy, enthusiasm and non-verbal signals... and possibly a prop or two!

21st Century learning in the information age means that the presentation of knowledge or information in a single format is no longer required, information on every topic is available using search techniques. Presentations are required to deliver so much more and must be an effective way to explore concepts and enthuse and excite learners about the subject.

A good presenter can capture the attention and excitement of their audience helping to stimulate learning and retain knowledge. I’ve always wondered how you capture that ‘wow’ factor in a presentation shared online without a video of the live presentation itself. Also, it’s tricky (and time consuming!) to write ‘notes’ pages that really capture the essence of what has been said.

As we move towards anywhere anytime access to tools, content and services, how can we be sure that learners understand the key concepts within a presentation and don’t skip through the slides with little understanding of what the creator is trying to convey?

Feedback has always been a key part of learning, the ability to share online, comment and re-share is a phenomenon which is culturally relevant today for all learners. How can we provide opportunities to do this in a safe environment and ensure we keep track of the feedback, views and results?

The solutions to these thoughts are considered in using exciting new tools that Office Mix provides.

Foreword.

An Essential Guide to Office Mix

Ollie Bray Head Teacher Kingussie High School, Scotland

W: www.olliebray.com www.kingussiehigh.org.uk

T: @olliebray


Enhance the understanding of the benefits of ICT and technology across the curriculum including literacy, numeracy, technology, personal, social and health education.

Provide practical information on how technology can be used to increase student motivation and enhance learning.

Give teachers the confidence to use technology in class as a learning and teaching methodology that reaches across all subject areas and age groups.

Reinforce the importance and place of ICT skills for productivity and the 21st century skills agenda.

Encourage teachers to consider using games design and other technologies with students to help children become creators rather than consumers of content.

Improve advice on how teachers and school leaders might tackle some of the common challenges encountered when trying to develop the use of technology in schools.

Most importantly – to share some of the tips, tricks and tools that I have found useful over the years which should help you not make quite as many mistakes as I’ve made during my time as a teacher, school leader and national adviser! By using the term ‘learners’ in this eBook this should be taken to mean both young and adult learners, including your staff.

The aims of this Microsoft eBook ‘MIXing it Up’ are to:


2

3

4

5

6

1


Section One

An introduction to Office Mix.

In short, Office Mix is a new additional function to give super powers for PowerPoint.

Quite often educators refer to a blank presentation as a ‘blank canvas’ and to some extent that has been true if you think of this in terms of words and pictures. PowerPoint Presentations are just that, a blank canvas, there are no bad PowerPoints only bad presentations! Office Mix now enables you to have a much richer palette or ‘toolbox’ at your disposal including audio, visual and interactive tools.

Over the years PowerPoint creators have embraced the powerful use of the image moving away from bullet point summaries. However, when a creator shares their PowerPoint presentation online or it is viewed independently how can they be certain that the audience have understood the key concepts? This is especially a concern if the PowerPoint presentation is image or graphics based. Images are and can be widely open to interpretation, adding the right mix of audio and visual ‘voice overs’ can ensure the impact of your presentation is maximised for your learners anywhere, anytime.

Office Mix also has the ability to turn your PowerPoint Presentations and slide decks into interactive online lessons that you can share with your learners. The name ‘mix’ comes from the concept of mixing videos, quizzes and other content into the presentation.

This means that with Office Mix you can create a presentation that can contain slides, videos and live (secure) web pages. Do you ever wish your snipping tool captured a video image as well as a static one? With office mix you now have this.

You can also create a quick quiz on the presentation to make sure the viewer has understood the key concepts. Quiz questions can include formative feedback that can be customised for right and wrong answers.

One of the most powerful features of Office Mix is the ability to be able to swiftly convert your PowerPoint slides into an online presentation by quickly combining video from your webcam or audio captured by your computer. One very simple use of mix would be to live record the audio from a presentation as you were running through it with a group of students. This could then be shared on the ‘Mix’ website (hosted for free by Microsoft) for students to view again in their own time or for students to view if they were absent from class.

Another great feature is that you are able to track who has viewed your Mix presentations and videos. Also, while people are encouraged to share their work with the wider education community (under a Creative Commons License) you can also add some control to who gets to see your ‘Mixes’ or protect them from viewing with a secure logon (such as Office 365).


1 “Office Mix is a Game-Changer for Teachers.”


Section One An Essential Guide to Office Mix

To re-cap, Office Mix enables you to:

▪ Tell your story with your voice and non-verbal but visual communication – Record your voice and video while you present and write on your slides. Inspire students with your digital passion and conviction.

▪ Snip away! Capture footage of what you’re are doing or viewing on your screen.

▪ Inspire your students – Bring interactivity to your presentation. Use voice, video and handwriting to add your thoughts and capture your energy. Become a digital a leader of learning.

▪ Interact and engage with learners – Engage your viewers and subscribers with quizzes, polls, videos and apps. Provide formative feedback to help students grow and improve.

▪ Gain important insights and gather feedback on your performance – Analytics are automatically provided for every slide and user. See your impact on student progress and use the data that you collect to inform future lesson plans.

▪ Power to educate – Bring your lessons to life with your voice, video, assessments and interactive apps. Personalise students’ learning and see their progress with immediate results. Be a role model.

▪ Power to do more – Capture the energy of a live presentation. Create a mix once, customise easily and share with everyone, everywhere.

In the next section we will have a look at the practicalities of making the above happen!


Section Two

A walkthrough of Office Mix.

In Section One we explored the big picture of what Office Mix can do to add superpowers to your PowerPoint as you know it. This next section of ‘MIXing it Up’ walks you through examples of Office Mix in practice and with step-by-step instructions. In the useful links section you will find a selection of videos which you can use to accompany this guide.

Getting Started

To try Office Mix for the first time whilst using this guide you can create a blank presentation from scratch or maximise the potential of an existing one.

To begin – open up Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 on your device and the following will appear. For the purposes of this Office Mix guide we will start with a blank PowerPoint presentation.

The first thing you’ll notice is a new MIX Tab on the top PowerPoint Ribbon on the end.

Click the tab open and you’ll see all the new tools available to you. All the icons are easily recognisable and intuitive, they function similarly to other aspects of PowerPoint that will be familiar to you.

Record Mode

On the left is the Slide Recording function enabling you to add voice and video to each of your slides, ensure you have a microphone and camera on your device and they are switched on. If you don’t have a built in mic or camera (or are unhappy with the quality) it is easy to purchase an external one.


2

2.1

2.2

Practical Tip! There are plenty of opportunities to get your recording how you like it, you can record as many times as you like!

Helpful Tip! It is helpful to record your ‘voice over’ once you’re happy with the layout, design and content of your slides. Think of this as the final task of creating your perfect PowerPoint presentation.

Helpful Tip! If using the audio / video tools for the first time it might be good to use a PowerPoint presentation you already know and love, you can then compare and contrast the two!

“Small steps, big possibilities.”


Section Two

Record Mode allows you to record audio or audio and video together.

Key Question: When might audio be better than video? It might be that you don’t wish to distract from the slides and images by using non-verbal communication signals. However, for translation or signing as a visual aid, this could be the perfect tool!

Once you click the Record Mode icon your PowerPoint slides will now be in record mode, the black background provides all the further functions you need.

To progress your slides whilst recording you can use the blue arrows or by using the arrow (cursor) keys on your device keyboard. If you have animations or transitions in your slides they will play as you have set them up.

Microphone, Camera, Action!

You are now ready to start recording. In the top left hand corner are your start / stop buttons. When recording you’ll notice the buttons are now placed at the bottom right hand corner ready for you to hit stop!

Writing on Slides or Inking

You can also write, scribble or ‘ink’ on your slides whilst you are recording. If you have ever used Microsoft Paint you’ll be familiar with the pen, colour and eraser icons, these work in the same way.

Key Question: When might you want to write on your slides? For example when emphasising a key concept, answer or area within an image.


Helpful Tip! Think about your background, what you look like on screen, again practising is a way to overcome the first time nerves and giggles!

Helpful Tip! An orange flashing line appears around the slide – this is the reminder that you are recording! The timer also will be counting upwards.

Helpful Tip! Firstly check your camera and microphone, the control box to the right of the screen has drop down arrows to show you the camera and microphone you have enabled.

Helpful Tip! This works best with a stylus on a touch and be prepped to know what you want to ‘ink’!


Section Two

When you have finished hit the stop button (it should be flashing red if you are in record mode). Your screen will revert back to the previous style and the buttons will be back in the top left hand corner of the screen.

Creating and Inserting Quizzes

On the left hand side of the Office Mix Ribbon you’ll see the icon for Quizzes and Videos Apps.

The quiz you have selected will now be inserted into your slide, you can resize it easily as you would with any PowerPoint object. To show you how simple it is, here is a quiz, ‘How many legs does an Octopus have?’. We have given 3 simple answers with a teaser image in the background. You can make the background as bright, colourful and as (un)helpful as you wish! You can preview and edit the quiz at any time.

You can create single or multiple choice quizzes and set how many attempts each learner gets to answer correctly.

The right answer gets a helpful ‘Correct, Well Done!’ Green flag.

After uploading you can see how well your learners and whole class have done!

Recording a Screen Capture and Screen Shot

Screen Capture is a clever tool to capture live web, app demos or anything you are doing on your desktop! If you ever wanted to show someone how to do something on your device or web this tool is the solution.


2.3

2.4

Practical Tip! You can review your recording (and delete!) by using the buttons highlighted below. How did you sound?! What would you change?

Practical Tip! Screen Shot is for taking quick shots of any area of your screen or other windows you have open. It’s a super powered ‘snipping tool’ that you may have used before. If you click on the icon it will give you choices of which window you would like to take a shot from, which you can then insert into PowerPoint.

Helpful Tip! Have a look at the videos provided in the links page, all of these were recorded using Office Mix tools, particularly the Screen Capture Tool.

Practical Tip! This clever tool has lots of options, you can hide the top toolbar if you are using a ‘whole screen function’. You can also show (toggle) your mouse pointer (cursor) to emphasise any steps you take in your screen capture.

Helpful Tip! You will need to have network connectivity to use this function. Clicking the icon will enable a pop-up window with a variety of great quiz apps and videos.

Helpful Tip! You can add comments to each response selected helping to guide learners through their choices.


Section Two

Uploading and Sharing Online

Once you are happy with your new mixed up PowerPoint presentation you are ready to consider how you would like your audience to view it. With Office Mix you are now able to upload your presentation online and share with whoever you choose. This function gives you much greater control like many other online presentation sharing platforms. The instructions are easy and simple to follow too.

The icons below are grouped together on the Office Mix ribbon.

You are now ready to ‘Upload to Mix’, click the middle icon as shown above. It’s as simple as that! Once again, you will be notified if there are any issues or changes that may be required. You will also be asked if you want to create an offline video of your presentation, this is very helpful as a backup. As a presenter you will know to be prepared for anything!

Once your presentation has been uploaded you will be able to click the ‘Show me my Mix’ link to enable you to start sharing. Your latest upload will always be at the top! You are now ready to edit all the settings and descriptions.

The settings are very easy to change, a sliding tool bar shows you how to increase access and include ways in which others can modify or share your work.


2.5

Practical Tip! Use the Preview icon to ensure you are totally happy with your presentation. Have you checked it for spelling, consistency and accuracy? When you preview the Office Mix program helps you check the entire presentation! It will notify you if any changes are required.

Practical Tip! If you are uploading your mix for the first time you will be asked to sign in with your account details. Your presentation will now be uploaded to the Gallery!

Helpful Tip! Promoting safe and responsible use of the internet and digital skills is an important point to discuss with your learners. It enables you to cover this topic in a safe, non-threatening and constructive way. A link is provided for education resources explaining about Copyright and Creative Commons.


Section Two

Analytics

Many online presentation or video hosting websites provide a degree of information about how many times (and where) your video or presentation has been viewed – also known as ‘analytics’. Office Mix goes one step further and provides you with information on:

▪ How many people watched each slide.

▪ Which people watched your slides.

▪ How long each person spent watching each slide.

▪ See results on how each learner performed on the quizzes and labs.

With all this information at your fingertips, you are able analyse just how well your presentations have been received and much more.


2.6


Section Three

Making the most of Office Mix.

Flipped Learning

Over decades the traditional pattern of teaching has been to assign students to read textbooks and work on problems outside of school, while listening to lectures and taking tests in class.

In flip teaching (also sometimes called backwards classroom, reverse instruction, flipping the classroom and reverse teaching) the students first study the topic by themselves, typically using video lessons prepared by the teacher or third parties such as the Khan Academy. Then, in class students apply the knowledge by solving problems and doing practical work. The teacher tutors and coaches the students when they become stuck, rather than imparting the initial lesson face-to-face.

Flipped classrooms free up class time for hands-on work. Students learn by doing and asking questions. They also provide really good opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and support.

Flipped learning is not exclusive to a 1:1 learning environment but as the pedagogy relies on students accessing digital content both inside and outside the school a high computer to student ratio is useful if you want to develop transformation change.

As well as the third party content (such as the Khan Academy, mentioned above) teachers can also produce (and students respond well to) teacher-generated content. Tools such as Microsoft Live Movie Maker and screen recording built into Windows 8 can help teachers prepare for this sort of lesson. Videos, along with follow up tasks and questions can then be hosted in online environments such as SharePoint Online, which is part of the Office 365 Solution for Education.

What makes a good PowerPoint ‘Mixed Up’ Presentation?

To answer this question we have to think about what makes a good PowerPoint presentation. Earlier in this guide we alluded to Office Mix providing a much richer palette of tools on which to create something special on a blank canvas. The following ideas help to define some of the characteristics of effective PowerPoint presentations and how they can be built on with Office Mix.

The 10-20-30 Rule

The ‘10-20-30’ Rule provided a really useful opportunity for discussions about what was the ideal length and style of a PowerPoint presentation. The rule which circulated widely in 2005 is very simple. Guy states that a PowerPoint presentation should have no more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes and have no text less than 30 point font. “It doesn’t matter whether your idea will revolutionise the world, you need to spell out the important nuggets in a few minutes, a couple of slides and several words on a slide”.

The 10-20-30 rule is such a useful concept for building on with Office Mix, where the presenter can add in all the rich commentary or story, but also have the opportunity to practice their delivery before an important live presentation.


3

3.1 3.2

“ Flipped classrooms free up class time for hands-on work.”


Section Three

Props

Did you know that ‘props’ is actually a short word for ‘theatrical property’!? Props can be incredibly powerful when used appropriately in presentations. Think about what props could be used, having one or two visual aids can really engage your audience, even whilst the slides are playing in the background. Whilst recording your audio or visual can you play any other sounds or hold up an example? An example to watch is Jill Bolte Taylor who demonstrates this at her TED Talk, Stroke of Insight. Jill tells her fascinating story using a visual aid and also actions, and as her voice changes with pitch, speed and tone, she paints a powerful picture with her story.

Opening Introduction

The first few seconds of a presentation are the most important, practice your opening. Remember a cheery good morning, afternoon or evening might be completely out of context to your audience who might be viewing your presentation at any time of the day (or anywhere!). Welcoming your audience with a short introduction of who you are and the topic in two sentences might be the perfect way to set the scene.

Closing and Follow up

Always reiterate at the end where your audience can provide their feedback, contact you (if appropriate) or find further information. It not only provides a natural ending, but also provides the essential opportunity for follow up. Including any references or copyright notices on your final slide contributes to good role-modelling for your learners.


Read more Jill Bolte Taylor Stroke of Insight


www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

Section Three

Top Ten Teaching ideas with Office Mix

Consider using Office Mix Presentations to develop ‘Flipped Learning’ Scenarios (mentioned previously).

Build up your Office Mix resources to ensure that learners who are absent or using distant learning methods can revisit classroom presentations.

Compare and contrast presentations that have the additional voice over, what did the audience find about the two versions, did it help understand key concepts to have the voice over? What else did the voice over presenter communicate? Discuss the importance of different types of communication, visual, verbal and non-verbal.

Discuss with learners what ‘Copyright’ means to them, useful resources available to support discussions about copyright are in the links pages. Highlight the use of the online image search function within PowerPoint using Clipart and Bing search.

Discuss with learners the composition of notes pages and construct helpful notes pages highlighting any additional points that the presentation might contain.

Office Mix and PowerPoint can be a collaborative exercise and then reflection activity. Working as a group, ask learners to create a presentation, each learner can then take it in turns to add their own visual / audio, saving different versions of the same presentation each with their own style of voice over. The opportunity is perfect for constructive feedback, this activity can be used in ‘elevator style’ pitches or even mock interviews.

Use the quiz function at the end as a recap to the key concepts in the PowerPoint function, use images in the slides to highlight answers.

Use the recording function to develop skills and confidence in presenting with reading from notes, and how they can use cue cards or other signals to help them present.

Discuss with learners the importance of styles and fonts, how accessible is this to an audience, can different colour pairings assist or provide challenges for learners who have different styles or needs in learning? Create some practical examples of what doesn’t work – and does!

Always stress the golden rule – there is no such thing as bad PowerPoint, just bad presentations.


3.3

1

2

3

7

6

9

10

5

8

“ There is no such thing as bad PowerPoint! ”

4


Section Four

Adding Office Mix to PowerPoint.

Downloading Office Mix

To use the Office Mix add-on you will already be using Microsoft Office 2013 or Office 365.

Using your browser go to mix.office.com and follow the on-screen instructions. Ensure you have already closed any PowerPoint programs you may have open.

You will also be required to sign in with either a personal or organisational Microsoft account.

A few technical requirements

Follow OfficeMix on Twitter (@officeMixTeam)

Office Mix is worth following on Twitter (if you are into that sort of thing!). One daily ‘Tweet’ that is worth watching out for is the ‘Mix of the day’ – here you can get ideas for your own presentations and mixes.


4

4.1 4.3

4.2

Version of Microsoft Office: PowerPoint 2013, Office 2013 or Office 365.

Microphone and Camera: Inbuilt or an external one depending on your choice of quality.

Your Device: 2GHz or faster x86-bit or x64-bit processor with SSE2 with 2GB RAM.

Hard Drive Disk Space: 1GB available.

Operating System: Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1.


Section Five

Feedback.

The Microsoft Office Mix customer team encourage and welcome feedback, if you have any comments at all please go to the customer forum. You can provide advice or feedback and also search the knowledge base.


5

Read more Office Mix User Voice


https://officemix.uservoice.com


Acknowledgements.

A huge thank you to the following people who have influenced my practice and thinking over the years. In no particular order…

▪ Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Education for Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Public Sector Organisation

▪ Louise Jones, The Highland Council, Scotland

▪ Stuart Ball, Microsoft UK

▪ Tim Bush, Microsoft UK

Note the above acknowledgements does in no way indicate that the aforementioned people have acknowledged or endorsed the contents of this book.


Useful Links and References.

Helpful videos of Office Mix in action online to accompany this eBook, all created using Office Mix!

Other Useful Links and References

An online learning community which is free for everyone, making use of global online interactive learning.

View some of the recorded live presentations by some of the most energetic and passionate presenters.

Example of using props and non-verbal communication in presenting from the TED Talk in 2008.

View Microsoft’s educational presentations and others.


Read more Office Mix Link

Read more Recording a Screen Capture

Read more Tips and Tricks

Read more Creating and Inserting Quizzes

Read more Uploading and Sharing

Read more Customer Feedback

Read more Khan Academy

Read more TED

Read more Jill Bolte Taylor Stroke of Insight

Read more Microsoft Partners in Learning

Read more Office 365 for Education

Read more Slideshare

Read more Copyright Education

Read more The Office Mix Team on Twitter

Read more Guy Kawasaki


https://mix.office.com/

https://mix.office.com/watch/17dx9k3gjcbhy

https://mix.office.com/watch/rpo46zuz1d46

https://mix.office.com/watch/xnj2969nukmb

https://mix.office.com/watch/s5fz3htbj72d

https://officemix.uservoice.com

www.khanacademy.org

www.ted.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

http://www.educatornetwork.com

office.microsoft.com/en-gb/academic

www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk

http://copyrightsandwrongs.nen.gov.uk

www.twitter.com/officemixteam

http://blog.guykawasaki.com

© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Click here to return to the start

Technology

Using Office Mix to Improve Learning