Using PowerPoint as a Hypermedia Authoring Environment??

One of the listservs I follow recently had a discussion focused on the topic of what software tool schools should purchase for teachers wanting to involve their students in multimedia authoring. As the discussion evolved, it was apparent that there were two identifiable groups - one advocating PowerPoint and the other HyperStudio. Various arguments were advanced. Pro-HyperStudio participants argued that HyperStudio was created specifically for the purpose of engaging learners in authoring and pro-PowerPoint participants suggested that PowerPoint was the tool students would encounter when entering the "real world." Anyone who has followed a Mac vs. Windows discussion probably has a sense of how such a discussion might play out.

It is not my intent to involve you in a debate over which tool would be best for classroom applications, nor do I assume that these are the only two viable alternatives. However, because I have tended to label PowerPoint as a presentation tool, the discussion did get me thinking about whether or not Power Point qualifies as what I describe as a hypermedia authoring environment.

We suggest (Chapter 7) that a multimedia authoring environment differs from a slide show or presentation tool in allowing the production of interactive hypermedia. Basic qualifications of interactive hypermedia would include:

• Interactive - Control is given to the information receiver rather than the information presenter.
• Hypermedia - Options are available which allow for variations in what elements of information are experienced and in what order.

Here is one way to explore the multimedia authoring capabilities of PowerPoint. Try treating PowerPoint as if it were HyperStudio and seeing if you can create similar interactive hypermedia products. I took the following approach. When you start PowerPoint, you are given the option of selecting the autocontent wizard, a template or a blank presentation. If you select Blank presentation, you are prompted to select the format for a new slide. If you select the Blank slide, you now have a file consisting of one blank (white) slide. Think of this one slide as a card. In fact, use the "Duplicate Slide" option in the Insert Menu to duplicate this blank slide several times. Taking the HyperStudio perspective, you now have a stack of blank cards.

Individual slides (cards) can be modified with shapes, images, text boxes, video segments, and sounds (see options available in the Insert Menu). Under the Slide Show menu, you might also explore "Action Buttons." Here you have options such as "Home," "Next Slide," and "Last Slide." The "HyperLink" option in the Insert Menu allows any selected option (image, text segment, shape) to function as a link. When an object is turned into a hyperlink a dialog box opens allowing the object to move the user to another slide, to a web side (a browser is launched), or to some document (the program associated with the document is launched). So, it is possible to create multiple links on individual slides (cards) allowing authors to offer users options for exploring.

If you were to create the stack as I have described, it would likely operate very much like HyperStudio when you use it in Show mode. There is one problem you may not experience and might not anticipate. Trying click on a part of a slide that is not a button. This is the type of thing someone unfamiliar with the intended use of the project might do. You will find that PowerPoint reverts to slide show mode and advances you to the next slide. In some designs, such an unplanned move might be very confusing to the user.

Here is a fix that prevents the unexpected consequence just described. Use the rectangle tool to cover the entire card with a rectangle. Once created, apply the "No Fill" options so the rectangle has no color (it will appear as if it is transparent). Next, use the hyperlink option to link to the rectangle to the slide you are working on. The consequence of such a link is that clicking on the slide will redisplay the same slide giving the appearance that nothing has happened. Any objects which are to be linked to other slides are added after (or on top) of this transparent rectangle. This fix works great in the newest versions of PowerPoint. In older version, clicks in quick succession move the user ahead to the next slide.

So, you can pretty much turn PowerPoint into HyperStudio. You do not have to take the blank slide approach I have described, but this is a good way to experiment. Is using Power Point in this fashion worth the effort and would it be a reasonable approach for students? These are questions I cannot answer for you.

You can save your project as a Show and the user would automatically experience the project in show format when the file is opened. You might also make the effort to download a PowerPoint viewer from the Microsoft web site. A viewer allows the user to work with the project without the PowerPoint program and it is a good idea to include a viewer on the disk or CD if you are not certain that the computer the disk will be used on has PowerPoint loaded.

Return to Chapter 7