Create “Hotspot” presentations to engage learners with tools you already know
In a world of digital learning, finding new ways to engage learners without having to entirely learn new tools, websites, or software is incredibly valuable. Learn how to use a standard slideshow tool, such as Keynote or Google Slides, to build engaging hotspot presentations similar to other popular online presentation tools.
This is easy to do and only requires learning one key skill — linking to other slides within the presentation.
In the upcoming weeks, our now novel version of virtual school is going to lose some luster with students. Whatever you are doing today to engage students online will soon become a pattern, and predictable patterns are the kryptonite of engaged learners.
For this reason let’s focus on some new ideas for using tools you may already know and use in order to teach in new ways. In today’s spotlight, I wanted to showcase a way to build presentations (slide decks) that do not follow a linear, start to finish path. We are talking about the use of tools like Google Slides, Keynote, or PowerPoint. This means the audience can click around in the presentation, making choices and clicking on appropriate icons to self-direct their own experience through the topic.
View an overview of how to create a hotspot presentation using Keynote (similar to a Thinglink presentation). This includes directions for grading in Google Classroom.
A “hotspot” presentation is one where a single base graphic will have multiple “clickable” points on it. Each clickable point is a way to present new, relevant information. For clarity, let’s use an example in the periodic table of elements. The base graphic, the periodic table of elements, is at the core of the lesson. As a teacher, you will want to point out many key pieces of information specific to the periodic table. By placing clickable icons over the top of the base image (or in this case clickable “targets” over the top of a picture of the periodic table), you can deliver relevant information, such as the atomic weight, atomic number, and the group to which the element belongs.
When teaching in a face-to-face model, teachers can easily walk students through the deeper elements of a topic in an organized way, but in a linear slideshow presentation (one that starts with the first slide in the slide deck and ends with the last slide), making these connections becomes more challenging for students. This is where hotspot presentations truly shine. With a hotspot presentation, students begin to make natural connections to deeper topics simply through the “links” that are made naturally based upon the way that the presentation is designed.
Designing a Hotspot Presentation
Choose a great focal image
Start with a great base image. This is really the “home screen” of your presentation. Select a topic or point of focus that will continually come back to this base image.
Teaching a lesson on Gettysburg?
Choosing an interesting, detailed, and appropriate image is essential (not too graphic)
Maybe the focal image of somebody like 69-year-old civilian fighter John Burns would be appropriate. There is just enough detail to draw in students, but the details are not entirely obvious at first sight. Some of the key hotspots I might include on this photo are: 1) Burns’ civilian clothing, 2) rifle style, 3) lack of wear on Burns’ boots, and 4) his aged features. This image is authentic and offers just enough detail to highlight some key areas of the topic.
Maybe you are teaching on lesson on the bawdiness of Shakespeare’s plays and why Shakespeare elected to include this in his writing. A good look at some of the features of The Globe will help students to understand that plays were written for the masses of common people. Focusing in on 1) the distance between actors and attendees, 2) the tiers of seating for those who could afford private seating, and 3) the lack of seating in the rows closest to the stage (standing room only), would be great hotspots for this particular image.
The key for any hotspot presentation is selecting a great key image. This is the image the entire lesson is built upon.
Storyboard your slides on paper
I always tell people to draw out complex ideas on paper first. It is so much faster to plan on paper before building a complex, technology-rich tool that just does not work out later due to poor planning.
When designing for a hotspot presentation you need to draw out three key elements.
Focal image with key hotspots indicated
What does your focal image slide look like? You’ll need to roughly mark out the hotspots (artistic skills not needed — text is fine) that you want to identify. It might look something like this picture.
The next planning step is to simply draw out the “map” of the slide show. Keep in mind that this is not a linear presentation. Viewers can click on any hotspot at any time. For that reason, we need to map out the viewer’s experience to make building the presentation easier. Here is an example that I drew just to show a rough outline.
Notice that this presentation is only five slides in total. And three of those slides are nearly identical in their design. This means I can save time by really only having to design three slides, and then copying one of those slides twice to look identical.
Finally, you just need a think through and possibly sketch your buttons. These are the links that will be clicked by viewers. You can get an idea of that from the photo I sketched above. In planning I did not realize I needed a final slide, but as I sketched it out I realized that I wanted a way for the viewer to see a slide on Shakespeare before the presentation ended, so I added the “End” button to my design.
Building a Hotspot Presentation
For the purpose of simplicity, I will assume you already know how to generally build a slide deck presentation. The key to successfully developing a hotspot presentation, then, is just one little piece of information: linking. And whether you use Keynote, Google Slides, or PowerPoint, linking is possible in all of these tools.
Building the Focal Image Slide
The Focal Image slide is made up of: 1) a primary image, and 2) several icons layered on top of that image. Start by adding your primary image to the slide first. This will set the stage for the slide, placing it at the back of images. This will be helpful later.
Next, choose your hotspot icons. This can just be a shape, clip art, or text. I recommend making these icons roughly the same size (copy and paste works well) for a more uniform look in the end. You can also add title text and other text boxes to help viewers navigate the presentation. Once you have this page set up entirely, click on each icon one more time and make sure your layering brings the icons to the front. Again, this just makes it easier to work with later.
Building the first choice slide
Sometimes hotspot presentations can become very long and be quite challenging to build. This tip will save you time. Build and link one of your choice slides (the slides that contain the information about each hot spot) first, and then duplicate that slide. This will make your presentation look more uniform, and it will save you many clicks (and possible linking errors) later.
Your template choice slide needs 3 key items: 1) a space/box for you to type relevant information about the hotspot the viewer selected (as well as a place for additional images), 2) a “home” icon that will take the user back to the focal image slide, and 3) a “end” icon that will take the user to a final slide that will end the presentation.
Linking tutorial for Google Slides presentations, Keynote for Mac, and Keynote for iOS. Learn to link and hotspot presentations are a breeze.
The text/image space is fairly self explanatory. This is where the instructional material will go about one of your hotspots. At this time, just type one identifiable word about the hotspot topic. You can add details later.
Your home icon is just a shape or image that users will click to get back to the focal image slide. Once you have added the shape or image, I recommend adding a little text box on or near it that indicates this link takes the viewer back to the start. “Home” works, but you can use whatever vernacular makes sense. Finally, it’s time to link this image.
Finally, your “end” presentation icon. You will need to build one slide that is your final slide in the slideshow. Think of it as the exit door for your presentation. Without this exit option, your viewers will be stuck in an infinite loop and will never be able to end the presentation.
First, add a slide to your presentation that is the “final” or “end” slide. This will be the final information your audience will see before leaving. Then, back on your first choice slide, create an icon, give it an “end show” label/text box, and link it to the final slide in your presentation. You’ll use the same linking strategy you just learned, but you will point it to the final slide this time.
Duplicate and customize your choice slides
Congratulations. You have done the hard work by building your buttons and links for your choice slides. Now you will duplicate your first choice slide for each choice that you want to viewers to have on the focal image slide. For now, just make these slides and edit them quickly by giving them text that represents the choice. This can get confusing, so document your slides as you go with labels. You can come back to edit and perfect these slides later, but right now we are on the business end of building this slide deck.
Once you are done, it’s on to the final technical step - linking your focal image hotspots.
Linking focal image hotspots to choice slides
That last step in this process (other than adding customized content to your choice slides) is linking the icons on your first slide (your focal image slide) to the appropriate choice slide you just finished creating. And the good news is you already know how to do this. One skill, learning to link to others slides within a presentation, opens up all kinds of possibilities for ways to make your presentations more interactive. So go ahead — click on each icon on your focal image slide and link that icon to the correct slide.
Obviously you have work to do tin adding content to the choice and exit slides, but the skill of linking them together in a unique way is done. For the sake of your audience, please take a moment to check your links. This process can be fraught with errors, and a little bit of link checking now (hit play on the presentation and click on the links) will save your audience of fits and frustrations later.
One last tiP: avoiding auto-advance in slide shows
A hotspot presentation slide show is a non-linear presentations. You are working to create the illusion for the viewer that they are in custom-designed software. Nothing can ruin that illusion quite as quickly as them inadvertently advancing to the next slide, a slide they were not supposed to see because it is out of context.
For my Keynote (and PowerPoint) using friends, I’ve got great news. You can be assured that with the switch of a setting your users will not advance without clicking on a link.
Keynote for Mac
With the Keynote presentation open on your Mac, click on the Documents button in the upper right. Under “Presentation Type” select “Links Only”. That will take care of it. The audience will not be able to advance without clicking on a link.
Keynote for iOS
With the Keynote presentation open on your iPad, click “…” icon in the upper right. Click “Settings” and under “Presentation Type” select “Links Only” to stop any auto-advancing in the presentation. This will halt viewers from moving forward without clicking a link in the presentation.
Google Slides
My apologies to my friends using Google Slides, but this is one feature that is sorely missing from Slides. The best option that I can offer you is a work around at best. On EACH slide you will create one more box. You will need to link that box to the slide that it is on. So if you are on slide 2, create the box, and then link that box to go to Slide 2. Finally, select the box, drag it out to the full size of the slide (so it covers everything on the slide), and then select “Arrange” —> “Order" —> “Send to Back”. This will place your box, with the link to the same slide it is presently on, in the background. If a user accidentally clicks this box, they will be tricked into thinking nothing happened, and will be presented with the same slide to pick a different option.
I know! So annoying! But it works and it is something that will let you achieve a similar effect in Slides if that’s the tool you have access to.
New use of tools you already know
So the next time you are looking for a fun way to present ideas to your audience in a different way, consider using a tool you already know in a slightly different way. The impact on and engagement of your audience will reap rewards making the time invested well worth it!
And if you use tools you already know and have access to in your instruction, you can parlay that personal learning into activities you can also have students do to deepen their learning, build upon their skills for productively using technology, and challenge their thinking.
New Experience in Google Drive
With the adoption rate of Google Apps within our school district, I'm fairly certain most teachers are finding Google Apps for Education to be an advantageous addition to working, teaching, and learning.
However, as is OFTEN the case with Google, things change and they change quickly.
Google Drive has been reformatted to incorporate a new user experience that brings added benefits to the way we work with greater efficiency. The video below from Google outlines many of the new changes.
With any new change, though, there is opportunity for confusion as users get used to the new platform. Honestly, it seems as if the changes actually bring back some skills that many users were previously familiar with when searching for and selecting files on a computer, so these changes may be exactly what some users have been waiting for.
Take a moment to watch the video, switch over the new Drive experience (I did so by selecting the gear icon when I was in Google Drive and selected New Drive Experience), and start getting a bit more comfortable with the new layout, format, and toolset this version of Google Drive offers.
Additionally, if you have not yet realized it, Google Apps on the iPad has made some major alterations in the past few months that teachers should be aware of. New apps, including Docs and Sheets, are now the apps used to EDIT Google docs and sheets files, and Drive is the storage and management app. The video below is a pretty good overview of what these apps can do. Again, if you have not seen this yet, now would be a GREAT time to get familiar with these apps before the students return.
Quick Turn Around: Already Reaping Key Benefits of Attending Google Summit
We were fortunate to send a team of 30 educators from across Waukesha to the Google Midwest Summit 2013. This talented group, made up of educators and coordinators from across the district, was nominated by building administrators to make the trip.
As always, aside from finding inspiration and adding some new tools to our bag of tricks, the focus is about bringing the message and learning of the power of these tools back to our colleagues and students in Waukesha. We are so pleased to see this happening already, and we wanted to highlight the headway these attendees have made in the week that they have been back since the conference took place.
- Using the YouTube editor, one attendee was able to capture a magical moment as one of our students with unique challenges at the elementary level demonstrated incredible growth since her teachers began working with her in fall. Through the use of the YouTube editor (learned about at the conference), the teacher was able to pinpoint key moments during the student's performance that highlighted each learning target (something that could easily be overlooked without the context)
- Inspired by the wealth of digital tools that are available and the necessity to simply put the information learned at the conference to use, one teacher/attendee is making a commitment to attempting the use of Blackboard in several classes as a means of getting started. This is a risk that the teacher has embraced because of inspiration gained from networking with other motivated educators at the Summit.
- One teacher/attendee has already set up the first Google Hangout (utilizing Google+) to connect with colleagues across the district without having to schedule an after school meeting and spend time driving across town. The goal is to gain greater efficiency while staying connected.
- Using the Google+ social network, one attendee has set up a Google+ community at his school and is actively recruiting teachers in the building to join in order to have a common sharing/social place in which to share ideas, articles, resources, etc. As educators feel the constraints and demands of time, the use of a community like this maintains our connection with others, develops a platform in which we can share and collaboratively learn/reflect, and does so in a way that is asynchronous, meaning it is accessible to teachers when they are ready to digest the information available there.
- Several attendees are actively talking about how to share their gained knowledge at upcoming professional development dates to spread the wealth of inspiration and information to a much wider group of colleagues.
This in no way captures all of the momentum sparked by sending attendees to this and other conferences, but it gives us perspective on what becomes possible when people are inspired with new ideas and introduced to powerful tools! Remember, it has been literally less than a week since these folks have returned to the district.
We encourage you to connect with the representative from your building to pick their brain, hear more about the conference, and get inspired. However, they are not the only source of knowledge.
Resources for the entire conference, for nearly every session presented, are available here: https://sites.google.com/site/gapsmidwestsummit/2013-ses
We encourage you to take a look and dig in. These resources are a generous gift provided by the conference presenters to any instructor who may have wished to attend the Summit but were unable to.
Need an Assistant for Grading? Try Flubaroo!
I know that many teachers have uncovered the power of Google Docs and are using the tools in your classroom (or intend to in fall). However, the one certainty about Google tools is that there is always something new to learn.
Now before you freak out and say I'm getting too geeky for you, let me entice you just a bit. If you are interested in assessing your students' knowledge using an online/electronic format (that DOES work on iPads), Google has a tool for that. If you wish to take it one step further and get almost immediate feedback on that assessment (so you can actually plan next steps for your classroom using real time data), there is an easy to use tool for that. It's kind of like having the perfect Teaching Assistant there and available to grade student quizzes for you, and provide a detailed breakdown for each student that will help you to determine what the students truly know.
The first part really is quite easy. It's called Google Forms. This is a powerful tool that has gotten even more powerful in the past few months with a recent update. Google Forms allows you to collect information, to survey people, to assess student knowledge in an easy to build, easy to distribute electronic form. Many teachers have found this tool and swear by it. You may wish to learn to use it for simple tasks, like collecting student information in the first few days of school, collecting parent information so you can have an email list that is actually up-to-date, etc. With just a few simple uses, you'll see the power and find more educationally relevant uses for Google Forms. We have a resource on our Instructional Technology Resources site that will help you to get started with Google Forms: https://sites.google.com/a/waukesha.k12.wi.us/google-apps-in-education/forms
However, the second part, the part that is REALLY enticing, is having something that actually grades your assessments for you in almost no time at all. That is where some of you may get freaked out initially. It really isn't difficult, and you don't need a scripting degree to understand how to use it. However, the terminology does sound scary. I promise -- it really isn't.
As you may already know, the responses that are collected in a Google Form are placed into a spreadsheet. That's how they stay organized and can easily be sorted. However, within Google Spreadsheets is the power to run powerful formulas and scripts. Left to our own devices, most of us would never be able to do this -- we don't have the knowledge. However, some really nice, really teacher-friendly people with scripting knowledge have come to our rescue. They've pre-made scripts that we can simply click on and use without having to understand the coding behind them.
That's where Flubaroo comes in. It is a grading script that teachers can use to quickly assess student mastery of concepts gathered through the use of Google Forms.
I'll start with a video to help you see the general concept behind Flubaroo.
So, you are excited now, but thinking, "There is NO WAY I could that." Guess again. I told you, this is super easy. Flubaroo provides a great series of instructions to help you get started. After doing it a few times, you likely won't need the instructions any more.
To get to the step-by-step instructions, just follow this link: http://www.flubaroo.com/flubaroo-user-guide.
In a few short steps, you'll have your own TA just waiting to help you streamline the process of assessing student learning. Then you can get back to the business of planning meaningful instruction based upon the data you have in front of you.
Remember, you don't need to have students to learn to use this tool. Now would be a great time to quiz your family and friends. Send them a Google Form to find out what they know about you, and then use the Flubaroo script to grade their responses. It may help you to quickly determine who you really want to spend time with this summer!
The New Look to Google Forms
Kind of like the weather in Wisconsin (it was 47 degrees and raining only 12 hours ago), Google can change its look and direction in a hurry! It is something you just learn to live with as you increasingly depend upon the great tools they offer us in education.
For those who have delved into the world of Google Forms for data collection and formative assessment, be aware that in the next week or two, Google will likely release to us an updated version and look of Google Forms. The updated look has already been released to individuals with a personal Gmail account, but it has not yet landed in our Google Apps for Education (GAFE) domain.
Added Functionality
Aside from an improved user interface, which is elegant and functional at the same time, there are some value-added benefits to the update. These quotes about features are taken directly from the Official Google Enterprise Blog.
- "Now with collaboration
Create a form faster than ever. Just as with Docs, Sheets and Slides, you can now collaborate with others in real-time. If you need to work with two colleagues on a survey, all three of you can work on the same form simultaneously and even have a group chat on the side, without leaving the form. - "Better editing
Even if you’re working solo, some new changes will make creating and editing forms easier. All your changes are auto-saved and you can quickly undo/redo edits. Improved copy-and-paste will let you copy a list of bullets from the web or multiple rows of text from a spreadsheet; then, when you paste into a form, each line will be appear as an individual answer. And you can use keyboard shortcuts to get things done more quickly.
A Guide to the New Look and Functions
Molly Schroeder, a Technology Integrator from Edina Public Schools in Edina, MN, has put out a guide to the new look and features in Google Forms. Molly's experience and ability to make Google seem useful and simple to maneuver translates well in this guide.
You can access that resource here:
Advanced Google Search - Finding Reading Levels of Resources
I'm going to disturb and unsettle some Library Media Specialists here for a second (I'll redeem myself in a bit), so please stick with me.
Most people think they generally know how to search the web. In fact, some of us think we are pretty good at searching the web and finding valuable resources. However, when you look at the tricks and tips most of us actually employ to complete those searches, it's actually pretty unimpressive and without much strategy. Sadly, those unimpressive search strategies are the exact same strategies we "relay" to our students if educators don't take a more progressive view of systematic digital resource research.
The harsh reality is that most of our searches start with Google. And so do most of our students. While we may wish they started in databases (or at least proceeded to them in deeper research), they typically do not. I challenge all of you who have the luxury (sadly it has become that in so many schools) of a Library Media Specialist available in your building to help you rethink that approach when teaching research to your students. These folks are experts in this area and can really jump start some high quality ideas and lessons that will be invaluable to your students today and in the future.
Let's say, though, that we were to stick to Google alone. Did you know that Google has an Advanced Search feature that really drills down into some focused and interesting results.
I'm going to let another Waukesha instructor, West's Mark Grunske, share his nifty little tip about using Google's Advanced Search to find appropriate resources on the Internet based upon the reading level. As you visit Mark's blog, you'll see the details of how to do this. Go and try it yourself. And in doing so, you'll see lots of other Advanced Search options that may make you see how valuable having a little bit more systematic, advanced search strategies (even in Google) can be in finding the digital information you REALLY want!
From Mark Grunske's blog:
"This month's Google tip deals with finding appropriate readings for students at different reading levels........
When I first saw this trick, I immediately thought of all of our work in AO as well as the current leveling in Science and the similar changes coming to English and Social Studies............To search Google for sources sorted by reading level all you have to do is the following......."
Read the rest of the article at Mark's blog - Google, Gadgets, and Grunske - Reading Levels.
And again, visit your Library Media Specialists to start exploring how we can teach kids to be better "seekers" and "finders" of information. In a world where everything is digital and the accessibility to information continually explodes, these critical skills are as an important as being able to read the resources once our students have found them.
The Google Research Tool within Google Docs
You've been there. The open books, magazines, and resources spread out on the table, head snapping between the key words and quotes from the text and the notepad (or better yet, index card) on which your notes (and citations) will be stored for the research paper you will need to write eventually.
With a little help from technology, at least one part of that equation can be eliminated -- the painstaking (and often inaccurate) handwritten copying of research resources, quotations, and key elements. 
With the update to Google Drive (formerly called Google Docs), a few other key updates were made. The Google Research Tool is one of those updates. The Research Tool (available when you are in a Google Document by clicking on Tools --> Research Tool) keeps your Google Document open on the left side of the screen, and then place a fully functional research window on the right side of the screen. Search Google from right within your Google Doc, find resources, images, quotes, or even use Google Scholar.
The beauty is that resources, citations, images, and quotes can all be dragged into your document with LIVE LINKS to the resources for later exploration. It's kind of like turning the world of resources available on the web into a stack of selected resources from the stacks of a library, all sitting right there on your research resources piles.
Pretty impressive, but more importantly, very efficient. Have your students regain their focus on the reading and selection of the resources instead of on the handwritten copying of that research (and citations, if they remember to do so) on to note cards or pads, to later re-write or type those citations into the actual paper. Imagine the efficiency!