Appraisal of tutorial materials/Evaluation Report for PowerPoint 2013 New Features

Material evaluated

Lynda online course entitled "PowerPoint 2013 Essential Training"

Structured Evaluation

• Was this video tutorial appropriate for a complete beginner using Microsoft Word 2013 for the first time?

The introduction covered a lot of PowerPoint’s systems, the task bar was explained in detail and it was appropriate for a beginner level user.

• Was the production quality of the material good, average or poor?

The video clip was of great quality, the audio and video was perfectly synced and the screen of the computer was captured in the video clip really well.

• Rate the duration of the introductory chapter

The video was a little too short, although the facilitator gave you an insight into what you would be doing in the tutorial; it was too much information in a very short clip.

Other comments about the material

• I was asked if I would watch it immediately, over the next week or a couple of months; I would probably watch it over a day or two. The good thing about the tutorial was that it was very informative. The facilitator went through everything that she was going to teach from the start, and how you were going to put together the PowerPoint presentation, very easily understood and very helpful.

• Having the watched the tutorial, I think I could probably start organising a PowerPoint presentation start away but I wouldn’t get very far without watching the entire clip though.

• Unfortunately I didn’t get into more technical aspects of PowerPoint so I didn’t learn as much as I would have liked to.

• I wouldn’t watch the clip before actually using Word, although it’s not as complicated as Excel, it’s still fairly complicated to work with. Having an information manual to help with creating a PowerPoint Presentation would also be helpful with the tutorial.

Searching for equivalent, freely accessible alternatives to the Lynda resource

The search process

Using the words; PowerPoint 2013 Essential Training, I tried Google first, which directed me to links in YouTube. Most of the clips were Lynda.com clips and the other clips were of very poor quality.

• Note the time it takes to watch some of the videos or read the resources you find in those searches to get an idea of whether or not it will be useful, is the same sort of level as Lynda resource, or covers the same sort of material.

The Learnit Training video clip duration was 4.53s, finding the right clip was difficult there were quite a few clips to use but they were really poorly produced and some of the tutors English wasn’t very good which also added to the difficulty of the task.

Learnit. Training

• Was the material appropriate to my level (beginner user of Microsoft Office, completely new to LinkedIn platform, undergraduate student applying for first job, etc)? Why would you say it was appropriate/inappropriate?

It didn’t seem appropriate for a beginner; it didn’t seem like it was suited for anyone who had very little experience with PowerPoint. The clip I watched seem more suited for someone who already had working knowledge of PowerPoint.

• Was the production quality of the material good, average or poor?

The clip was pretty bad quality, the video was way too small and the audio was so bad you couldn’t really understand the instructions.The duration of the clip was 4.53s which seemed to be the right amount of time, there wasn’t too much text to read and if it was presented by the facilitator; I wouldn’t have been able to read it anyway.

• Does the website provide you with links to other materials that might give you more information or detail on how to use the software/platform? E.g. related videos, links to other websites.

YouTube had quite a few video clips for PowerPoint but they were mostly video clips from the Lynda.com.

Summary

Using PowerPoint the right way is very important, it is essential that you receive the proper guidance from start or your work will continually be affected and bad habits may form. Compared to other video clips, Lynda was by far the better learning resource and it is because of the good quality of video and the clear instructions given by the tutor.