Did you know you can record your lectures directly into PowerPoint and use them in your online course? PowerPoint makes this easy! When you are finished, you can embed the narrated PowerPoint in Canvas as an interactive presentation or as a video. The following guides explain how and show examples of how this looks.
Before you start recording, it is important to make sure your microphone volume is set correctly. This video explains how to adjust the microphone volume in MacOS and Windows 10. Correctly setting the microphone volume before recording is one of the most important tips for producing a quality presentation video.
Click here to download a quick guide on setting your microphone volume. (pdf)
Your PowerPoint presentation is the foundation of your narrated PowerPoint video and the design of your PowerPoints will have an impact on the educational effectiveness of your video. Fortunately, Dr. Richard Mayer. (UCSB) has been developing research-based theories of multimedia design for decades that are readily applied to PowerPoint design.
PowerPoint includes the feature to record narration for each slide in a presentation and easily re-record narration for a slide. This is the easiest way to record a narrated PowerPoint presentation and can save a lot of time. Instead of having to re-record an entire presentation if there is a mistake or the phone rings, you can re-record a single slide. This also makes it much easier to update recordings later.
Here are two important tips before you begin recording in PowerPoint:
If you are using the older ppt format of PowerPoint file, be sure to convert the file to the pptx BEFORE recording in PowerPoint. This is covered in both guides below.
Make practice recordings on a few slides before recording a full lecture. This will save a lot of time if you encounter any problems recording. Be sure to listen to your recordings to make sure the audio recorded well.
Click here for a quick guide to recording narration in PowerPoint for Mac (pdf)
Click here for a quick guide to recording narration in PowerPoint for Windows (pdf)
Once you have recorded narration in your PowerPoint, there are two ways to deliver your presentation. The chart below explains the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
| Pros/Cons | Embed with OneDrive | Export as Video |
|---|---|---|
| PRO |
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| CON |
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| Click here for an example of a PowerPoint embedded with OneDrive | Click here for an example of a PowerPoint exported as video and embedded in Canvas |
OneDrive can be used to embed a narrated PowerPoint in Canvas. Students are able to view the presentation in their browser without installing additional software. Recorded narration plays automatically on each slide, and all transitions, animations, and embedded media are preserved.
If you will use OneDrive to embed the PowerPoint file, you MUST use a personal OneDrive account. Students will not be able to access the PowerPoint if you use your OU OneDrive account.
Click here for a quick guide on using OneDrive to embed a PowerPoint file in Canvas. (pdf)
PowerPoint presentations can be easily exported as a video file. This video file can be uploaded to MyMedia for easy embedding in Canvas. For instructions on embedding MyMedia videos in Canvas, please see the guide at the bottom of this page.
If using PowerPoint for Mac, update PowerPoint to the latest version. Older versions will not export voice recordings when exporting to video.
Click here for a quick guide to exporting a PowerPoint as video (pdf)
Once you have exported your Powerpoint as a video, the easiest way to upload the video to MyMedia and embed it in your course is to do it all in Canvas. The guide and tutorial video below explains how.
Please note: Videos should not be uploaded directly to your Canvas course, but to MyMedia. Canvas courses do not have enough storage space to accommodate more than a few short video clips.
The video below explains how to use MyMedia to upload and embed videos from within Canvas.
