Wednesday, August 02, 2006

PowerPoint Games Training/PESDHH

I finished my first training. Only 6 or 7 people came-there wasn't really a description of the different workshops for the day so no one really knew what to expect. That was enough people for just me to manage.

What went wrong? What didn't go wrong!

First my computer wouldn't work with the LCD projector so I turned my screen and showed the sample games that way since it was such a small group.

Tech was able to get a different computer working with the projector by the time I was finished with the demo part so I switched to that one to teach making a PowerPoint game.

I was using a different version of PowerPoint on the new computer so things were different than I was used to but they were similar enough that I was able to work with them.

I had put two graphics on all the machines I thought, but I was wrong so I had to quickly put them on two different computers for the people using them.

When we went to insert clip art the computers we had borrowed did not have any clip art on them and the internet connections was not working so we couldn't get them from microsoft-I explained how to do that normally and I showed them how to add sound although mine did not work right.

What else went wrong? NOT ENOUGH TIME which I knew probably would happen but the directions were very exact so they should be able to follow them on their own.

All things considered it wasn't bad. The people were very interested and asked questions especially as we ran out of time so I gave quick examples of the unfinished steps.

Amazingly enough I was not at all nervous unlike last year when I did the Quizdom training for Rosemary, Julie and Bill during my internship. I thought I would feel nervous but I didn't. I was more nervous facilitating for the next session than doing mine.

One woman said she wished I could come do a training where she is (on the other side of the state from me) because even though there are people who could do it they are (not my words) mostly men and they don't break it down enough for someone who is not real skilled at a computer. I take that as a compliment that my directions and handouts were that helpful. :)

I think next year I will do something again but this time I will ask for a double session for whatever I decide to do. I'm thinking maybe something with video (I might be able to get cameras from the same place as I got the computers-got a whole year to plan but this time I will have to write a call for papers since I won't be on the planning committee for it.

Our drop in tech lab was also helpful. I had different software installed on the computers and people were able to play with them to see what they were like. They liked many of the different ones that I had.

1 comment:

Rosemary Stifter said...

Congratulations, Cheryl!
The first training is always the hardest because you just can't think of every possible thing that could wrong. And something almost always does. But it seems you handled it all very well. The important thing is that your participants become aware of what can be done with technology in the classroom.

BTW, the only link working on your directions page is the "adding speech" link.

Have you seen our PowerPoint game templates ? You might want to add that as a resource.

Good job!