Instructional+Resources

Stand-Alone Instructional Resources

A Stand-Alone Instructional Resource allows students to participate in a self-paced lesson using Microsoft PowerPoint "kiosk" mode. Dependent upon how you design your Instructional Resource, students can be given differentiated instruction, choice, and immediate feedback during their learning. For instance, in my Graphing Stand-Alone Instructional Resource, students are given immediate feedback about if they are correct or incorrect about their thinking. If they need to further explore a topic, I provide additional examples within the resource, as well as online options. In addition to feedback about correct/incorrect, I also have explanations to certain answers that can be derived from common misconceptions.



Let's get started! Once you have Microsoft PowerPoint open on your computer, follow the simple steps below to begin developing your Stand-Alone Instructional Resource.

**Step 1: Switch to Kiosk Mode**

Kiosk mode will allow your students to independently work through your activity without being able to alter any elements of the lesson. This is an important setting to establish so that students can all work through the lesson at an individual pace but still be following your desired parameters.

To set up Kiosk Mode:

1. Select the "SlideShow" Tab

2. Choose "Set Up Slide Show"

3. A pop-up box should appear. In the upper left corner select "Browsed at a kiosk (full screen)."

4. Select "OK." Your file is now set up in kiosk mode. When students use this file, they will only be able to navigate through the file with the buttons you provide. Only ESC will allow students to exit the file.

**Step 2: Set up Action Buttons for Navigation**

Action Buttons allow students to navigate from one slide to the next. Microsoft PowerPoint has designed action buttons that can be quickly inserted into the slides. These buttons will allow students to move to the next slide, return to a previous slide, and return to the "home" page. If you would prefer, you could also design your own action objects. We will explore this further in Step 3.

1. Select the "Insert" Tab

2. Under the "Shapes" Tab, scroll to the bottom and find the "Action Buttons."

3. There are some important "action buttons" to recognize: **Your Turn!**

Explore inserting action buttons into your Stand-Alone Instructional Resource:
 * Insert a "Title Page"
 * Insert an "Objectives Page"
 * Insert action buttons that allow you to navigate forward and backwards between the two pages

**Step 3: Linking Objects or Text**

To make your Stand-Alone Instructional Resource interactive, consider adding links. This can be very powerful in multiple choice questions. Incorrect answers could link to one page, identifying misconceptions and asking students to "Try Again," while correct answers can praise students! In my example below, I asked a multiple choice question. Students who clicked on the correct answer were linked to my "Correct!" slide, while students clicked on the wrong answer were linked to my "Try Again!" slide:



To add a link:

1. Create your slide that contains the multiple choice question. Each answer choice will need to be its own text box.

2. Create your slide that tells students if they are "Correct" or "Incorrect." You will need a slide for each option.

3. Link your text box on the "Question" page to the appropriate "Correct" or "Incorrect" slide:


 * First, select an answer choice. Remember, each answer choice needs to be its own text box.
 * Right click on your selection and a drop down menu should appear. Select "Edit Hyperlink."


 * Under "Place in This Document" select the appropriate slide number that you want to link with your answer choice. For instance, in my example, slide 28 is my "Try Again" slide. A picture of the slide will appear on the right to help you identify the correct link.


 * Continue this process for the other three answer choices. Note: YOU WILL WANT TO HAVE AN ACTION BUTTON FOR THE "TRY AGAIN" SLIDE RETURNING YOU TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTION. FOR THE "CORRECT" SLIDE, YOUR ACTION BUTTON SHOULD DIRECT YOU TO THE NEXT PROBLEM. Action buttons also can be "linked" to the appropriate slide using the same process as above.

**Step 4: Adding Sound**

To add excitement to your Stand-Alone Instructional Resource, insert sound! Sound can be linked to each slide transition. In step 3, we identified how to link answer choices to "Correct" or "Incorrect" slides. If you want to add a sound element, the noise will occur when a student is transitioned to that assigned slide.

To insert sound: 1. Click on the appropriate slide.

2. Select the "Animations" Tab.

3. Under "Transition Sound," select a sound.

PowerPoint provides several sound effects, but you also have the option of adding sound from your personal desktop.

**Step 5: Triggering Animations and Sound**

A "Trigger" allows different text, sound, or graphic to "appear" when certain "triggered" objects are clicked. For instance, on your Stand-Alone Instructional Resource, you might have a mulitple choice question. Rather than having the selected object automatically move to a new slide, a trigger allows you to have a message pop up on that exact page saying "correct" or "trying again!"

To set up a trigger:

1. Decide what you want to be "triggered." For instance, you might want a message that says "Great Job!" to pop up after a student selects a correct answer.

2. Create a text box for your "triggered" statement. Also create a text box for the answer choice you want selected.

3. Click on the text box that you are "triggering." Then, under "Animations," select "Custom Animations."

4. Add an effect for your text box.

5. Right click on the animation under "Custom Animation."

6. Select "Timing."

7. Under "Triggers" select "Start effect on click of ..."

8. Choose the item that you want to "trigger" your text.

9. Click "OK" and you are finished!

**Step 6: Saving Your File as PowerPoint Show**

For your students to automatically open up your Stand-Alone Instructional Resource as an interactive kiosk, you will want to save your final file as a "PowerPoint Show." This is a quick and easy process!

Under "Save As," choose "PowerPoint Show"

It's official! You have created a Stand-Alone Instructional Resource that your students now can use!