Being active in your revision using Powerpoints

1. Being active in your revision using Powerpoints Revising, adding materials Testing yourself

2. Why be active in revision? • You will tend to go to sleep over your notes or texts if you just try to read them through • Making notes of notes leads to further boredom • You need to stimulate the ways in which you learn best, ie your learning styles • Being active not only keep you awake but helps show linkages and understand the material (rather than just ‘learn’ it) • Can you explain things to a friend (whether or not they do the same subject)?

3. Materials you have include: • PowerPoint from Lectures • PowerPoint from other materials (practicals, your presentations etc) • Images from the 231 site • Images from web resources in General • Materials from your reading (your bullet points) • Websites provided for revision etc etc • Notes and mind maps that you use and create • Practical work in various forms

4. Powerpoint Features you can use • The main screen is big and bold and on it you can: • Draw items and animate text, use audio • Bring in images which you can study • Give a revision slide show • Use the Notes area • Use the Text Panel • Posters

5. Powerpoint viewing • Here, in the main slide area • In the side bar, text (and images in the latest versions • Printing out several slide or note pages on one sheet • The Notes area to the bottom of the slide (normal view) • Mix these viewpoints • Hypertext on the same presentation or between presentations

6. Use your imagination (and explore Powerpoint) • Type a topic in the side bar • Say 'Hjulstroms diagram' • Then go to the main screen and draw it in 'slide view' To straighten out a squiggly line when you have drawn a freehand line: Select the line In Drawing pallet, select 'Edit Points' Magnify the image so you can see the detail Move the points around to smooth the curve Revert back to a lower magnification Here's the official bit -click Then annotate. If you can't remember where the critical points are (e.g. aeolian minimum at 0.3mm) then import one of the powerpoints from lectures and draw over the top

7. Produce your own powerpoint • You might: • Review a lecture or topic (perhaps by going through the powerpoint -but you don't have to) take 20 minutes or so over this, don't dwell on the slides. • Go and have a coffee! • Come back and start up a new PowerPoint • Write the topics as slide titles and sub heads in the side bar. If you need a graphic, draw it or state what it should be. When you've finished. Import the actual slides.

8. Mind map a topic • You know how to do this (an example is on the website for aeolian deposits) do this for one of the major themes of the lecture series. • You can do this by hand on paper and. In fact, this is the best way to do it. However, you might like to try a Powerpoint version. All you need are basic drawing tools available and it will not take long. You can then add (or subtract) and move the points and links around.

9. revision Mind map to show some ways of doing revision A few things to do: Create a shape and text Then link them to move together hypertext Non-linear visualisation This is a hypertext link- Look at the way the pointer changes when in slide show mode Discuss a problem with a friend Make mini posters (even post-its) and stick them round your room Click on audio Button (try it!)

10. Use the notes section You can add notes (perhaps as part of a brainstorming) on the bottom section when in page view mode. You can even print these out it you wish. Adding material here keep down the confusion of the main page.

11. Print out pages • With an actual lecture Powerpoint (or better, one you have made up from salient points • Print it out, say 4 slides per page • Stick these round the room so you can see then when you wander around. This will act as a memory jogger.

12. Posters • You know how to make posters • They’re interactive and help you focus on a topic • You can use any of the material presented on the site and from elsewhere • You could take an exam topic, plan it as a poster in say 20 minutes see what you have and then review it - does it provide what the question asks for • With the scene analysis you can treat it as you might do for Practical 5

13. Peer review • If you’ve done a poster on a topic (say) discuss it with a friend (preferably on the module) • How would they have done it, discuss it, is there something that you don’t understand? If so, can you resolve it? Is it mentioned in the lectures etc. • Discussing something visual is a good way of ‘learning’

14. Summary Methods • Bullet point your responses to a question, prioritise them. • Sort through all your materials, look at each systematic topic (e.g. slopes, rivers, glaciers) in the same sort of way. How can a process response model help? (remember ETD) • Take a generic topic (like Mag/frequency) and summarise the main points and put a few examples down

15. Overall • Use the power of PowerPoint creatively. • Try other ideas I haven’t thought of • What works for you? - let me know

16. Hypertext • Maybe you hadn't realised you can do hypertext in Powerpoint! • Select the word/object you want to act as the link, • Go to Insert > Hyperlink, the Document (if you want the same document) then locate and view all the slides you have produced, select one and OK • As with the edit points bit earlier, you can leap around the show and between shows if you wish!

17. One I did earlier Now back to the show!