Briefly introduce the topics that will be covered in this lesson so students are aware of the new skills they will learn. Remind students that all the information is available in the book as a reference so they don’t need to commit anything to memory or take notes.
Students who have used Excel, or the chart feature in Word, will be familiar with this feature in PowerPoint, and almost everyone will have viewed a chart at some point. As the slide says, charts are a great way to present information visually, especially when comparing data over time.
This slide presents the most commonly-used chart types, ones that most students will have seen. You may wish to demonstrate examples of the different chart types, or create a chart and change the type to show how different ones are best for different kinds of data.
Students may not be familiar with these more specialized types of charts, but they need not be to successfully create charts and use PowerPoint.
Demonstrate how to create a chart, paying special attention to the version of Excel that opens (which may confuse some students initially, as they may wonder where PowerPoint went). While this isn’t a course in Excel, you will need to spend some time showing students how to enter data in cells in the Excel worksheet, how to add and remove columns, or change the area included in the chart, if they need more room for their data.
Spend some time showing students how to re-open the Excel spreadsheet to edit data they have already entered, as well as the options for selecting data. Demonstrate how you can both type a range of cells, or use the selection option to visually drag and select a range. This may take repeated demonstration and practice by students to get the hang of it.
Students will appreciate how they can quickly improve the look of a chart with the predefined styles. Have them try various options to see which ones are most appropriate. Do some make the chart too busy and overdesigned, for example?
While there are many chart elements available, adding all of them can make a chart too busy and distract the viewer from the information presented in the chart. A good rule of thumb is to only add chart elements necessary to explain information that is not obvious on the chart. For example, if the chart title is “Customer Ages” and graphs ages, and the vertical axis is from 10 to 99, it may not be necessary to add an axis title nor a legend. Or, if the data supporting a chart is significant, consider putting a data table on a subsequent slide rather than under the chart.
Selecting individual chart elements by clicking on them in the chart can be challenging, so be sure to demonstrate to students the drop down list of chart elements on the Format tab, in the Current Selection group.The Shape styles, WordArt styles and fill, outline and effect options should be familiar to students now. Have them try applying them to chart elements, keeping in mind that too much design may distract viewers from the main content in the chart.
For those who had difficulty with tabs in text boxes, tables are the answer! Tables are easier to create, and more sophisticated. The built-in quick styles for tables allow anyone to make a visually appealing design.
Have students think about the content of their table first, counting the number of rows and columns they will need, and remembering to add rows for a header or summary if needed. Demonstrate the different ways of inserting a table.
Drawing tables can be a fun exercise, though the results may not initially be as professional as one created by specifying the exact number of rows and columns needed. Students who want a custom table may find it easiest to use the easier method to specify the number of rows and columns, then use the drawing features to add and remove lines, or merge cells, to arrive at their desired table design.
Demonstrate the methods listed on this slide for entering text. Students should find this quite straightforward, though they may have questions about adjusting the table to fit the text (covered in the next slide).
While pressing tab in the last cell of the last row is a quick way to add another row, students will want to add rows and columns elsewhere in the table, as well as delete, merge and split cells. Those who are comfortable with the mouse can right-click on the table and perform these actions from the context menu; others may prefer the options on the Ribbon.Adding and removing rows and columns should be straightforward for most students. Merging and splitting cells may be new for some, so be sure to demonstrate thoroughly.Adjusting the size of cells by dragging the row and column dividers is a simple, visual way to adjust, but some students may have trouble positioning the mouse right on the divider. For these students, the height and width figures in the Size group, on the Layout tab under Table Tools, may be an easier method.As with adjusting the position of text boxes and shapes on slides, adjusting the spacing of rows and columns so they are equal can improve the display of a table. Equal-width columns, for example, is appropriate when the data in each is about the same length. In some cases, though, wide columns are necessary to accommodate data, so a table with every column the same width wouldn’t be the best choice.
Just like text in a text box, text in a table cell can be aligned horizontally and vertically, as well as rotated. Rotated text is harder to read, but can be a useful trick for fitting a label down the leftmost column, for example, or rotating to a 45 degree angle to fit narrow columns.Have students try the different alignment and rotation options to assess for themselves their effect on the overall table design and how well information is communicated in each case.
As with all other quick styles, the built-in table styles are a great way to quickly format a table. Be sure to point out how the additional options in the Table Style Options group affect a table style. For example, selecting Header Row may change the look of the top row (depending on the table style selected) and is appropriate for tables with a row of column labels in the first row.Also point out the Clear Table option at the bottom of all the table styles, for reverting to a plain table. From this point, students can design their own table, using the Shading, Borders and Effects choices in the Table Styles group.
Demonstrate how to copy a table from Word and Excel and paste it into PowerPoint, then format it using PowerPoint’s table features. Also demonstrate that you can create an Excel spreadsheet from within PowerPoint, combining the formulas and other mathematical features of Excel with the presentation features PowerPoint.
Review the topics covered in this lesson to remind students of what they have learned and accomplished, and to invite questions on any topics not entirely clear.