Michigan State University

Ethan Watrall, Assistant Professor in the Department of Telecom, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University writes the following about his experience using Articulate Presenter as a teaching tool:

“In today’s world of higher education, PowerPoint has become the lifeblood of instruction – the chalk and blackboard of the 21st century. Distributing PowerPoint slides to students, however, has some hidden complications for the classroom. First, if you make .ppt files available, you are never really sure that students actually have PowerPoint – thereby making it impossible for them to view the slides.

“Second, if the students do in fact have PowerPoint and are able to view the slides, some additional issues are raised – most notably the issue of copyright and intellectual property. What would stop students from copying and pasting the information in your slides directly into a paper and claiming as their own?

“These are just a few of the reasons why I’ve started using Articulate Presenter in all of my classes as a way to make lecture slides available to students. The ubiquitous Flash format into which the slides are converted by Presenter make for the widest possible distribution.

“In addition, the fact that the content of the slides can’t be copied and pasted makes for an elegant solution for professors worried of issues of copyright, intellectual property, and plagiarism.

“On top of all of this, Presenter’s abundant features (including intuitive navigation, customizable skins, media integration, and linked assets) makes it possible to turn a plain PowerPoint slide lecture into a rich media learning experience.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself, Ethan. Thank you for your continued enthusiasm in using Articulate Presenter!