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Narrating powerpoint for blackboard using articulate

    

Publishing PowerPoint Files

Once you have finished creating a PowerPoint presentation, you are ready to publish to the Web. Articulate software allows you to do a number of post-production functions, including adding narration and inserting media or attachments. This tutorial will show you how to add narration to your presentation and publish it on Blackboard. If you have already recorded narration in PowerPoint, please skip to Adjusting Settings for Web.

NOTE: You must purchase Articulate and install it on the computer you are using to create your PowerPoint presentation in order for it to show up in the PowerPoint menu.

Articulate is installed in the DMR (room 292) in the Granada Center on the Lakeshore campus. Loyola faculty can reserve the room for recording and also request assistance with narrating by sending an email to Training@luc.edu.

 

   First Steps

  1. If necessary, connect the microphone to the PC with the USB cable.
  2. Click on the Speaker icon in the bottom task bar and make sure that the volume is not muted and that the volume is at an appropriate level.


  3. Right-click on the Speaker icon and select Sounds. Under the Recording tab, make sure the correct microphone is selected (Samson C01U in the DMR).


  4. Double click the microphone name. Click the Levels tab and make sure the Speaker icon is not muted and that the level is set to the appropriate level (in the high range, about 95). Click OK to exit the Sounds settings.
  5. Do a short test before you record your whole project to make sure your settings are as you want them.
  6. Create a folder for your PowerPoint; this will be the folder for your source files, and it's the one to save in case you need to re-record slides at some future date. Make sure this folder is on a local drive (for example, on the Desktop, or your flash drive) since, due to network permissions, you may not be able to publish a project that is located on a network drive. You also need to save to a local drive in order to produce the zip file that you will use to upload to the web.

   Recording Narration

  1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  2. Click the Articulate tab.


  3. Select Record Narration. Your presentation will open in a new window with the Articulate navigator.


  4. Clicl the Start Recording button to begin recording. When you are finished recording the current slide, click the stop button and then click the arrow button to navigate to the next slide. You can also click the slide name to bring up a drop down menu of all the slides in your presentation from which you can choose which slide you want to record next. To pause or stop the recording, click the Pause or Stop buttons.


  5. If you make a mistake, you can "clear" the audio on the slide and start recording fresh. Click the Stop button, then click the Start Recording button again. The play counter should switch back to zero (00:00:00) for an instant before it begins counting up again.
  6. You can play back any of your slides by clicking Stop to stop recording and choosing the slide to playback from the dropdown list. Click the Play button in the control box. You will have the opportunity to play the whole presentation after you close the Record Narration window.

  7. Click Save and Close.



    NOTE: The process of recording has not modified your PowerPoint file. When you publish the Articulate file to your computer, it will create a separate .ppta file with the audio, in addition to your .pptx file.

  8. You can re-record at any time:

    a. Open the original Poweroint file.

    b. Click the Articulate tab.

    c. Click on Record Narration.

    d. Choose the slide to re-record from the dropdown list, accessed by clicking the slide title.

    e. Click Record.

    f. Publish your updated file to your computer (see Publishing to your Computer).

   Playing Back Narration

Before you publish and upload to Blackboard, you can play back the entire narrated presentation from inside PowerPoint by clicking Preview > Preview Range of Slides and selecting Preview All.

   Adjusting Settings for the Web

  1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  2. Click Slide Properties.



    a. Click each slide's box under "Advance" to control whether the slides advance automatically or whether students must click to advance the slides.

    If you leave Advance set at "Automatically," the presentation will move to the next slide when narration for the current slide is complete; but students can always use the Pause and Stop buttons, select from the index on the left, or drag the moving arrow back as the slide is playing.





    b. If you wish to change the title for how your slides will display, click in the box under Navigation Title and type in a new title.

    c. Click OK.
     

   Publishing to Your Computer

  1. Click the Publish icon.


  2. Select the LMS tab.

  3. Under the Publish Location, click the "..." button to navigate to the folder you created on the local drive.


  4. Adjust other properties as you desire.

  5. Click Publish.

  6. You should receive a note indicating your publish was successful. It will ask you what you would like to do next. Select the Zip button to create a zip file of your presentation; the zip file will be saved in the same folder as your source files. You will use this to upload your presentation to Blackboard.



    NOTE: If you are recording in the DMR or on a shared computer, once you have finished recording and publishing your project, please remove your folders from the local drive and save them to a personal portable hard drive or flash drive. This will ensure your project is not erased, as shared computers are routinely cleared of extraneous files as part of routine maintenance.

   Uploading to Blackboard

  1. After you have logged into Blackboard, select the course you'd like to add your presentation to.

  2. On the Control Panel, click on the chevron next to Files.


  3. Create a Folder with the same name as your Articulate file.

  4. Open the folder you just created by clicking on it.

  5. Click Upload and select Upload Package.


  6. On the Upload Package page, click on Browse... to locate the file you want to attach, i.e. the zip file in the folder you created on the desktop.


  7. Click Submit. Blackboard will automatically extract the files from the zip.

   Adding Articulate Files to a Content Area

  1. Your presentation is now in your Blackboard course, but you must add it to a Content Area so that your students can find it. Go to the Content Area where you want to add your Articulate file.
  2. Under Build Content, select Item.


  3. Name your Articulate Presentation.
  4. Click Browse Course to locate the folder you created for your Articulate presentation.


  5. Click the folder you created for your Articulate presentation to open the folder.

  6. Select "player.html" and click Submit.


  7. Leave the default selection for "Give users Read access to all files and folders in the folder."

  8. Click Submit.

   Playing the Narrated Presentation from Blackboard

Students will click on the link to "player.html" to play the presentation.

They can control the presentation by:

  • Using the Pause and Stop buttons.
  • Clicking the Thumbnail tab and selecting a slide from the index on the left.
  • Dragging the moving arrow back and forth as the slide is playing.

   Copying Articulate Files in Blackboard

Due to the complexity of Articulate files, you cannot simply "Copy" them from the chevron menu within Blackboard. Please visit our separate tutorial on Copying Articulate Files in Blackboard to learn how to properly copy your Articulate presentation from one course to another.

 

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