Best Practices for Creating Recorded Presentations

1. Keep it short. Aim to chunk or modularize your content for recordings that are 10-15 minutes in length. Research shows that sustained human attention begins to decrease significantly after 20-30 minutes; keeping the recordings within this range will help keep the student more focused on the central message of the content.
2. Use a title card for each new chunk of content. This helps learners understand where they are in the sequence.
3. Limit the number of new concepts per recording. When planning out what information to present in the recording, it is good to limit the number of new concepts that will be introduced to avoid information overload on students. A manageable amount per recording is generally 3 to 7 bits of new concepts.
4. Do not include course-specific information, such as dates and numbers. Do not include course numbers, section numbers, dates, or other course logistics that may limit the shelf-life of the content. Keep the content as neutral as possible. 
5. Include engaging content. Consider including a mix of information and examples or problem-solving activities to promote students analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of course content.
6. Keep it natural. Relax and have a conversational approach in the recorded presentations and let personality or teaching style come through. 

For additional reading, see: InterPro - Teaching Resources for Instructors - Recorded Presentations: Best Practices

To record narrations in an existing PowerPoint presentation

Set Microphone / Audio Levels in Windows 10

Pre-Recording and Set up

Note: Prior to recording audio for all of your slides, it is a good idea to check that your computer is configured correctly.

1. Make sure the following options are selected under the Slide Show tab:  Play Narrations, Use Timings, and Show Media Controls.
   
2. Next, select the Slide Show tab, then select Record Slide Show.
   
3. In the Slide Show recording interface, select the Settings icon. It appears in the top right corner 
4. Ensure that the microphone you set up previously is also selected in PowerPoint
   d
5. Ensure that the microphone is unmuted. To check, make sure the microphone in the lower right corner of the recording interface is not crossed out.
   
6. Ensure that the camera is off. The camera is on when you see a preview of your webcam, or the camera in the lower right corner is not crossed out. Select the camera icon to turn the camera off, or press the Control key and the K key.  
   You are now ready to create a test recording.
7. Select the Record button to record the audio for the first slide.
   
8. You will see a count down from three. When the screen clears, you can start speaking.
9. Select the Stop button to end the recording. 
   
10. Now it's time to test the recording. Press the Replay button to listen to your sound play back.  
    
11. If you would like to clear the test recording, select the Clear menu and choose Clear Recordings on Current slide.
    

Recording

1. Once you have confirmed that your microphone is recording as required, you can continue with the recording. 
2. Select the Record button to record audio for your slide.
   
3. Record all of the audio for that slide.
   • Important! Make sure to record your entire slide before advancing to the next slide to prevent audio clipping during the transition.
4. Select the next slide button to progress to the next slide and record the audio for that slide. Continue until audio for all slides has been recorded.
5. If you need to pause in your recording, select the Pause button. When you are ready to restart, select the Record button again.
   
6. Select the Stop button to stop.
   
7. Press the ESC key or click the x to to exit the recording screen.

Editing

If you make a mistake in your recording, you can easily re-record audio for a single slide.

• If you are recording your presentation for the first time and need to re-record audio for a single slide while you are recording your presentation, continue recording audio for the remaining slides.
• After recording audio for all slides, exit the recording mode. 
• Then proceed with the following directions.

If you are correcting a mistake on an existing slide

1. If needed, open your original PowerPoint file.
2. Navigate to the slide with the error. Make any changes to slide text and design as needed. When you are ready to update the audio:
3. Select Record Slide Show
4. Select the Clear menu and select Clear Recordings on Current Slide.
   
5. When you are ready to re-record, choose Record Slide show
6. Choose Record from Current Slide.
7. Press the Record button to record audio for that slide.
8. Select the Stop button to end the recording.
9. If you only need to record one slide, be careful not to advance the slide show after you are finished with the new recording.

Finishing

If you are providing recordings for an Engineering Professional Development course, the final PowerPoint file should be provided to the Learning Design and Technologies Team. If you have questions about where to provide your completed PowerPoint, please contact onlinesupport@epd.wisc.edu

Additional Resources

View a video tutorial of this process from Microsoft.

This document adapted from Creating Narrated Presentations With PowerPoint (Windows)