About WebCT

Designer Help
Support
News		 Designer Help Develop your unit Content Management Put a Powerpoint Presentation into WebCT

Put a Powerpoint Presentation into WebCT

You can give students access to the PowerPoint presentations from your Lectures by uploading them into a WebCT unit.

There are three approaches:

1. Upload the presentation as .ppt file into WebCT
2. Save your PowerPoint files as .pdf files and upload the pdf
3. Convert PowerPoint files to HTML

The various versions of PowerPoint integrate with WebCT differently on PC and Macintosh. It is important to check your version of PowerPoint so you can select an approach which does not cause difficulties. Microsoft Windows users please take note of special instructions.

1. Upload the presentation as .ppt file into WebCT

Requirements

To view the .ppt file, students will need to have either Microsoft PowerPoint software on their own computer, or the free downloadable Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer (See Resources) application.

Advantages

Students can see the presentation in its original form and can navigate and print easily. It can be read by screen readers used by people with a visual impairment.

Disadvantages

Microsoft PowerPoint files are large and would not benefit students who have slower dial-up connections.

Note: Microsoft Windows Users
Uploading a presentation as a .ppt file in PowerPoint 2002 or Office XP
Some presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 do not operate properly in WebCT. The file may not open, you may receive error messages, or your WebCT ID and password may be rejected.

Solution
To resolve this problem, download and install Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 1 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307843) then Service Pack 2 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q325671), then upload the PowerPoint file (as below).

To upload the presentation:

2. Save your PowerPoint files as .pdf files

Requirements

You need to be able to create .pdf (Portable Document Format) files. You need access to Adobe PDF software to do this unless you are working with Macintosh OS X.

To view .pdf files students need Adobe Reader (see Resources), a free application available from Adobe and frequently included with recent browsers.

Advantage

This is an effective way of putting your PowerPoint slides into WebCT because it saves on file space.

.pdf format reduces compatibility problems between different operating systems and versions of Office software.

Disadvantage

Reduced accessibility issues with Adobe PDF and alternative web browsers such as screen readers. It is recommended that you provide a second format, such as an .rtf file. More information about accessibility issues is available on the Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html) website.

Steps for saving a PowerPoint file as .pdf for Macintosh OS X:

  • Select Print
  • Select Save as PDF, to create a .pdf file.

For all other versions of PowerPoint:

  • Use Adobe PDF software to create a .pdf file

3. Convert PowerPoint files to HTML

Advantage

No extra software or plug ins are needed by students.

Disadvantages

Students can only view one slide at a time and print one slide on a page, if they wish to print out the slides.

Steps

Save the PowerPoint file as a Web Page (.html).Each slide in the file is converted to a .gif image and a page is created to reference that image file. Upload all the converted files into WebCT

Add the PowerPoint files to a Content Module’s Table of Contents

Note: Microsoft Windows Users
PowerPoint 2002 (XP) or PowerPoint 2000 users

When PowerPoint 2000 or PowerPoint XP files are converted to HTML files and uploaded into a Content Module, the presentation does not display correctly.

For instructions on saving as a Web Page go to Converting PowerPoint 2000/2002/XP into Web Pages (http://www.uncc.edu/webct/WCT_FACULTY/information/ppt2webhelp2.html)
(published by UNC Charlotte Faculty Centre for Teaching and eLearning)

There are two work arounds:

Solution A: Add a PowerPoint Presentation to the Action Menu
A link is set up in the Action menu of a Content Module page to the presentation which then opens in a new browser window.

or

Solution B: Add a converted PowerPoint Presentation to an Organizer page
Each PowerPoint Presentation is set up as a single page, linking to the first HTML file in your presentation. The advantage of this approach is that each presentation can be selectively released to students.

It is highly recommended that you visit The PowerPoint FAQ (http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/index.html), which contains a large archive of PowerPoint answers, tips and tricks.

Back to top