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Services Telemedical Communications - Interactive Presentation Tips Interactive video is a "tool" provided by computer technology. It was developed in the late 1980s and continues to grow at a rate of 30% annually. UAMS installed its first four systems in 1992. Today there are over 50 compressed interactive video (CIV), sites in the TeleMedical Communications Network. CIV is a wonderful tool that enables us to communicate with our students or audience face-to-face in "real time" and exchange just about any visual information between sites as might be desired. By following a few basic techniques, presenting over the media can be challenging and rewarding. Just think, you are now able to deliver your information not only to an ordinary on-campus classroom but, also, to students throughout the state and or even the world. Dr. James Dennis, UAMS Chancellor, 1971-1979, envisioned, "A University Without Walls" long before the technology was perfected. That vision is now a reality. As we previously stated, you have the capability of face-to-face communications with not only your on-campus students but your distant students as well. This capability provides you with a distinct advantage of being able to interact and bring the distant participant into lecture or presentation. INTERACTION is a very important advantage. Involve your distant participant the same as you would your on-campus student. Learn their names and call on them as if they were in the room with you. Let the students interact as well by introducing them to one another. As we all know, EYE CONTACT with your audience is most important. It creates an aura of communication and security on the part of the participant. With CIV, it is possible to create eye contact with the entire audience at the distant site at the same time. When you look into the lens of the instructor’s camera, it appears that you are looking directly into the face of every student at the distant site. As with student interaction and eye contact, PRESENTATION SKILLS are not much different from the methods we ordinarily use in an on-campus presentation. However, closer attention to some basic rules is required to achieve a high degree of information transfer. Clothing and jewelry can enhance or distract from any video presentation. DO'S are to wear solid or softly patterned pastel colors and little or no jewelry. DON'TS are not to wear flashy colors such as red or clothing with polka dots or herringbone patterns. Jewelry such as flashy bracelets and earrings are equally distracting and should not be worn during the presentation. Speak in a normal tone and by all means, do not speak too fast for your audience to follow. The microphone, if positioned within 24 inches from you, will pick-up your voice nicely. However, always check with your distant audience to be sure they are hearing you adequately. The next DON'T can be very challenging for many of us. Don't move away from the rostrum or pace during your presentation. The camera will not be able to follow you properly and the distant audience will likely experience motion sickness. Either sit at the desk or stand behind the rostrum but, please, remain as stationary as you possibly can. In PREPARING AND PRESENTING VISUAL MATERIAL, as with the previous points, some "basic" principals must be followed to achieve optimum results. First of all and most importantly is the preparation of Power Point and printed slides or, overheads as they were once referred. Prepared properly, visuals can be just as effective at the distant site as the on-campus site. Please remember that the term "prepared properly" is the key. Here is the ratio we recommend. TITLES: 40 POINT and TEXT: 36 POINT with no more than 30 characters per line and no more than 13 lines per slide. This may require some modification of material that was previously prepared for on-campus presentations only. Unfortunately, your distant site is not looking at a large screen display of your material. In fact, they are watching a large screen television monitor. Therefore, you can see the need of preparation of your slide material to standards. We also recommend that you prepare handouts with the slides printed. Your students will find this most helpful especially, if you refer to a more busy slide format. 35mm slides, videotapes, three-dimensional objects, ultrasound, EKG and almost any subject you may choose can be visualized through the system. We recommend that you contact the TeleMedical Communication staff regarding your special needs. You can reach us by calling 501-686-5575. Additional assistance is also available through the Office of Educational Development and Media Services. We will be happy to coordinate your needs with our associates. Our goal is to further enhance distance education and video conferencing for learning, TeleMedicine and scientific research. We operate under a code of student rights which is simply to strive to provide the same advantages to the distant learner as the on-campus learner. The distant student should be able to see, hear and access information the same as his or her counterpart regardless of location. UAMS TeleMedical Communications |
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