Using a Teleprompter with Student Videos

In my experience integrating technology in the classroom with K-12 students, one of the most challenging tasks is when a teacher asks a student to speak in front of a camera without reading a written script on a desk in front of them. The student could memorize the speech, but why not offer them the chance to use a teleprompter!  Here is a great idea mentioned on the Digital Inspiration blog by Amit Argarwal.  In one of his blog posts, Amit mentions how to use the Power Point scrolling text feature as a solution to students who need to face the camera and confidently read text aloud. A great idea, easy to set up and use with your students! If you are using an iPad or are looking for an online web based software program, try these options: Teleprompt+ for iPad (app is $14.99) Free online teleprompter CuePrompter.

Here are the steps to create a teleprompter using Power Point:

Step 1: Using Power Point, create a new presentation and select Blank as your layout.
Step 2: Select the Design tab and identify Black as your background style.
Step 3: Create a new text box and enlarge it to the entire width of the slide.
Step 4: Copy/paste your text to be read inside the text box and change the font size to a large size somewhere around 40 so that it is readable.
Step 5: Go to the Animations Tab, select your text box, and add the LINES animation from the Motion Path.
Step 6: Go to Effect Options and select “Up” as the animation direction.
Step 7: Open the Animations pane and double-click the Text Box object to open the Effect options dialog. Set the Smooth Start and Smooth End timing to 0 seconds. From the Timing tab, set the duration of the animation to 50 seconds.
Step 8: Reduce the zoom to 20% so that the entire animation and the slide are visible.  Move the red tip of the animation arrow above the top edge the slide.
Step 9: Press F5 to play the slideshow and start your teleprompter. You can adjust the timing and the arrow positions depending upon the amount of text. You can also split text into multiple slides if it extends longer than a minute.