Overview

There is a very high chance that at least some of your teaching material exist as a PowerPoint presentation. That's great if you are delivering it as a presentation however if you are not delivering it synchronously then there are three things you can do to optimise it for asynchronous online use.

#1 Convert to PDF

A PDF or Portable Document Format file is what the name suggests. A computer file type that is easy to distribute and share with others. PowerPoint offers you the chance to export your presentation as a PDF by using the File>Export option (see the screenshot below).

Screenshot of the File>Export menu of PowerPoint

Performing this simple change means that;

The PDF is a much smaller file size so it is easier to send
The original formatting of your presentation remains intact
Your students won't need to have PowerPoint on their device to view your resource
The resources appears more like a document and will allow users to search for key words

Next steps - If you haven't done it before, open one of your PowerPoint presentations then go to File>Export then click the button that says "Create PDF". Then take a look at your converted presentation

#2 Create a Video

The export menu in PowerPoint also allows you to convert your presentation to a video.

Performing this simple change means that;

Learners could access the presentation at a time that suits.
Learners could focus only on the parts that were of interest to them.
You could easily produce videos that focus on topics you know that your learners find difficult
Learners who missed classes could watch the video at home

Next steps - If you haven't done it before, open one of your PowerPoint presentations then go to File>Export then click the button that says "Create a Video" then select the required resolution. Take a look at your converted presentation

#3 Convert to Slides

Uploading a PowerPoint into the free cloud based Google Drive tool automatically converts your PowerPoint presentation to a Google Slide presentation. There are a number of advantages to this including;

Your file will be stored safely in the cloud
The file size is greatly reduced
The file is automatically optimised for online sharing and collaborating
The file is automatically optimised for use with other Google educational tools e.g. Classroom (see image below)

Image showing some of the Google products for Education

Image Source: https://edu.google.com/

Next steps - If have not already done so sign up for a Google Drive account here and then upload one of your own PowerPoint presentations. You should then explore the options for sharing that presentation by clicking on the sharing button at the top right hand side of the page

Click on the next button to see how to explore privacy issues.