Have you noticed how the CNN website uses blurred images as a design element in some of their posts? Since the new image-formatting features in PowerPoint 2010 include a handy blur tool, it’s pretty easy to create a similar effect in your rapid e-learning courses. And it’s a really nice alternative to traditional bullet-style slides!

So, with inspiration from the CNN folks, below is a published example I cooked up, using PowerPoint 2010 and Articulate Presenter ‘09, with content adapted from heart.org. Following the example is a series of tutorials that show how to build the effect yourself if you have PowerPoint 2010.

You can also download the source files here if you’d like to take a look under the hood and adapt the project for your own courses.

Click to view the example

27 Comments
Jeanette Brooks
Michael Fimian
Jeanette Brooks
Kendra Haddock

Hi Michael and Jeanette, The links that do not work are on the thumbnails - I used them to not only signal where the learner is in the course where the thumbnail of the image is in focus and bright when you are on that slide - but also as a navigational device, where the learner can click on a thumbnail to navigate within a module (my course has 5). It is the links on the thumbnails that so not work and clip art graphic that links to a hidden slide with extra "tidbits" of knowledge that are not on the quizzes or final exam. I followed your instructions about branching to and from hidden slides, but the links are still not working. On the separate issue of the .wav file, it is a short video, not just sound, and when I browse to it to add it, Articulate does not see the wav file. I... Expand

Michael Fimian

Hi Kendra, How are you today? Looking forward to seeing the course, to get a better feel for what's happening with your links... Are the modules separate from one another, or are they all included in a single PPT? Using a WAV import function probably won't work with AVIs, as the WAV file format is pure audio and the AVI is a combination of audio and video. If you have Articulate's Video Converter, you can export the AVI as a Flash file format, then use the Flash Import function to bring the video on to a slide, If you don't have the Video Converter, you can use one of the free online programs such as www.any-video-converter.com or standalone programs such as Camtasia Studio to import the AVI and export it as a SWF, SWF, or MP4 video, all of which are importable on to a PPT slid... Expand