Easy to Use, Inexpensive On-line Presentation Tools for Museum Educators
(and others on a budget)

Matthew Fisher, Night Kitchen Media, USA
Dan Kuetemeyer, Night Kitchen Media, USA
Juan Leon, Night Kitchen Media, USA

Workshop: On a Budget

In recent years an affordable set of tools has become available to museum educators and others who wish to rapidly produce online presentations. Tools such as Microsoft Producer, Articulate Presenter, and Macromedia Breeze allow anyone familiar with PowerPoint to create rich-media presentations and publish them via the Internet, an Intranet, a CD-ROM, or e-mail. Educators in a variety of settings are using these tools to inexpensively create high quality interactive presentations. These presentations can help prepare groups for a museum trip, deliver follow-up materials to visitors, or provide essential educational resources on a museum website. They can take the form of customized online catalogues or even complete online courses.

This how-to workshop will:

1. Introduce participants to a range of tools available to them – some, such as Microsoft Producer and Articulate Presenter, are both powerful and inexpensive (or free).
2. Explain the application of these tools to museum education, training, reference, and outreach – even online exhibits. We'll discuss the highlights and pros and cons of using each.
3. Share instructional design and graphical design practices that work best in this particular medium – traditional design principles don’t necessarily apply.
4. Offer participants hands-on experience with some of these tools – those who bring a PowerPoint slide deck with them can leave with everything they need for a ready-to-publish rich-media presentation.