1. Unit 1 – Improving Productivity

2. 1.1Why did you use a computer? What other systems / resources could you have used? For unit 10,I had to make a power point presentation about the college I attend. I used a computer because it had the software I wanted to put my presentation on. I could have used any other software to present my presentation on a different software system. I wanted to use a computer as I felt it would benefit my presentation and make it easy for a group of people to see. It also benefited my PowerPoint presentation as it had spell and grammar check, making it easier to finalise my presentation. I feel as if my presentation was better and more interesting using a computer than standing in front of a group of people and talking. By using a computer I was able to complete the task quicker and more effectively, by completing the task quicker on computer I had more time to make improvements and changes. Using a computer made making changes and improvements easier and more effective as I was able to use things such as spell check, slide animation and hyperlinks- making my presentation look more professional and more put together.

3. 1.2What skills did you need to learn in order to use PowerPoint? The skills that benefited me during this unit was to hyperlink slides to other slides, this skill helped me as they worked as buttons for my presentation. Arranging text is also a helpful skill as I needed to arrange and move text to fit the slide, this made my presentation look clean and organized. I also needed inserting images as a skill, as this made the PowerPoint more attractive, using images will keep people more interested. I skill I needed in order to use PowerPoint was also using master slide, master slide is a slide in which I can control what happens on every slide by only using one. This benefited my presentation as it saved time and I was able to spend more time Improving my presentation and making it look more professional.

4. 1.2What resources did you need to make the presentation successful? To make my presentation successful I used a movie editing package to make the video used in my PowerPoint smaller, so it didn’t take up too much file space by doing this I had more space to add more relevant pictures and information, reaching the space criteria. I also used other resources to add information to my presentation to save more time to make it look more professional, I did this by adding appropriate and relevant information to the slides and making everything the appropriate size to fit on to my presentation. The resources I used to make my presentation successful included text box in PowerPoint, to add extra information where it was needed, it included images and videos from shared area, this benefited my presentation as it made it more interesting for other people to watch and listen to.

5. 1.4What factors might have affected how well you completed the presentation? (e.g. time / attendance / knowledge of software) I think lack of attendance and how my time was used could have affected how well I completed the presentation as missing time off and leaving finishing my power point could have set me back and ruined my work quality, however I spent the time I had working on my PowerPoint and if I missed a day off, I came back to catch up after college on my unfinished work. I think my knowledge of software benefited me as I was familiar with the programme I was using as I had used it may times before for previous projects. I think spending more time looking over each slide also would have affected me and made my PowerPoint presentation better as I would have improved the rate of work and the quality of my presentation, however I am happy with how much time I spent on my presentation and how good it was.

6. 1.6Why did you use PowerPoint to make your presentation? What other software was available? Why did you choose not to use them? I chose PowerPoint to make my presentation as I was familiar with this software making it more reliable for me to use as I knew what I was doing, as I have used PowerPoint with previous presentations. I could have chosen publisher, word, etc for my presentation however I did not choose them as PowerPoint had everything I needed to complete my presentation such text box, hyperlinking, great navigation, it is easier to present to a group of people and I was able to use video and sound clips. This made my presentation look more professional and finished. I did not choose excel as I did not need to show data charts or use a formulae. I did not use word because I could not navigate via hyperlink from document to document and I could not add sound or video clips, making my presentation less interesting.

7. 1.7Were there any legal constraints or local constraints that changed the way you created your presentation? (e.g. copyright, file sizes) I had to change some files I used in my presentation as it made the file size too big such as pictures, videos, sound clips and the amount of text I used. By changing the quality of videos, sound clips and pictures and amount of text and information I used, I met the size criteria. That meant checking to see if I my file size was too large each time I saved, if it was I would look over my PowerPoint and see what qualities and items needed changing. I used pictures and videos from shared area, this meant giving credit to the shared area as I did not own the images and such, not breaking copyright laws.

8. 2.2Which tools within PowerPoint made it appropriate for your presentation? Animation was used appropriately in my PowerPoint as it was used when the slide changed, I used this to make my PowerPoint look more professional and to meet the criteria. I also used master slide on PowerPoint to set all my slides to look a certain way to save time and make my presentation look presentable. I used textbox in PowerPoint to add information to each slide, making it an appropriate size and amount of text by doing this my presentation was full of relevant information and was helpful. I used hyperlinking to move swiftly form slide to slide, I used hyperlinking to resemble buttons- this benefited my presentation as it was easy to navigate from slides and made it look professional.

9. 2.4What improvements do you think you could do to your presentation? I think I could improve my PowerPoint by changing where the buttons are placed, this would have benefited my presentation as they would be in a more convenient place and easier to switch from slide to slide so I could swiftly change slides for other people that needed me to. I also could have added more notes to the presentation so my slides were not full of text and looked more professional and interesting, this would have benefited my presentation as it would have been a lot more attractive to people making them want to listen and watch more.

10. 3.2What improvements do you think you could have done to improve your work rate? To improve my work rate I could have concentrated on the given task a lot harder and not talked to anyone, this would have benefited my work rate as I would have been a lot more focused. However I think if I was to have had more time on this presentation it would have helped my work rate and how professional my presentation would have been as I wouldn’t have rushed to finish it so quickly, I think this because if I had more time I wouldn’t have felt so pressured which would of made me feel like there is no rushed, meaning I would have spent more time on the things that needed improving and changing and my review. I could have used a folder with a correct file name in a short cut to get my presentation up quicker, by doing this I would have been organised and prepared. Also, I could of done more preparation such as searching for images before I started my presentation rather than during to speed up my work rate.