Microsoft PowerPoint helps you structure explanations, guide learning visually, and create reusable teaching materials. You can combine text, images, diagrams, charts, audio and video in slides to explain concepts step by step, support live or recorded teaching, and organise content for instruction or discussion. You can also share, record, and collaboratively edit presentations, using PowerPoint for both your teaching and your students’ work across face-to-face, online, and self-paced learning.
- Functions
- Create materials | Group collaboration | Video / audio
- Via Canvas
- Standalone
- Difficulty of use
- Easy to use
Examples of use in your education
Use Microsoft PowerPoint when you want to present teaching content in a clear sequence and support explanation with visual material.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Structured explanation - Use slides to guide students through a lecture, seminar or tutorial in a clear order, especially when they need to follow a sequence of concepts, examples or steps.
Visual clarification - Add diagrams, charts, images or embedded media when spoken explanation alone is not enough to make a concept or process clear.
Task guidance - Use slides to introduce assignments, instructions or session goals, so students can see what they are expected to do during class.
Interactive checkpoints - Build short prompts, discussion questions or response moments into the slide flow when you want students to engage actively during the session rather than only listen.
Side-by-side comparison - Use slide layouts to place concepts, cases or models next to each other when students need to compare differences, similarities or alternative approaches.
Flexible navigation - Use hyperlinks or buttons when you want to move non-linearly between sections, for example when responding to student questions or choosing between different examples during class.
Tip 1
Use builds or simple animations when you want students to focus on one part of an explanation at a time, instead of showing all information on the slide at once.
Tip 2
Use recurring structures for openings, worked examples and summaries, so students can recognise the logic of your teaching materials more easily across sessions.
Use Microsoft PowerPoint when you want to create short recorded presentations that students can watch before, after or instead of a live session.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Recorded mini-lectures - Record slides with spoken explanation directly in PowerPoint when students need to review a concept, method or introduction at their own pace.
Pre-class preparation - Use short recorded presentations to prepare students for seminars, workshops or flipped learning activities before they come to class.
Asynchronous clarification - Create brief narrated slide decks to explain recurring questions, assignment expectations or difficult course content outside scheduled teaching time.
Reusable recordings - Develop short recorded explanations that can be reused in future course iterations or shared as supporting material alongside other course resources.
Tip 1
Keep recorded presentations focused on one topic or task, so students can quickly see what each recording is for and return to it more easily later.
Tip 2
Use speaker notes or a short script to keep the explanation concise and well paced, especially when students will watch the recording independently without live follow-up.
Use Microsoft PowerPoint when you design assignments in which students need to present ideas, explain findings or work together on a shared output.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Presentation assignments - Ask students to use slides when they need to present a topic, case, project or research outcome clearly to a group.
Collaborative decks - Let students co-create one presentation through OneDrive or Teams when they need to prepare a shared output in pairs or groups.
Structured reporting - Use slide-based assignments when students need to combine visuals, text and spoken explanation into a coherent presentation or project report.
Oral assessment support - Ask students to use slides to structure an assessed presentation, project defence or oral explanation when they need to organise evidence and argument clearly.
Tip 1
Give students clear expectations about what the slides should do, for example support explanation, show evidence or structure an argument, rather than treating slide design as the main goal.
Tip 2
When students work collaboratively on one deck, ask them to agree on structure, purpose and roles first, so the presentation does not become a collection of disconnected slides.
Use Microsoft PowerPoint when you want students to revisit key content after class in a structured format.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Post-class review - Share selected slides after class when students need a clear reminder of key concepts, models or examples discussed during the session.
Exam preparation support - Provide slide-based overviews or summary presentations that help students review core material before an assessment.
Study guidance - Use presentations to highlight what students should focus on in their reading, preparation or revision.
Reference materials - Create slide decks that students can return to as a structured point of reference during the course.
Tip 1
Share slides when they genuinely support review or study, not only as a full record of everything said during class.
Tip 2
Make clear whether the slides are meant as a summary, a guide for further study or a reference alongside other course materials, so students know how to use them.
How-to videos
How to get started with Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint for Beginners - Complete Course
Microsoft PowerPoint Tutorial - Beginners Level 2
Getting started
- You can find all the relevant information on the official site of Microsoft PowerPoint.
Support
In case of educational questions, please contact your learning innovator or web team from your faculty.
In case of technical difficulty, please consult the Microsoft PowerPoint Help Centre.
