The Way to Sway

Guest Post by Cameron Yancy

What is Sway?

Microsoft Sway is a Microsoft tool that allows you to create interactive presentations.

Start from a Topic

Sway has some really cool features that you can utilize for your students to make standard presentations work for you, not against you.  A feature you can utilize to diversify your presentations is the START FROM A TOPIC feature:

This feature allows you to enter in a specific topic (ex: Roman History) and it will generate an outline with different cards (Sway's version of slides) pertaining to the topic. (ex: Language, Military, Geography, etc..).

Note About Copyright

One thing that is not only important to Microsoft but Keller ISD is copyright. Using this outline does NOT allow students to copy the word helpers provided by Sway.  It is assumed that one using Sway would replace the information with their original work.

Accessing Sway

1. Navigate to portal.office365.com
   Keller ISD: Navigate to KCLOUD
2. Enter your login credentials
3. Click SWAY:
   

Getting Started

View this video to get started:

Other Tutorials

Access Microsoft's full line of video tutorials here.

Mentimeter

If you want to add a little engagement to your class, Mentimeter is the tool for you! With their many slide templates to choose from, students will finally have a reason to utilize their mobile devices for learning!

1. First, sign up for a teacher account here.
2. Next, click the button.
3. Once your account has been created, dive into your first presentation.  Click the button.
4. Enter a NAME for the presentation and define the PRESENTATION SETTINGS:
   
   
   
   
   
5. Select a SLIDE TYPE along the right side of the screen:
   
6. In this example, the WORD CLOUD  type will be selected:
   
   
   
7. Select the applicable CONTENT and CONTENT SETTINGS.  In this example, the question, entries per voter, and profanity filter properties will be selected:
   
   
   
8. Once the slides are complete, click the button.
9. In order to interact, have the students access the prompt at menti.com and enter the provided code:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. The word cloud example can be pictured below:
    

Limitations

Currently, there is no limitation on number of participants, however there is a maximum of two questions and five quiz questions per presentation. Read more about payment options and limitations here.

Additional Help

Learn more by accessing the Mentimeter support page or by viewing past Mentimeter webinars.