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October 15, 2024
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 min read

How to Convert PowerPoint to an Interactive E-learning Module: A Detailed Guide

Want to convert PowerPoint to elearning because the former isn't enough for your needs? We have got you covered in our comprehensive exploration of this topic.

How to Convert PowerPoint to an Interactive E-learning Module: A Detailed Guide

So, you have created stellar PowerPoint training content but have realized it is not good enough for a modern workforce. What do you do now? You convert PowerPoint to elearning modules. 

Today, organizations have moved beyond the good old Microsoft PowerPoint for better AI tutoring tools that offer more refined learning and evaluation. E-learning has become the mainstay of many organizations, and more are joining this revolution. Instead of relying on PowerPoint slides with obvious shortcomings, you can transfer them to the LMS of your choice.

This write-up will tell you how to create engaging slides in PowerPoint and convert them to an e-learning module, so your employees can enjoy a world-class training experience. 

Creating E-learning Modules: A Step-by-Step Guide 

Courses are usually created in modules for easier management and more enjoyable learning experiences, for which learning PowerPoint is a crucial prerequisite. With over 500 million users worldwide, PowerPoint is still a go-to course-creation tool for many. 

Once employees complete a module, they can move on to the next, which is how they complete a course. Each module can be built around a certain theme or section of the course, after which employees must pass a quiz or complete a certain activity to move on. 

Before you convert PowerPoint to elearning free, each module is created on the former. So, let’s begin creating one.

Step 1: Preparation 

PowerPoint is a capable tool from Microsoft used by several organizations. To create engaging modules, you need MS PowerPoint and an authoring tool (which we shall discuss later). As a course creator and trainer, MS PowerPoint offers several features and opportunities to create learning modules. With MS PowerPoint, you can transform dull slides into something interactive and engaging. 

The first thing to do in trying to convert PowerPoint to elearning is to prepare all the necessary materials, which include the following: 

  • The module scenario 
  • Text for all slides
  • Audios for each slide 
  • Programming instructions for animations 
  • Images (also can be saved separately for animations)
  • Videos 
  • Downloadable resources, such as ebooks, documents, presentations, and the like 

Mindmapping 

As the name suggests, mind mapping is about brainstorming and visual thinking to organize ideas. Usually, a mind map resembles a spider diagram, which contains a central idea and all the sub-ideas branch out of it. Representing ideas for your PPT courses this way allows organizations and trainers to see complex ideas in one snapshot instead of handling multiple parts separately.

Storyboarding 

The idea of storyboarding is the product of video production in which various sketches are designed to outline action in a movie, cartoon, or advertisement. The idea when trying to convert PowerPoint to elearning can be a bit intimidating since sketches require artistic talent, but you can do well with text alone. 

Create a Presentation 

Creating a module is much more efficient and simpler if you already have a plan. Instead of going into animations from the very beginning, first, create a static slideshow of images and texts in the correct order. It will provide you with a comprehensive preview of your course. 

To make things even easier, you can add Notes to each slide so that whenever you return, you know why you did what you did. 

Step 2: How to Make a PowerPoint Interactive With Animations

When you have all the required materials, such as audio and slides, ready, it is time to add some magic to them. Animations can change the feel and look of your dull slides and make employees more interested in completing their training. They can take elearning experience to the next level by bringing everything to life

Here is how you can animate this process when you want to convert PowerPoint to elearning:

Tweak the Audio 

  • MS PowerPoint supports various audio formats like MP3, WAV, and WMA. Simply drag and drop your audio files in any of these formats into the slide to get going. 
  • Click the Playback option on the extreme right to edit the audio settings. Here, it is crucial to uncheck the Play Across Slides and Loop Until Stopped boxes to prevent sound from overlapping all slides. 
  • Click the Hide During Show box to make the sound icon invisible in the final version. 

MS powerpoint audio tweaking

Enter Animations 

Visualization is at the heart of quality PowerPoint online training today, and that is where animations show their true value. Select the Animations tab from the top to access 200 different effects: Swivel, Wheel, Random Bars, and whatnot. 

animation settings on a powerpoint

  • Click the Animation Pane on the top to see all the animated objects. 
  • By clicking On Click on the top right, you’ll see two options: selecting With Previous means the animation will start simultaneously with the audio on the slide, or the animation will begin as soon as the preceding animation finishes. Selecting After Previous means the animation will start after all other animations on the slide have finished, or the animation will begin once the audio on the slide has finished playing.
  • The Duration lets you select how long an animation runs. 
  • If you want to show trainees an object when it appears in the audio, choose With Previous and set the duration in seconds in the Delay box. 

Note: Some PowerPoint versions limit you to 59 seconds in the Delay box. If you want to go above the minute mark, go to the Animation Pane and drag the green icon to the right until you get the desired Start and End

animation pane ms powerpoint

Create Pop-Ups 

Training materials often contain complex terms, citations, comments, and the like. Quality training requires a satisfactory explanation of these aspects, but they might make the slides cluttered. That’s where pop-ups come in, as they can be opened or closed for an explanation whenever you like. 

Although there are multiple ways to create pop-ups, we think doing it through the Trigger tool is most suitable:

  • Click Insert Shapes → select a rectangle or any other shape for the popup. 
  • PowerPoint lets you edit the pop-up style, add text and images, and the Close button by selecting the X icon from the Insert → Icons. 
powerpoint pop-ups
  • Choose the object that will trigger the pop-up, like the blue Learn More button above. 

If you want the pop-up to appear during a presentation:

trigger pop-ups powerpoint
  • Select the pop-up group and add an entrance animation.
  • Set Start: On click 
  • Open the Trigger drop-down and pick the element name to open the pop-up. 
  • Now add an Exit animation and select a trigger (icon) to run it. 

Make all the slide objects visible again by pressing - against each or clicking Show All in the Selection Pane.

How to Turn a PowerPoint into Video With Navigation Among Slides 

Pop-ups are effective for brief explanations, but they are not suitable for large explanations if you want to convert PowerPoint to elearning. In that case, you need a more practical solution, like hyperlinks that redirect users to other slides. 

Select the slide object, such as an image, word, or icon, and click Insert → Hyperlink → Place in This Document. Select the address slide and click OK. You can also hide these slides from the presentation so they only appear when you click. 

slide show powerpoint hide slide settings

Step 3: Publishing 

Creating a module on PowerPoint is fun, but it certainly isn’t enough. To make your module truly engaging and accessible, you need to upload it to a LMS.

To do that, you first need to convert it to SCORM to make it compatible with the LMS.

Converting PowerPoint to SCORM 

Changing your PPT to SCORM will also convert every single one of your slides. You can even add more slides with quizzes whenever you want. Once you have fully transported your PPT to SCORM, the final product is something that the LMS can easily track.

What Shortcomings Does PowerPoint Have? 

The major downside of PowerPoint is that it doesn’t track what a user is doing, because its design focuses on presentations, not e-learning as a whole. 

For instance, when you present to an audience, you have full control over the slides. You decide which slide to elaborate on at what time and which slide to let go. During that presentation, you can observe the audience’s expression and record their level of understanding. Audiences can ask you questions, and the session will continue both ways.

However, handing over these slides to the audience changes the picture altogether. That’s because you are not in control of their learning experience. You have no idea how these employees interact with the content, let alone understand their level of comprehension. This can be a big problem for any organization that wants to know what its employees are doing with their learning modules. 

Another issue with PowerPoint is that the files with several slides often occupy too much. Not only are they harder to store, but distributing them at scale is also a pain, especially in large organizations. SCORM lets you record employee interactions with the e-learning modules and add quizzes, exams, and whatnot to the course.

With the global elearning market expected to hit $336.98 Billion by 2026, the opportunities have never been more abundant in this area. More and more organizations are moving to elearning because of its convenience and flexibility, so this market will expand even more. 

Convert PowerPoint to elearning With Coursebox 

Let’s take a step-by-step look at creating an interactive elearning course with Coursebox:

Step 1: Open the Coursebox website and create an account by clicking Start Free on the top right. Provide all the required details and you are ready to go.

ai converts powerpoint into elearning

Step 2: Once logged into your account, Coursebox will take you to a dedicated Dashboard. Click Create on the left.

coursebox dashboard

Step 3: A new window will open, starting a 4-step process, where you need to describe your course in a box. You can also change the language by clicking the “English United Kingdom” box on the right. Once finished, click Next on the bottom right to proceed. 

ai course creation screen

Step 4: This step involves adding the materials you have already prepared to the course. You can also train AI on particular content by adding links from YouTube or other websites. Since you have everything prepared already, Drag & Drop to upload or Browse to upload. 

ai convert documents to courses

If you have enough content of your own in the files uploaded to Coursebox, unselect the Combine knowledge with Chat GPT below. If there isn’t enough data in your files, get help from Chat GPT by selecting this button, and click Next. 

Step 5: In this step, Coursebox asks you to describe your learner, which enables it to personalize the journey according to the learner’s level. For instance, a high schooler trying to study math in India has different needs compared to someone doing engineering in an American university. 

learner description screen

In this example, the learners are engineers on oil rigs in Perth. 

Step 6: This step lets you edit various parameters of the course, such as Core learning objectives, Lessons, Quiz pass grade, Assignment pass grade, and more. Once you have entered all the required parameters according to your course, click Next.

course outline settings

After clicking Next, you’ll see a screen telling you that the AI is writing your high-level design. 

ai is creating your course loading screen

Step 7: This step gives you an overview of the course, including an introduction, the learning content, and quizzes. You can edit any entry you want or add new ones. 

You’ll also see a checkbox for Automatically write content for all pages at the bottom. Uncheck it if you want to write things by yourself on blank pages. Now, click the Save & Generate Lessons button at the bottom.

Once you click it, a new window opens where you can start the editing process. That is how you successfully convert PowerPoint to elearning. 

Conclusion 

PPT presentations are easy to make and engaging to an extent, but they aren’t up to the mark when it comes to modern digital training. Instead, you can make your courses much more engaging if you convert PowerPoint to elearning. 

Coursebox is the perfect tool for this purpose with its advanced AI functionalities. All you need to do is login or create an account, upload your files, and follow a simple process. What you will get in the end is a modern e-learning module that employees enjoy working with. 

So, author your course with Coursebox today and equip your organization with a modern workforce. 

FAQs 

How to convert PowerPoint to eLearning? 

You can convert PPT to elearning modules by using a quality authoring tool like Coursebox. It has a few simple steps that you need to follow to upload your files and edit them. The final product is an engaging and reliable course to train employees. 

What is interactive elearning? 

Interactive learning means creating an engaging learning environment in which trainees achieve their full potential. Instead of just telling them dull facts, you show them the bigger picture too, which makes them enthusiastic about the journey. 

What is an elearning module? 

Elearning modules can be called units, sections, or chapters in an overall course. A course comprises multiple modules. Once the learner completes a module, they move on to the next one.

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