Options for Adding Your PowerPoint to Brightspace

This resource includes the options for adding PowerPoint presentations to your Brightspace Course. Options vary based on the type of presentation and how you want to present the content to students.

Add the PowerPoint file in the Table of Contents

You can add your PowerPoint file (PPTX) on a separate topic page in a module in the Table of Contents within your Brightspace course site. Simply click on the module where you want the content to appear and click ‘Upload/Create’ button to add your file. When a student navigates to the content, using the link in the Course Content or by navigating to it, Brightspace converts the PPTX to a PDF for student viewing. This works well for simple presentations.

For narrated presentations and more complex slide layouts, direct students to use the Download button at the bottom of the preview window to download the original PPTX file to their own device for viewing in PowerPoint. In doing so they will view the presentation as it was originally designed.

For further information refer to Adding Content-How to Upload a Topic to learn how to create a topic page to add your PowerPoint file.

Insert a Link to a PowerPoint file on a Topic Page in a Module

When you add a link to the PowerPoint file using the Insert Options on the HTML editor within a content topic/page, the original presentation is automatically downloaded for viewing in PowerPoint—there is no conversion to a PDF for previewing the file. Encourage students to download Microsoft Office 365, which includes PowerPoint. It is freely available to all students at Memorial. See Software for You.

Refer to Using the HTML Editor to learn how to create a HTML file and link to a PowerPoint file from within the page.

Copy Your PowerPoint Content into a Topic Page in Module

If your presentation contains mostly text and images, and no audio or interactivity, create a topic page within a module and copy the content from your slides and paste onto a new or existing topic page using the HTML editor. Students will be able to view the content directly within their browsers, thus eliminating the need to use PowerPoint as a third party application. Also, you can include additional notes on the page to further explain the context.  

Refer to Using the HTML Editor and Adding Content to learn how to create, add, and edit HTML pages.

Embed a Video Version of Your PowerPoint

When you save or export the slide presentation as an video (MP4 file), you can upload the MP4 file to the CITL video streaming server and embed the video onto a topic page in a module. Students will play the video from the topic page and it will stream from the server; no additional software or hardware is required.

Follow these step by step instructions for saving or exporting PowerPoint to a Video file.

Refer to Self-Service Video Hosting site for instructions on uploading a video to the CITL streaming server and embedding it on a topic page in your Brightspace course.

Upload PowerPoint Slides in a Web-Conferencing Session

You can use PowerPoint slides in Online Rooms or Webex to facilitate a live session that you can record.

For information on uploading and accessing a video file of a slide presentation recorded in Online Rooms (Bongo) or WebEx integrated in Brightspace, visit the Online Rooms and WebEx sections of this site.