Examples of didactic slides

Often, instructional designers must prepare slides for the facilitator or lecturer of a live session, or to pitch ideas. Here are two examples of slides:

• Thinking maps for developing course content
• A blog pitch

Note how the slides for the live session on thinking maps tell a story and engage learners through questions. The purpose of this slide deck is to provide information and draw learners into a discussion. After the live session, learners will receive the slide deck and be able to engage with the graphics in more detail. The graphics are designed to provide learners with more information about what they are studying: creating online learning.

The slides for the blog pitch are much simpler. They reflect the purpose, which is to elicit a decision from people who have limited time and typically aren’t interested in too much detail. These slides also use simple, full sentences to tell a story.

In both cases, participants in the presentation know where they are heading.