MagPointer ($) - Interact with PowerPoint

PowerPoint, despite some negative reviews and thoughts about its use in the classroom, can still be a valuable tool for teachers to use to present information.  It's not really PowerPoint that is the issue, it is generally the creator of the presentation and presenter that is the problem.  Well, MagPointer hope to help with the presentation aspect of PowerPoint.  With MagPointer, which is a downloadable extension for PowerPoint, allows users to interact with the content on slides by framing, zooming, focusing, and enlarging aspects of a presentation.

MagPointer is currently in Beta and can be used for free for 60 days.  After that, it will be an introductory price of $9.95.  If you feel like this is something you would be interested in, here are some other features that could be used with your presentation.

• Selecting and enlarging a specific slide object

• Creating frames to focus on specific areas in a slide

• Highlighting text paragraphs, table cells, rows or columns

• High-quality picture enlargement

• Dimming the screen outside of the selected object

• Navigation through slide elements

• Laser pointer

• Easy-to-use powerful magnifier

• Magnifier spots (“frozen” enlarged highlighted areas)

Even though there is a price, I think it is a reasonable one, and as much as PowerPoint is still the tool of choice for so many teachers, improving how it is used can be very beneficial.  MagPointer is easy-to-use and intuitive. Use the floating smart bar located at the right edge of the screen, or:

• Left-click to select objects
• Left-click and drag to create frames
• Right-click and drag to activate magnifying glass