Present Top Hat Content

Students cannot access or view anything within a Top Hat course unless it is Presented or Assigned to them. For more information on assigning asynchronous Top Hat content, please visit our Assign Top Hat Content help page.

Presentation Settings

Before starting your presentation, you have the ability to adjust a number of settings for presenting your slides. Presentation settings can be accessed by selecting the arrow next to the Present button as well as on the screen that appears before you start your presentation. The settings options are listed below.

• Full screen mode will open your slides in full screen when you start your presentation, rather than containing them within the browser window.
• Presenter view provides you with a second screen that only the presenter can see as they present. The screen shows the next slide, notes, and displays live results.
• Always show this screen before presenting, if activated, shows students the screen with the course's join code, the Take Attendance option, and settings. The screen will display before every presentation in Top Hat and cannot be changed at the course level.
• Always show control bar causes the control bar to remain fixed at the bottom of your screen as you present your slides. If toggled off, the control bar will only reappear when you hover your cursor at the bottom

Start a Presentation

To start a presentation from within Top Hat, please review the instructions below. Embedded questions and discussions will be automatically activated and available for student participation when you reach them in your presentation.

Step 1

Within the content tree, choose the first slide in your slideshow, then select the Present button.

Step 2

Select Start Presentation once you are ready to begin. If you'd like to take attendance before class, you can do so from this screen.

Step 3

Once the slideshow has begun, you can navigate through your slides using the arrows keys on your keyboard, or by selecting the arrows on the control bar along the bottom of the screen.

Selecting the arrow on the left side of the control bar opens your slide drawer. Here, you can see which slides are visible to students and scroll to access any slides in the deck.

Annotations

When using Presenter Mode, slides can be annotated by selecting the pen icon in the center of the control bar. Annotations are displayed on your projected screen as well as your students' devices. Once the annotation tool is selected, you will be presented with the options below.

• The pen-on-paper icon displays different color choices.
• The stacked lines icon provides options for line thickness.
• The undo arrow icon will undo the most recent annotation, whereas the delete icon will remove all annotations.
• The eraser icon removes all of annotations on the slide.

Videos, Hyperlinks, and Animations

Videos

Top Hat supports original video files (.mp4, .mov, or WebM files) embedded in slides. Videos and .gifs embedded in PowerPoint presentations will play on the projected screen, but they will not play on students' devices. When you reach a slide with an embedded video, select the play button in the center of the video when ready.

Hyperlinks

If your slide deck contains links, you will be able to open them while in Presenter Mode. When you reach a slide that contains a hyperlink, it can be opened in a new tab by selecting the link.

Slide Animations

When you upload a PowerPoint slide deck into Top Hat, it will be processed so that transitions and formatting are retained. The Appear animation is the only animation currently supported. Transitions and builds that incorporate other animations will be converted to Appear animations, meaning the progressive reveal of information on the slides is maintained, but the elaborate animation is not.

Ending the Presentation

Assign as Review

If you want students to have full access to your slide deck and embedded questions, follow the steps below.

Step 1

Open the Slide Drawer, then select the downward arrow next to the red End Presentation button.

Step 2

Select End & Assign items to Review.

Step 3

Select the slides and questions that you want students to have access to, then select End & Assign to review.

When you return to the course content page, you will see the slides and questions highlighted with an RV tag, meaning they are currently assigned as review and visible to students.

Support

For Top Hat support, please contact Top Hat at support@tophat.com, or UCATT's Instructional Technology team at intech@arizona.edu.

Back to Top