Use of Hyperlinks in PowerPoint Presentations as an Educational Tool

PowerPoint software (Microsoft, Redmond, WA) has become a popular tool for creating and displaying electronic presentations. The “hyperlink” function in PowerPoint allows users to advance from one slide to another slide in the presentation when they click on a predetermined word, shape, or image, thereby allowing for a more dynamic and interactive experience than can be obtained with serial presentation of slides alone. The objective of this article is to provide a tutorial describing the necessary steps to create hyperlinks and incorporate them in a variety of ways into a PowerPoint presentation. Hyperlinks can turn a passive learning experience into an active one by allowing the participant to become more engaged with the presentation.