Hi Folks, I thought this article could be a good addition to the discussions about the use of PowerPoint Presentation in teaching.
Cheers, Charles. THE PERILS OF POWERPOINT Thomas R. McDaniel, Converse College, and Kathryn N. McDaniel, Marietta College College professors everywhere are incorporating PowerPoint presentations into their classroom lectures. Faculty often pressure their deans to make every classroom a "smart classroom," and those fuddy-duddy faculty too slow to embrace this quickly-emerging technology are considered Luddites, resisters to change, out of step with modern student expectations. Technology can be a boon to pedagogy, but it is not without its perils. Before jumping headlong into the rushing tide of PowerPoint presentations, consider these cautions and criticisms about this popular teaching tool: 1) It's Inflexible. When you use PowerPoint to convey information and ideas, it limits not only the content you can convey, but also the pace at which you present. If a student has a question (which the format of PowerPoint discourages anyway), the presenter may lose the flow of the PowerPoint in trying to answer it. If the student's question requires a quick jump ahead to a later point, the presenter will (if the program will allow it) have to scroll through upcoming points to address it. This can lead to confusion and a sense of disorder for both the presenter and the students. If the presenter has included too much information on the slides, students may delay the presentation by insisting that they "haven't finished" copying everything down. If you find out that your audience has a different level of knowledge than you expected (for example, if they didn't do the reading they were supposed to), the presentation cannot easily be adapted to fit the new situation. What all of these "ifs" demon! strate is that there's insufficient flexibility in the presentation form to allow for any surprises-those wonderful "teachable moments" that energize a lesson. 2) It's Risky. How many times have you seen a PowerPoint presentation where some technical difficulty a) made it impossible to start the presentation on time? b) caused the presenter to lose the presentation entirely and end up fumbling halfheartedly through the presentation? c) made it difficult to change the "slides," making every transition a long or clumsy process? d) created a problem with the sequencing of points such that the presenter lost his or her place? e) all of the above? Technology is a wonderful thing, but its use also opens up all kinds of possible delays and technical difficulties. The real trouble with PowerPoint technology is that the presenter becomes too dependent on it and often cannot simply abandon the technological "enhancement" to perform the lesson anyway when technical difficulties arise, as they invariably do. 3) It's a Crutch. PowerPoint often serves as a crutch that prevents academics from developing real teaching skills. This is particularly a problem for academics who have spent most of their training in relatively isolated activities (researching in labs and libraries and then writing up their research) and who often have introverted tendencies. Instead of having to develop a pedagogy that engages the class at some level, instead of having to learn to communicate ideas to the individuals within the class, the professor can spend hours laying out a PowerPoint presentation that resembles a scholarly publication more than a lesson and that presents the information in a way that stifles communication between teacher and students. This is "presentation," not teaching. 4) It's Boring. One of our students talks about PowerPoint classes as a "Zone-Out Zone." Not only is it easy for students to zone out during a presentation, it's often actually difficult for them to stay focused and attentive. This occurs for several reasons. First, a PowerPoint presentation seems to signal to students that they will not be necessary for the next 50 minutes or so, that their presence is purely as an audience, and as a result many students automatically disengage even at the very outset. (Having the lights out provides a cue.) Second, presenters often put all of the salient points of the presentation on the slides, bullet-pointed for clarity-and sometimes they even distribute a handout of the information on each slide. Why does a student need to listen to the presenter read through each of these, even if there is a longer explanation? The pacing seems to slow down painfully; the students never have to figure out for themselves what the key ideas or points are; they have become merely scribes, copying down information. No matter how many "cool graphics" you have, if they don't relate to the material (and are just "frills"), students will tune out everything of substance. 5) It's Style without Substance. The stylish presentation that PowerPoint offers often occurs at the expense of substance. Instead of spending time researching and studying the content, the presenter spends hours figuring out how to have the bullet points "fly" in. Examples end up watered down because of technological limitations or the lack of an appropriate graphic. Complex ideas are reduced to bullet points and clever images which don't allow for nuance, multiple perspectives or definitions, or points of contention. Excessive stylish features slow the pace of the lesson and reduce the amount of material that can be conveyed effectively. Even the best PowerPoint presentation is impressive not because of the insights and ideas conveyed, but because of the skilled use of technology it represents. In thinking about whether or not a PowerPoint presentation was effective, people will often focus on the technologies used, the frills and graphics, the smoothness with which the technology functioned. This is the last thing you want students to be getting out of your lesson-that you, the teacher, are good with technology. Like Any Tool . . . While PowerPoint can be a great addition to a teacher's pedagogical repertoire, it is no magic bullet guaranteed to make professors better (and more impressive) teachers. Like any tool, it can be misused or abused, and when that happens teaching effectiveness may be undermined instead of enriched. Effective pedagogy means knowing the benefits of any given teaching tool. Those who know the "perils of PowerPoint" are most likely to avoid its pitfalls. Contact: Thomas R. McDaniel Senior Vice President Acting Dean of Graduate Studies Converse College Spartanburg, South Carolina E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Kathryn N. McDaniel Assistant Professor of History Marietta College - Ohio E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] © Copyright 1996-2005. Published by James Rhem & Associates, Inc. (ISSN 1057-2880) All rights reserved worldwide. Web Weavingþ By InfoStreet, Inc. Email the webmaster Maxine Atkinson wrote: > Here is a quick article that I think summarizes some good practices with > power point. > > http://www.ncsu.edu/effective_teaching/Columns/PowerPoint.pdf > > Maxine Atkinson > > -----Original Message----- > From: "Michael Johnston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "'teachsoc'" <[email protected]> > Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 06:56:25 -0700 > Subject: TEACHSOC: Effectively using PowerPoint > > > ------=_NextPart_000_0005_01C68DED.541E1120 > Content-Type: text/plain > > Dear Jack, Marty, and others, > > Could you share some tips with us that you personally have found > effective and a brief description of why? > > One tip that I have heard regularly is "Don't put large sections of text > into PowerPoint." The argument is that the teacher then just ends up > reading, which is even worse than lecturing. This is generally correct. > BUT, this can be effective if used sparingly and appropriately. For > example, I know an instructor who assigns text by Weber. What he does > is to include a few slides with actual text, text that is very hard to > understand, and then explains how to read this text. The benefits to > this approach are multiple: (1) everyone is on the same page, even if > they forgot their book; (2) it takes less time to get everyone at the > right place in the text; (3) keywords can be highlighted and easily > pointed out; (4) instruction is layered with additional anchors beyond > books and the instructor's voice - the PowerPoint Slide and the > instructor's body movement as they point to certain keywords, etc. (5) > questions about particular sections of the text are more widely > understood by the class because the instructor can quickly and easily > point to the relevant text (6) more anchors facilitates the instructor > to lecture at more abstract levels > > I'm looking forward to hearing more tips from others! > > Best wishes, > Michael > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Jack Estes > Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 4:38 AM > To: Marty Schwartz; teachsoc > Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: lousy lecturing > > I agree that PowerPoint can be a powerful tool in the classroom if it's > not abused. We have workshops all the time in EFFECTIVE use of > PowerPoint, not only for business classes but for anyone. I think > they' > Maxine P. Atkinson, Ph.D. > Director, N.C. State's First Year Inquiry Seminar Program > Division of Undergraduate Academic Programs, and > Associate Professor of Sociology > North Carolina State University > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > phone: 919 515 9001 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
