When I first began using powerpoint I also put too much information on the slides and students would spend too much time writing every word that was presented. Over the years I've established the right balance that allows the students time to listen to all the words of wisdom that are not on the slides. The best way to get the students to pay attention to what I am saying was to eliminate the need to copy what was written on the slides. Going back to writing the material on the black board would probably help but my handwriting is so bad it would create a different set of problems.
Regarding student annotations: I use power point and encourage my students to print them out as handouts, 3 slides per page. They then get the slides on one side of the page and a lined area for notes on the other. I have demonstrations that I don't make available to students so that the effect isn't lost by pre-exposure. At the start of each semester I create two sets of overheads, one for me and one for the students. That doesn't mean that I can't bring something new into the class Gary J. Klatsky, Ph.D. Department of Psychology [EMAIL PROTECTED] Oswego State University of NY http://www.oswego.edu/~klatsky Oswego, NY 13126 Voice: (315) 312 3474 -----Original Message----- From: Stephen Black [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 8:50 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: distributing lecture notes I was going to stay out of this, but there's nothing like having your name pop up to make you pay attention... On Tue, 26 Feb 2002, Shannon Gadbois wrote: > > I came up with a "compromise". I changed my slides to only include the key > points of any of the content I was discussing (thanks for the advice > Stephen Black). I appreciate the thanks, but that's not quite my view. I did say that I considered limiting the information on my slides in order to encourage attendance but finally decided against it. I felt that doing that didn't really have educational justification and that boosting attendance shouldn't be an end in itself. If some students find the slides alone are sufficient for their needs and as a result skip class, I'm willing to let them make that decision. So my slides have become increasingly detailed, and I hold nothing back. As a result, I'm sure some do decide they no longer need to attend class. However, where I draw the line is in making them available _before_ class, as most contributors to this thread seem to do. I don't because i) I revise them up until about two minutes before class, so they're not ready beforehand; ii) it spoils any novelty, surprise, or attempt to get students to think about each point before revealing the next; and iii) it bugs me when students follow along with the written version. So I only make each set available after each class. But it does prevent students from annotating the notes in real time, which would be helpful. And students do ask me to make them available beforehand. I decline. -Stephen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
