RE: power point is evil?

[Gary Klatsky]

I have a bit of a problem with the “absolute” responses to the use of PowerPoint.  PowerPoint is a tool and like any tool it can be used effectively or to an extreme where it is distracting.  I have a horrible handwriting so I have put all of the material I want to present to my class in PowerPoint presentations. These include figures, videos, cartoons  and anything else that I want to share with the class. Putting all the material in a PowerPoint presentation, besides being legible, also makes the presentation of material run much smoother. I don’t have to navigate between VCRs, overhead projectors and the blackboard.   When I returned to academia (almost 10 years now) from industry I began using PowerPoint immediately (in a 150 student class). At the start, students all commented on how much they liked having material presented that way.  Over the years I have (I think) achieved the right balance between what is presented on a slide and what I elaborate on.   I don’t use any backgrounds or fancy fonts. I do make all of that material (minus anything that is copyrighted) available to my students to download so that they don’t have to copy what is being presented (that was a different thread).  Given the feedback (formal and anecdotal) I have gotten from students over the years I believe I am a very effective educator.  I believe that the way I present course material to my students contributes to that effectiveness.   Gary J. Klatsky, Ph. D. Director, Human Computer Interaction   Department of Psychology                                [EMAIL PROTECTED] Oswego State University (SUNY)                http://www.oswego.edu/~klatsky 7060 State Hwy 104W                                         Voice: (315) 312-3474 Oswego, NY 13126                                               Fax:   (315) 312-6330   All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.                                                                      Albert Einstein   -----Original Message----- From: John Kulig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 1:27 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: RE: power point is evil?     I’m not a fan of Power Point because the backgrounds are distracting and the formatting garish. I prefer having the freedom to format as I see fit, rather than squeeze into canned formats. I have only 2 Power Point “things” for Intro, but they are canned memory experiments that present TBR words, and I used it only as a slide projector only, minus all the silly formatting. Once, when I was setting up a computer in front of a large class, a student asked “Are we having a Power Point today?”. It’s only one anecdote, but evidence that students clue into the formatting. The methods we use to bring material to a class should be transparent. ============================================ John W. Kulig Professor of Psychology Plymouth State College Plymouth NH 03264 ============================================ "Live simply that others may simply live" Contemporary saying. -----Original Message----- From: Kathleen Kleissler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 4:05 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: power point is evil?   This author says the use of power point for educational purposes is counter productive -- that students concentrate on form over content when it's used. Comments anyone? http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html Kathleen Kleissler Dept. of Psychology Kutztown University Kutztown PA 19530 610-298-3313 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]