Death by power point?
Heading into a lecture for many of my university years equaled death by power point. In my teaching however, power point is the only thing that keeps me and my students engaged and sane.
It is argued that Power Point is the kiss of death, and demotes discussion. In my experiences at university, it certainly did. But in teaching, I have discovered that it’s HOW you use technology that determines this. Amy Bruckman (2003) argues that “Power Point encourages presentation, not conversation. Students grow unaccustomed to being challenged. Ambiguity is not valued. A string presentation closes down debate rather than opening it because it conveys absolute authority.” (Bruckman, 2003, p23)
I strongly disagree. Using Power Point is an art, and can increase interactivity if the composer constructs it to be used in this way, and not an excuse for lazy work. The following is what I’ve found.
Here are some groovy Do’s and Don’ts
Do’s
- make it content specific
- use themes that are simple and effective
- have a fixed routine so that students know what to expect. For example, my students always know that the first slide has a visual that explains what is to come. There is also the day’s topic. The second slide has the lesson goals that they read out and write down. This is followed by them articulating what they think it means. These need to be simple and begin with active verbs, such as –understand, analyse, interpret, discuss, etc.
- then I place an image and ask them to discuss and critique what they think is happening, what it means, and how they think it relates to the task at hand.
- give out a worksheet based on the Power Point that has comprehension, debate activities and tasks, as well as slideshows and links to teachertube, etc.
- ALWAYS ask students to read the presentation to the class and ask others whether or not they agree
- allow a student to be the technology co-ordinator
- have points ascending so that students can discuss without feeling bombarded with text
- keep bullets succinct and short
- use lots of visuals (this also helps students with special learning needs)
Don’t
- use too many coloured points
- distract students by using silly sounds, or too many animations
- write chunks of information
- read off the page and look at the board the whole time
- don’t talk to the presentation!
Hope this helps!
Reference
Bruckman, A. (ed). (2003, Summer). ‘Convergence’ in The journal of research into new media technologies. Volume 9, number 2. University of Luton Press.p23.
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I agree totally. PowerPoint is merely a tool to assist in the delivery of a lesson. If it is posted on a school intranet, it can also be useful as a revision tool or for students absent from a lesson. The flexibility to embed hyperlinks, movie and sound files means that they can be used as a self contained lesson or as a springboard to class discussions. Mind you, they will never replace the classroom teacher…..or will they?
Can you imagine being replaced by a robot? I can’t. I think there will always be a point of contact. A unique method was used in university, where we met for the first three weeks, then we had online tutors who we would have correspondence with in grousp of 10 students. We had an online forum with resources, etc, but I must admit, I prefered face-to-face contact. But then again, I’m a real social person. I found that more work got done face-to-face. But again, e-relationships are another new category of relationships.
What do you think? Can teachers have other careers whilst teaching solely online?