Power Point vs White Board
Power Point: students get lost in the power point and do not hear a word I was saying.
White Board: Went back to using the white board
with very little information listed. That regained the class attention and questions.
John,
great point made here about good preparation & planning & even reading the audience as far as what would work for them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I have found that no two classes are the same some learn more from PowerPoint while others prefer white board it has to be a combination of both along with as much hands on training to meet the individual needs of the class. No matter what is used it has to be done with a good well rehearsed upbeat delivery to be effective.
Tom,
I like to utilize both technologies as an effective way to convey my points.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
In HVAC classes sometimes students will need me to stop power points and draw it up on white board to understand things or not fall asleep also!
Agnes,
yes, while we live in a tech age, too much tech can be just as boring as no tech.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I agree-over reliance on PowerPoint can indeed lead students to "zone out" and/or simply disengage. As such, I try to alter/vary my presentation style, as well as the format used.
Brendon ,
this is a great idea & helps in labeling & diagraming if appropriate.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I often use a combination of the the two as we display the power point on our white boards. This allows me to emphasize certain slides and clarify/answer questions visually by adding to the slides, Brendon
kevin,
yes when we use the two tools in combination with each other, it really does help all the students to learn even more.
Dr. Ryan Meers
I agree, students do not want you to stand up there and read the power point, they can do that.You should use it only as a reference.The white board you can add to the topic.
Allyson,
I too like to use the combination of tools in order to keep attention & focus.
Dr. Ryan Meers
I have found that using both a power point presentation along with the white board is quite effective in my classes. I teach sonography courses and I use the power point to highlight the important points of the lecture while I draw the anatomical models and go over different scenarios on the white board. The power point gives them a heads-up on what we are about to go over in detail and the white board actually drives it in their heads visually. By using the white board it allows the students to ask "what if" questions which allows me to go further into detail using the diagrams/drawings on the board.
Lionel,
I would agree & we typically are more sparse in the info given on a whiteboard which forces the students to pay better attention & fill in the blanks for themselves.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Kathleen,
you make some great points here, especially about students becoming too reliant upon us spoonfeeding the information.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Today it is all about technology , ease into everything that we do .
White board will allow you to interact with them ,
they have to pay attention , powerpoint a fine but a computer allow to open more than one task at the time.
I see more attention and better result of a white board because they have to take notes.
It pushes them to collect the info .
Thanks
Lionel Heydel
I have also delivered long lectures/presentations in the classes I have taught. Most of the time, I find that when students become to reliant on powerpoint, it's because the slides are too detailed and the instructors are simply reading rather than delivering a presentation. I often limit powerpoint slides to a few key terms and then give students guided notes pages in which they can fill in the details I deliver in the presentation. The guided notes help so that students aren't trying to write down every word I say, and the limited verbiage on the slides helps capture attention because they may not exactly know what is meant by the keywords on the slide; therefore, they are more likely to pay attention and take good notes.
our classes are 4 hours long at a time. I would fall asleep just giving 4 hrs of ppt. BUT alot of our information is technical and the use of alot of slide diagrams as discussion points during the presentation helps to break up the monotony. I always list on the white board the class objectives for the day and usually will start a session with some audience feedback of ideas that i write on the board as the students discuss them. We try and mix in a video, ppt, whiteboad and discussion into each class day. it keeps the students on track, gives them a change in material presenation and an opportunity to learn how to read doctor's handwriting on the writeboard (one of the "acquired" essential skills)!
earl,
Power point can be very effective. I think the important thing to remember is that you are the instructor & presenter, don't rely on the power point to communicate the content.
Dr. Ryan Meers
I found that power-point presentation in a classroom setting is very beneficial. This also allows me to email all presentation as part of their review for examination/short answers.
