Get Your Students Hired
I love powerpoints b/c they can be a great reference tool for students to look back to, but often times i find that we have to cover so much content that it all gets lost in the words in PPT.
i really like to print out my notes pages for my students that way they get to take away the whole presentations w/o having to furiously copy notes and they get to take extra notes in the line to the sides.
Shawn,
I agree with your points regarding the use of Powerpoint as an effective classroom tool.
One way I've successfully engaged students is similar to how Steve Jobs of Apple utilizes Keynote (Apple's version of Powerpoint). I try to limit each slide to a single bullet point, video, mp3, chart or other graphic image that best illustrates my point.
In my experience, it is Powerpoint death to ask students or an audience to look ahead before you want them to or to try to process more than one thought at a time.
Certainly, best practices tell us to never have more than three bullet point per slide, and even then to animate them on screen one-at-a-time.
Hi Douglas,
Thank you for your comments about how to use the PP. PP presentations can deadly if they are loaded with print and lack color. You can see students just fade away when confronted with slides like this. Instructors need to bring graphics, color, movement and excitement to their presentations and then PP becomes a powerful learning tool.
Gary
Yes, pictures definitely help. But with every professor using powerpoint to lecture, the use of static, 2-D images lose their effect. So, I incorporate video, animations or special effects where appropriate.
No only photos, but charts, tables, clip art and objects all enhance a PowerPoint presentation
Photos are great, but instituting video and graphics takes it to the next level, and it keeps the class focused.
It's also easier sometimes for them to see the subject matter in motion instead of in a book ( i.e. the way blood flows through the heart).
For visual learners the photo's, graphs, special effects and color of the PowerPoint slides have a positive influence on the learning of the student. They will grasp the material a lot faster, since you incorporate different learning styles.
I find Power Points with photos extremely helpful, especially because I teach visual design.
I sometimes use Powerpoint as a lecture design tool. It is a quick and easy way to organize my notes. I put the Powerpoint presentation on the Web so students can review.
Hi Shawn,
You are right about the need to develop PPs that are balanced in terms of text, color, and visual cues. I am sure you as have I set through too many sessions where the PPs were loaded with text, boring and the presenter read every word. Talk about a looooooong session! "Whew"
Gary
I teach a course called History of Design. Basically I try to create slides that trigger my thoughts. I limit the text slides to short bullet points that I never read. I always ad lib while glancing at the text. Because it is a design course, I include many more visual slides than text. it is about a 10 to 1 mix.
I like using powerpoints if I have visual material. If it is mostly lecture based or theory based, I will only use them sparingly.
The problem with a lot of powerpoints is that people dump text into them and it defeats the entire purpose. Powerpoints are great when they are used for visual cues, or bullet points, or quick reminders of where the lecture needs to go. Or as a visual representation (ie pictures) of what the lecture is about.
I enjoy creating and using power points. I feel that that it attracts the students attention and is easy for them to follow. Power points can be used in many subjects effectively with outlines graphics, and motion clips.
Hi Kenneth,
Something I have found that keeps the students engaged while I am using PPs is the use of embedded videos, pictures, cartoons and flow charts. Variety is the what keeps students focused on learning so by offering variety in your PPs you will keep students looking at the content you have on the screen.
Gary
I use .PPTs sometimes, but lately it has seemed like my students disconnect whenever the projector is turned on. They listen intently when I lecture, but the minute I turn on a power point they seem to vacate. Do you have any particular ideas about how to make a .ppt exciting/intersting to students who have seen them so frequently?
Yes powerpoint presentations with photos are very helpful. Nevertheless, how helpful the photos are to the students depends on the material you are trying to deliver.