I agree, there are lots of different ways to teach. When students start asking for your power point print offs to take notes off of, its a problem.
Hi Scot,
I use PowerPoint in my teaching as well. By developing dynamic slides with the integration of movement, color, and illustrations PP will capture and hold the attention of students. PP starts to fail when the slide have no color and are loaded with line after line of text that is read to the students. As with all teaching there has to be some excitement and enthusiasm on the part of teacher no matter with form of media is being used.
Gary
Mindmapping is the concept of taking a central point, demonstrating branches of a topic, and elaborating concepts. I first learned about mindmaps in a leadership training I facilitated. It was used as a review technique for participants but I have since tweaked the approach so it fits as a pedagogy in my class. I begin the class by presenting the "key" concept for the day and place this in a circle or box. I find this works best on a whiteboard. From this central concept, I facilitate discussion and add appendages and topic bubbles. I generally wait until the class has gelled to implement this technique. Using this technique to early in the evolution of the class and I have a hard time getting the students to participate fully. Students seem to enjoy this interactive approach. I've found that they even mimic the diagram on the board and tell me they have better recall of course information versus traditional note taking.
Heather, does this help? Let me know and I'd be happy to send you an example.
It may be overused, but as a new instructor I find that PowerPoint really helps me stay focused and show them what I'm talking about, especially since I put plenty of examples within the presentation.
Would you please elaborate in the concept of a "mindmap" technique?
I can certainly agree that power point use (only and exclusively) may not be the best way. Diversifying the techniques have helped me get an overall strong sense of attention, participation and also better results from students, more importantly, what they have learned.
