Against PowerPoint

[ericgregory]

The Chronicle of Higher Education on why PowerPoint is a debilitating crutch for both teachers and students. The argument's not just limited to PowerPoint, either -- they make the presumably-obvious-but-apparently-not point that sitting your students in front of computers without a pretty dynamic plan of action is a recipe for pedagogical disaster

Comments

[squirrel_monkey]

This is why I teach with only chalk and blackboard. *Shakes cane*

[ericgregory]

It's probably safe to bring in an abacus. You know, in the right context. With an action plan.

[elizabizzel]

i dunno, that six weeks I spent working on a power point presentation about john edwards instead of actually learning things out of the government book really helped me, i think. Or that other six weeks I spent putting together a presentation on a court case- definitely more beneficial than learning the actual material for the class. For one, I didn't have to carry my book to class for a long time. I might have back problems now, otherwise. Also, the book will be usable for longer now, for future students, since I didn't have to open it very often.

you probably know whose class i'm talking about. we also spent several weeks watching various movies that loosely tied into government or history.

[flyminion]

I think what they're attacking in the article is professors who rely on PowerPoint to give their lectures, and not so much students giving presentations.

While I agree that a 50-minute PowerPoint presentation doesn't do much for anyone, I think it's more the professor's fault than technology's fault. If you took computers out of the classroom, most professors would likely just revert back to writing notes on the board/overhead, which essentially accomplishes the same thing as a PowerPoint presentation; it just takes longer. I've had professors who used the chalk/white board and the overhead and never touched PowerPoint, and their lectures were just as boring. In short, I don't think removing computers from the classroom is going dissuade professors from the 'giving notes' style of lecturing if that's what they really want to do.

[ericgregory]

For sure -- a professor can suck in any environment. But I do think that students are much more likely to engage if they're not behind a computer.

[flyminion]

This is true, especially when the students have computers. I can only recall one class I've ever taken where it was actually necessary to bring a laptop.

[thegerald]

I'm going to go ahead and say that from my experiences, technology in the classroom is best if the students use it and the teacher guides. With that said, my best classes that I've taught and been in, albeit I've only taught high school and for a short period of time, are ones in which the students talk to one another about the greater issue at hand.

Although, I did give a PowerPoint the other day on the evolution of the English language, and my students got into a heated debate about slang that resulted in a letter to the editor from the class.

Was in the PowerPoint? Doubtful. Just the content and the discussion that stemmed from it, no doubt.