Here is an article that gives you tips for better PowerPoint presentations.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Are PowerPoint Presentations Effective or Boring?
PowerPoint presentations are used in many lessons, but how useful are they? I feel that in many subject areas they can be implemented easily and seamlessly, but I have had classes where the whole class is set up by PowerPoint presentations which I find extremely boring. I feel that some professors use PowerPoint as a go to because they do not want to take the time to find other more effective methods. Using PowerPoint's to start a lesson or showing a demonstration for students is a positive way to use them in a classroom. It is important to have a good design, and a hook to get students attention.
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This is such a prominant issue!! I can't even count how many teachers, especially in high school, I had that literally just read each bullet of a premade powerpoint to the class and then class was over. Not only does that make the students feel like it's pointless to attend the class, but it also leaves no room for discussion or side tracking (which is usually a term used in a bad context but doesn't always have to be). I think powerpoints should only be used WITH teacher/class discussion on a topic; not in place of it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. I have had many classes where teachers just read off of the powerpoint and it is extremely boring. There are so reasons to use a powerpoint however each class should not contain a powerpoint presentation. The tips that are listed are very helpful!
ReplyDeleteShannon, I
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you brought this up because we were talking about this the other day during the final information session with Dr.Domine. PowerPoint is an organizational tool and should be supplemental to support the basis of the lesson. It should not be the basis of the lesson because that is not the purpose of it. Is however can be used to generate discussion, allow for interpretation and comparison of visual images and so on. Teachers are to blame but they do feel the heat from the administration who doesn't really get into how they are using it but just that they are using it. They want to walk by the classroom and see that you are using a form of technology other than an overhead projector.
These tips are so helpful because it is true that sometimes PowerPoints can get extremely boring for students. I think that they are an asset in the classroom, but not if they are used for every piece of information. I think students tend to see the teacher setting up a PowerPoint and realize that they don't really have to listen, especially if the will not be quizzed on the information. In my other education courses, I have found it more useful to not only have a PowerPoint with the information, but also to give the students a hand-out showing them what they are learning. This helps them to follow along and to feel like they don't have to just sit and watch a slideshow. They then can also take it home and study from it or use it for homework and they won't just forget what they saw in class.
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