Monday, July 19, 2010
PowerPoint Response - Summer '10
PowerPoint… Evil?
After reading the article by Tufte and listening to the NPR segment on PowerPoint, what are your reactions to the opinions expressed? Are teacher-centered uses of technology more or less effective as student-centered uses of technology?
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34 comments:
I found myself agreeing with most of what the author presented in his article, PowerPoint is Evil. As a student, I find them very boring. Usually, a power point lends itself very well to a lecture format, where the educator tells the class the information. I honestly do not see much difference between a lecture with a power point presentation, and one with no power point. I think I would almost prefer one without the power point, because it forces the listener to pay attention to the speaker instead of the images and text on the power point.
As to the question of whether or not power point is effective as either a teacher-centered use or student-centered use of technology, I would argue that, in its current use, it is not effective in either capacity. I could think of numerous other ways in which to incite students’ ability to engage with critical thinking than creating a power point presentation, which, in all honesty, is usually a glorified outline of a paper or speech. Why not have the students write a paper or a speech instead? What is it exactly that power point is adding that is so fantastic?
Years ago Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase the "medium is the message". I think the point of the "Powerpoint is Evil" article is exactly that. PowerPoint is too often the focus of a presentation, causing the content to be trivialized or communicated ineffectually. When students spend more time trying to make their presentation look ‘cool’ they may lose the message of the content. When a PowerPoint presentation is the end product instead of being one product that is paired with another, such as an essay or other form of expression that will allow them to discuss what they have learned, students will fail to grasp fully the object of the lesson.
However, I do think that there is a use for PowerPoint in schools. In today’s world we are often asked to ‘give me your top 2 ideas’, ‘tell me the 5 main points that you got out of that lecture’, ‘write down three key things we need to do’. We are all asked to identify main ideas and communicate them in a short period of time, sometimes minutes or less. Asking students to write an essay and then synthesize it into a few primary ideas to share with other students is an exercise that they will have to do over and over in their lifetime. We just need to make sure that they also are required to do the creative thinking and writing that allows them to identify those ideas, and that we do not allow the ‘medium’ to become the only message.
Throughout high school and college I had to create numerous powerpoints. I remember having to dissect my papers in order to extract the important information or points to add to my powerpoint. I also remember my teachers stating in their syllabus and during class that we were not to read off the powerpoint, that the points on our powerpoint were just talking points. In other words, we were only to look at our slides as reference to what we were supposed to talk about or expand on. I found this extremely difficult in both creating the powerpoint and when presenting. There were many times when I found myself reading off the powerpoint and stating a fact or two. This may have been due to nerves or unprepardness but it did happen more than once. What I guess I am trying to say here is that Powerpoints are not an asset to a presentation. I feel as if they act more as a drawback because the audiences attention isn't on the speaker, instead it is on the words "checkboarding" or "exploding" on the page. As Lea E.J and Roni both said, the audience is taken away from the content and is instead interested on the images and text on the powerpoint. It causes the audience to zone out. More importantly, students rely on the context of their powerpoints as the talking points of their presentation. They just read off the slides and as a result they lose their audience.
However, I do think their is a benefit of Powerpoint when used in the classroom. However, I just believe as teachers we need to be careful with our expecataions and remember that the program is a great tool for sharing our students main points instead of their whole report. Teachers also need to recognize that sometimes its more constructive to have the student write a paper or speech instead of read from a powerpoint. Teachers also need to be careful in their grading of powerpoints and help students learn the difference of reading directly from the slides and engaging with critical thinking.
This article is very interesting. During my internship this semester I was able to observe classes in which students gave powerpoint presentations. They were exactly how Liang describes them, bullet points with a piece of clip art (not to mention every single presentation is in violation of copy right laws).
Powerpoint not only teaches improper ways to organize thoughts but it lacks any creativity and it teaches students how to present in an terrible manner. For one, the student will stand (or sit) while giving the presentation and read word-for-word what is on their slide. There is nothing more boring than having someone recite each bullet point to you with no explanation. Secondly, powerpoint gives students the option of an easy presentation. It lacks any sort of thought on how to deliver findings, which makes all powerpoints essentially the same. This is why powerpoints are boring now.
On the contrary, the benefit of powerpoint is that it is a way for students to present their research. While they compile the slides and write their bullet points they are learning because it is their personal project. There is something unique about composing and delivering a presentation on one's individual findings that causes the student to learn in a much different way. This way of learning I believe is effect for the student because they will remember some of the information far after the school year.
I agree with Dr. Tufte's position that Power Point was effectively teaching students to think in a bullet-format. I disagree with him, however, in blaming Power Point exclusively for this problem. I believe that the overuse of Power Point in the classroom is the root of the problem.
Students need to learn a wide variety of writing styles, and outlining is an important one of them. Additionally, note-taking can promoted while using Power Point, as well.
The exclusive use of Power Point as a writing technique, much like the debate about Sesame Street causing shortened attention spans, could possibly contribute to shorter or less effective writing passages.
Used positively, if students are given a hard copy of a Power Point outline, a professor can give a lecture on a subject, with the Power Point as the outline. This scenario creates an interaction between the student and the presentation, where the student is an active note taker in the lecture.
Teachers are pulled in many ways and need to be mindful of not resorting to the same technology all the time. In their defense, learning, and being comfortable with, new tecnologies is yet another challenge that teachers must be prepared to meet.
I do not have an issue with what Tufte wrote about Powerpoint. Have you ever sat through a bad Powerpoint presentation? I know I have and I end up just tuning out the entire presentation and not gaining anything from it. I believe that he goes to far in his criticism about the program. I think that he would be better off focusing his argument on how students are taught to use the program instead of it being used at all.
Students should be taught how to present properly, using Powerpoint as an aid, instead of just relying on it for the whole presentation. Up until college every oral presentation that I completed was without the use of Powerpoint. There was no bullet slide to or pictures to help me with the presentation. In college when I started using Powerpoint I thought that it actually made my presentations better. I could display my thoughts in a way that I never had before.
If Powerpoint is truly evil and detrimental to education then why is it used in almost every classroom from elementary school through college in America? The truth is that it is not evil, the person presenting is. If you had the choice of sitting in on a captivating presentation with a bad Powerpoint or a awful presentation with a great Powerpoint, which would you choose? For me it is the captivating presentation with a bad powerpoint. Even though I think of myself as a visual learner, I tend to get distracted by Powerpoint and listen to the presenter instead.
Overall I think that this is a loosing battle for Tufte. There are greater issues in the American education than Powerpoint. Lets focus on the lager issues and then we can worry about Powerpoint.
I think that power point presentations have a place in education. However, we need to make sure that they are not over used.
Power point presentations have advantages and disadvantages.
I agreed with the article “power point the evil”. There is nothing worse than having a presenter read out the slides of the presentation one after another. The power point should help the presenter keep on track. The slides are good visual representation of the information for the audience especially if they include necessary charts. However, the information should come from the presenter. Most times students spend substantially more time on the special effects than on the content of the presentation.
Power point should be used to organize ideas that come from a detailed and comprehensive source of information. If students are going to use power point presentations they need to do the research and write a creative paper and then use power point to present their ideas to the class as they back them up with information.
Used carefully power point can be useful but used carefully in schools.
The positions presented in both resources are drastic and inflexible. Power Points presentations are not supposed to substitute a speaker. They are supposed to aid the speaker to visually emphasize the most important points of presentations. PowerPoint helps the speaker organize the presentation, but that is not the only purpose. A PowerPoint tool will not compensate for poor presentations skills. There is no excuse; the presenter, teacher or student, should be knowledgeable about the presentation topic. The presenter would choose the type of PowerPoint resources, based in what are the presentation’s goals or objectives. The speaker can choose to use it, as part of a lecture including slides that will provide a visual aid to the audience. In this case, the speaker is the center of the presentation. A different use of Power Point will be as tool to interact or engage the students in which scenario it becomes an audience centered presentation.
In the educational field, PowerPoint enhances traditional instruction in the classroom. This tool supports student learning in various ways. This technology is not a substitute of traditional teaching, instead is a resource that complement an educational goal. Various PowerPoint educational objectives are to assist in provoking higher level thinking in content areas, reinforce procedural and technical skills. Another objective can be to provide different type of learners with a supplementary way of demonstrating understanding of content information in instances where the traditional way would prevent it. One more goal can be to provide students with necessary computer skills necessary in a global and competitive economy. PowerPoint can be a student centered activity when is used as an Inquiry based-learning project. The student will have to answer an essential question, find relevant resources, interpret the information found, and report the findings. A Power Point presentation is the end result of a thinking and preparation process, not a substitution for it. Of course, if the lesson objective is showing writing skills, a PowerPoint will not be the best resource to show mastery. Like every other teaching resource, a PowerPoint presentation should not be used if is not going to support the educational goal. However, one cannot drastically discard the use of technology without assessing its added value to teaching and learning.
I agree with what the the article and NPR segment stated. I believe that PowerPoint Presentations can be an evil thing. Unfortunately, not much creativity goes into making these presentations, and in turn makes them boring and forgettable. However, I believe, if done correctly and creatively, PowerPoints can be (and I even say that with hesitation) beneficial. I have sat through too many horrible PowerPoint Presentations during my education, to even remember one that was done correctly. I've PowerPoints presentations go wrong in so many ways! You have the person who relies to much on the PowerPoint, and puts every last bit of his/her information on it. This in turn overcrowds the presentation, making it difficult for the audience to read/look at. You also have the person who puts too little on the presentation, and afterwards the audience forgot what the presentation covered. You also have the person who makes the PowerPoint bland with little to no pictures, and minimal interactive activities for the audience. This is turn becomes more of a lecture than a presentation. With that being said, I do believe that PowerPoints do more harm than good for presentations.
In regards to the question about whether or not teacher-centered uses of technology are more effective than student-centered uses, I believe that both can be effective IF done correctly. If students or teachers are just going to use PowerPoints for lecture purposes then no, don't bother. Tufte was right, you're better off going on a field trip.
However, if a teacher or a student is going to make it interactive like the NPR segment discussed (with the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"), then yes go for it! All too often teachers and students rely too heavily on PowerPoint, and it consumes their whole presentation/lesson. Instead teachers and students need to use it as their stepping stone in order to engage and interact with their audience.
I thank Roni for passing on the expression, "the medium is the message." I love it. And really, if we just use those five words as a "compass" in guiding our creation of assignments, we are immediately challenged to ask ourselves "does this assignment (medium) add value to the objectives here?" I think whether teacher-centered or student-centered, we must be careful about the use of power point, and find ways to make critical analysis and creative thought/discussion to be the original source of any presentation. As teachers, have we done our work? Do we take ownership of the information we are sharing? Do we feel confident in presenting or facilitating discussion of this topic? Do we have a greater plan beyond a power point? If the answer to any of these questions is "no," perhaps power point is serving us as our lazy partner?
For students, we must require other evidence of comprehension and critical skills in addition to use of a power point. When I was in school, regardless of the class, we were always required to "show our work." I am not working in a traditional K-12 school--is this still happening?? Remember turning in draft after draft or your English essay, toiling through the process under the guidance of red or green marks on the page? Are our students still challenged to think and rethink their hypothesis, to choose their words carefully, and to dig deeper for evidence of their analysis--when using a power point?
Personally, I am embarrassed by my use of power point, and I will admit that I use it to teach vicariously, rather than to add value to what we are sharing as a class. That is NOT my INTENTION--but it is the RESULT. Errr, uhh, time to change things up.
The technological tools that are available to educators must first be analyzed to see if they are developmentally appropriate for the students. So often, teachers find a tool such as powerpoint, that lessens their work load and that of the students. While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I learned in my public speaking class the specific ways powerpoint should be used.
There is such a fine line between powerpoint being useful and detrimental to the acquisition of knowledge. "Powerpoint is Evil" makes a solid point about how the use of powerpoint as a teaching and learning tool is not effectively teaching students. Technology should be a way to supplement the learning. These tools should help accomodate those who may need the extra help, but they are in no way intended to replace the proven ways of learning that take place in the classroom.
Multisensory learning has been proven to be the best way of reaching a variety of students. When reliant upon a technological tool such as powerpoint, as a teacher you are limiting the opportunities to engage all the students'senses. The proper use of powerpoint is not a quick and easy task because it requires the teacher to find creative ways of use.
PowerPoint is a very useful program, if used efficiently. Anyone can use a PowerPoint with a little bit of help. Making it relevant and informative are the hardest things to accomplish when making a PowerPoint. The article by Edward Tufte shows how, in a sense, PowerPoint could be "evil." Using PowerPoint can diminish students' thinking skills as it streamlines their thoughts into what is written on the slides. Students don't see past what is written on the slides and are not required to say anything else but the presented information. Teachers also do this however, and it is a practice that must stop if one is to teach effectively.
I remember a couple of my classes at UCONN that had an actual professor go up in front of the classroom and show slides everyday. Sometimes he would go on into an explanation on the material but this was rare. It was up to us as students to take it all in and remember it. As future educators, we know that people learn a variety of ways and just lecturing in front of a room in inefficient, but alas we were forced to listen and learn. The picture in Tufte's article best exemplifies my meaning here...
There are ways, however, to make PowerPoint interesting and relevant to the material that is being taught. Interactive PowerPoints are a great example, and if used correctly can reinforce what is being taught. It is hard to develop something that will be beneficial to the students, but not impossible. It is best, however, to not get too comfortable with PowerPoint. On one hand it can make things a lot easier, but on the other, it can lower the quality of work from not only students but teachers. This is why students should just be encouraged to write out things. This way they get a better understanding of the material and are able to present much more coherent information.
I agree with Blake that we should focus on how students are taught to use the PowerPoint tool. But before starting with the how, we should start reviewing the why. Why the teacher wants to use the PowerPoint tool? What is the educational objective? Is a PowerPoint the best tool to advanced the educational objective in the teacher mind? Does the teacher have the necessary knowledge or training to incorporate this tool in the class educational strategies? Similar to Blake I used PowerPoint presentations just once before entering the SETTEL Program in Fairfield University. Once I started the program I have prepared several of them but they were Linear PowerPoint presentations. I agree with Jose, Non-linear PowerPoint Presentation is different and more audience-centered and as he said it can reinforce what is being taught. PowerPoint is one of the many tool educators has available but is not the only one. As Blake and Victoria mentioned in their comments we should not abuse Linear or non-linear PowerPoint presentations as an educational support.
I have to say that I did not agree with the article or the speaker. They both have good points in that they are overly used and they can distract the listener, however at some points they can be very useful. They are all type of students and as teachers we need to reach to them all. If there is a 20% of students that are very disorganize and the PowerPoint presentation could help them understand the lesson better then we should use it. We could teach an area like we always do and also have a PowerPoint presentation. As long as they are just to the point and well explained I think they are helpful. In this way we can reach to the majority of students.
As a student I have seen many overly use presentations with too many distractions in them, like colors and clip arts, but the ones that have been done nicely are very helpful to me.
I think we shouldn’t allow young students the use of them as they can get very creative and overuse them, but as teachers I think they are helpful as long as they are used carefully.
After reading all the comments made before, it seems that most of us agree with the fact that power point has a place in education as long as it supports the educational goal.
I agree with Vivian that: "A Power Point presentation is the end result of a thinking and preparation process, not a substitution for it." We need to make sure that the learning about the subject takes place before creating the presentation. That way students can also make a better presentation of the power point.
I also agree with Jose that "There are ways, however, to make PowerPoint interesting and relevant to the material that is being taught. Interactive PowerPoints are a great example, and if used correctly can reinforce what is being taught." Specially after having an opportunity to create an interactive power point I can see its potential. As always technology needs to add value to the teaching and that needs to be the most important consideration.
And as Laura said we should not encourage young students to use power point. I can see teacher using interactive power points to demonstrate things, but I do not think elementary school student should be creating them.
Blake asks the question “If PowerPoint is truly evil and detrimental to education then why is it used in almost every classroom from elementary school to college in America?” I the answer to this question may simply be that it is a technology that teachers have been exposed to as students and continue to propagate in our own classrooms. I think that Christine M. says very wisely “Teachers need to be mindful of resorting to the same technology all the time. Is it the best technology to use or the one a teacher is most comfortable with.” I think that PowerPoint became a technology that educators were comfortable with. I also think that until newer Web 2.0 tools came into existence, PowerPoint may have been the only game in town. What technologies did teachers and students both have access to? Microsoft products such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. We took advantage of what was available to us and soon found these technologies becoming staples of elementary, middle and high school classes. We were integrating technology into education! We now have the option, as we are learning in this class, to take technology integration to a new level by using other tools that might support our educational goals in better ways than PowerPoint. We have access to new things that will improve our teaching and student learning.
I think Roni makes a great point - PowerPoint may have been the way to integrate technology in years past, and it makes sense that its presence is still felt. However, it seems as though most educators are not moving past PowerPoint's initial function - adding a visual component of a presentation (a glorified poster board??). After learning more of its capabilities, the interactive features, the possibility of converting it to html and uploading it as a website, I venture to say that much more could be done with PowerPoint in the classroom.
If it were to be used on a regular basis, let's use every feature and not limit ourselves and our students.
To Laura and Victoria, I wonder why elementary students shouldn't use PowerPoint. Is it really such a bad thing if they get too 'creative' with it? Wouldn't allowing them to use PowerPoint to explore creativity expand the possibilities of PowerPoint's functions? Are there any other objections to allowing elementary students to use PowerPoint?
Looking through all the comments I got an idea from Christine’s comment, “While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I learned in my public speaking class the specific ways PowerPoint should be used.”
The fear of public speaking is close to the top of the list for most people. By teaching and using PowerPoint are educators allowing their students and themselves to have a blanket or safety net with them? Probably the most influential and greatest public speakers never had the use of PowerPoint. They stood in front of an audience and gave a speech or presentation without having one person take their eyes off of them to look at a slide.
I know that times change and technology improves and, although, contrary to popular belief it may not always be for the better. Educators need to be aware of old technology and new technology and the uses for both. Just because PowerPoint is simple and easy to create on does not mean it is the best way to present a lesson or subject.
My last thought is try to picture Martin Luther King Jr. I have a Dream Speech with PowerPoint slides moving behind him.
I have to agree with Jenn when she said that "powerpoint not only teaches improper ways to organize thoughts but it lacks any creativity and it teaches students how to present in a terrible manner." In particular, I believe linear powerpoints, what most of us have created and most of our students have created provide no opportunity for students to utilize their creativity. After our last class and learning about nonlinear powerpoint, I would suggest to educators to implement nonlinear powerpoint in their classrooms and use it as a medium when presenting to their students. Nonlinear powerpoint is audience centered and engaging. It is interactive and more specifically it allows students to personally create their own presentation. However, I think it is important that if students are taught and asked to use linear or nonlinear powerpoint, the teacher needs to stress that reading off the slides is unacceptable and assist their students in giving a presentation that involves them to utilize their powerpoint as a backboard.I believe schools today have failed in preparing students to give a presentation without the powerpoint. As a past student, I can admit that there were many times that I had to give a presentation and several involved me creating a powerpoint. However, in many ways this was determental to me because I did not give a speech or presentation, instead I stood in front of the class and read off the slides for them. How is this beneficial to the speaker and his or her audience? Where is the educational component to the presentation? I think that if students are asked to use powerpoint the teacher must be certain that their is an educational purpose behind it and that our students become creative independent thinkers, not incoherent, unproductive and sensless individuals. More importantly, if powerpoint is used, students should be encouraged to explore and utilize all of powerpoints creative outlets and tools.
I was just thinking along the same lines as Blake in his last comment. I think Power Point is symptomatic of the speaker---teacher or student, feeling insecure and under prepared for a real dialogue with their audience. Often times, teachers are not as enthusiastic or knowledgable about the required topic as they would like to be. And PowerPoint is a "security blanket" (says Blake) in this sense. Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech with PowerPoint behind him is a perplexing and powerful image. If we really are prepared and comfortable with a live, organic dialogue, we won't have any trouble presenting material without the use of PowerPoint. However, as many other bloggers here have commented, there is value in using this program if used responsibly and appropriately. Many students do need key words, terms, definitions, and images to track the speaker's concepts and processes. Really, we are talking about the same thing we've been doing for years... note cards and poster boards aren't that far off from a PowerPoint, and in fact, can leave an evil trail of boredom, repetition, and lack of creativity comparable to the worst of PowerPoint pesentations. To go back to Roni's quote, "the medium is the message," maybe the true medium here is presentations before dialogue, bullets before analysis, and speaking rather than engaging. So, maybe the article's title should read, "Lame Presentations Are Evil?"
I agree with Tufte. My experience with Power Point in an educational setting is limited to Fairfield University. I don’t find it useful as a presenter or as an audience member. As a presenter, I found that it just added superfluous cosmetics to my work and was an unnecessary demand on my limited time. It did not help me organize my thoughts or presentation. As an audience member I found the slides useless. The limited information from the slides did not allow for understanding; instead, I took my own notes from the oral details. Also, copies of slides handed out by the presenter was a waste of paper and money, as the limited information they contained did not allow for an understanding of the subject matter. I think Tufte is correct when asserting that Power Point is “punishing to both content and the audience”. With regard to using it in the classroom, I think it’s harmful to young students. A more useful software program would be an outlining program to teach the preparatory work that goes into producing a report. Once those skills have been learned, I think those tools should be left to the student to prepare a written report. Students need to learn how to write effective sentences; opening, supporting, and closing paragraphs; they also need to consider the piece as a whole; choose the most effective vocabulary; vary the types of sentences they use, etc. Power Point takes this experience away from the student. I find Power Point harmful to the development of necessary skills.
I believe that it is a general consensus in agreeing that PowerPoint is a good program but that it should be used for the right reasons. It is like Vivian says, "Power Points presentations are not supposed to substitute a speaker. They are supposed to aid the speaker to visually emphasize the most important points of presentations." The points up on the screen are just main points. They are missing the body or message in this case. This would be comparable to writing an essay based on just the main ideas and nothing to back them up.
Roni also makes a good point on why PowerPoint has been so overused. It has really been the only presentation software out there until now. If you wanted to present or even organize your ideas, you needed to use PowerPoint. Nowadays, we have quite an amazing arsenal of programs at our disposal that can do away with PowerPoint and help both teachers and students accomplish their goals. Ten years ago, PowerPoint may have been the only medium but we have access to programs like Inspiration that help us organize our thoughts and many other options (such as PhotoStory 3) to help make our presentations not only relevant but interesting. Today, it is possible to receive feedback from both teachers and students with utilities like WebCT, in regards to presentation. Who knows what the medium will be 10 years down the road.
I think Roni succinctly presented with two statements the harm Power Point does: “Power Point is too often the focus of a presentation, causing the content to be trivialized” and the “focus becomes the Power Point presentation being the end product”. It seems to me that regardless of what the intention is in assigning Power Point, having to produce this “end product” with its limitations causes the “content” to take a backseat. Why are schools using a technology that causes academic content to take a backseat? Are students in the class to learn content or learn how to make a “showy, sleight of hand” presentation? I use the term “sleight of hand” because the presentation is robbed of content and does not allow for the assessment of critical thinking skills and true understanding of the content. Power Point serves to produce pretty visuals – fonts, bullets, colors, clip art – but it’s devoid of depth and is just a pretty visual illusion. These deficits apply to both student use and teacher use. Regardless of whether a student or teacher is making the presentation, the end product is the same. For those students who require visual instruction, there is content based interactive software available that contains far more options, complexity, and levels of instruction than any teacher can put together.
After my first post I started thinking about our nonlinear powerpoint we created during class. There are many uses for a powerpoint presentation other than the bland bullet points. A powerpoint presentation could challenge a student to be technologically creative. Powerpoint is an easy format to help build a students confidence with computers, possibly bridging the gap a tiny bit between the sexes.
Nonlinear powerpoint could also be appropriate within early childhood. A nonlinear powerpoint could be used to play educational games, or even learn math or language arts.
After learning the basic skills needed to make a nonlinear powerpoint, such as how to link slides, an educator just needs to play with the program to develop an engaging presentation.
After the power point presentation that was done in class, I found myself rethinking what I commented on about PowerPoints being evil. I thought that what we did in class was the good side of powerpoints, which was something that needed to be seen because all to often it's shown in a negative light.
I really liked what Andrea stated in her initial post. "As teachers, have we done our work? Do we take ownership of the information we are sharing....perhaps power point is serving us as our lazy partner?" I think that unfortunately, Andrea's statement can be true in some cases. All of our work is right up there on the PowerPoint and what ends up happening is that people just read off what the power point states. I've seen this done many times, and even I was guilty of this. Like Andrea said, it's not peoples' intention, it just happens. Instead of just using it to bring us to the next point , often times, we are using it every single step of the way and relying on powerpoints way to much.
After listening to the NPR piece about PowerPoint, and the reading about how PowerPoint is evil, I would fall on the side of PowerPoint being overused, especially in the lower grades. I was amazed that PowerPoint is being used in the primary grade levels. It lead me to ask the question, what are these students really learning? What are the majority of the students really learning? I had always thought that PowerPoint was aimed at helping someone organize their thoughts and align them into a coherent presentation. In the NPR piece, Edward Tuftee mentioned that PowerPoint is geared to help the lowest 20% of students in the classroom; that the students that it really helps are those that are very disorganized. If that is the case, then what are we getting, in terms of content, to the remaining 80% of students? What critical thinking skills are we teaching them?
While Microsoft, the company that makes PowerPoint, claims that there is no content in PowerPoint, and that all PowerPoint truly is is a medium. I disagree; there is some inherent good to having a student get up in front of a classroom with note cards or a book report and make a presentation. I don't remember using PowerPoint when I was in the 4th grade. It takes away from whatever assignment is given. If the worlds greatest works can be summed up in 3 or four slides, we are doing our students a disservice. Can Romeo and Juliet be taught by using 3 or 4 bulleted points? Can Newtons Law be displayed on a graph or table on a slide, and TRULY be taught that way?
As I have posted on my blog, the US is competing in a global market for our most valuable export and import: human resources. We MUST produce the best workers in the world if we are to continue to grow and flourish as a country. We need critical thinkers, and students that can interact with other human beings and learn to ad-lib when the world throws different situations at them. Being able to gather ideas in one place is great, and for a fraction of students, PowerPoint is helpful. However, for the most part, I feel teachers overuse, and as a result, it is helping to water down material and content, leading to students who are less able to even identify what critical information is.
Ali touched on a great point when she said, "today's schools have failed to prepare students for presentations without powerpoints". This is 100% true. The educators today do not teach students how to present without the aid of a powerpoint. It is the standard that is set for the students and expectations never deviate from producing powerpoints as the proper way to present information. Since all educators tend to set this standard of powerpoint presentations what will cause them to eventually move away from it? This ends up hurting the students more than helping them because they are never given the tools to be able to present without their "powerpoint crutch".
The accountability needs to start falling on the educators. They need to voice the negative effects of powerpoints, limit their use or think of more effective way of using them, such as non-linear powerpoints.
Linear powerpoints do not prepare students for life after school, especially if one is attending college. I believe Roni discussed how it effects public speaking. Students rely too heavily on powerpoints to guide them through a presentation and complete a project. Educators need to set high standards or they need to show how to properly use a powerpoint.
I agree with Blake in that most Power Point presentations can be boring. That, in my opinion, is where it is incumbent upon the teacher (or presenter) to make the presentation interactive. Have the students take notes on a hard copy of the presentation while only using a bare bones synopsis of the material in the actual presentation. Discussion and note-taking can follow. This also promotes the concept of using interactive power point, a very powerful tool, especially for individual use by students for differentiated instructional situations.
Alexandra,
We all did presentations where we just stated the main points on the slide and that was going to be just our references to what we are supposed to talk about. I guess the trick on that is that you need to know your material very well in order to do that. PowerPoint would just be a means to keep you on track of your presentation so you keep it well organized and not jumping from point to point or even forgetting to say things. I do agree with you that sometimes those bullets on the PowerPoints are distracting, I find myself reading those bullets while the teacher is explaining so I really am not putting attention to the teacher, but just reading the main points. But at the same time, some people need only those main points to be focus on the class instead of just wondering off in their on thought if the class is boring.
Lea,
I meant they shouldn’t use PowerPoint as their means to do an oral presentation. That’s when they get very distracted in what the presentation really is about. Yes, they need to be creative, but what I was referring to is that they want to put too many pictures and stuff in there to make them more creative, but that is what sometimes they put too much off instead of what the presentation should be about.
Jenn has a great point in that accountability needs to fall with the teacher(s) to not use PowerPoint as a crutch to lean on. It has also been said through this thread that teachers can't rely too heavily on any one technology. It would be very similar to a situation at a school I've worked at where the social studies department earned the motto, "Just Push Play" because of their tendencies to show movies all the time. If a teacher is going to use PowerPoint, then perhaps they are able to limit it to only twice a year, at the lower age levels. As the students progress through middle school and high school, they should be weaning the students off of PowerPoint and instead of the teacher giving out rubrics for how a PowerPoint is graded, maybe they use a debate or a presentation as their forum for getting the information across to the students. Perhaps even a blog or a wiki, or utilizing other web 2.0 resources that let the students interact and use technology, but also lets them bring their knowledge about a topic to the table and interact with other children.
While Mr. Tufte makes a reasonable argument against the use of PowerPoint, in the sense that the template formatting and overall design does have flaws. However, I disagree with Mr. Tufte’s argument and would ask him to please explain to me what format or presentation style is entirely flawless.
Students thrive off of the use of computers, especially when through the basic use of a computer the student can discover a new and often exciting way of approaching content. When Mr. Tufte makes such judgmental statements about student, or even teacher, produced “PowerPoint exercises (as seen in teacher guides and in student work posted on the Internet),” it is clear that he is unaware of how the program can be utilized within the actual classroom. It is also abundantly clear that he does not fully comprehend the notion that students have multiple intelligences and need the opportunity to not only learn but also express themselves and their knowledge through a multitude of outlets.
Students, especially at the Elementary School level, need exposure to using a computer to increase their proficiency. Therefore, template system that in PowerPoint allows for the students to focus upon the content and basic use of a computer, rather than the overwhelming task of creating everything from scratch using a medium that they haven’t fully mastered yet. To fully illustrate this idea of such an overwhelming task, imagine after a kindergartener has finished reading his/her first book you were to tell that child their next reading will be either J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (Rowling, 1995 - 2007) or C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis, 1949 - 1954). While amusement of the stories might entice the child, it would not be a fair expectation based upon their acquired skills.
Often PowerPoint presentations are used as an additional presentation medium for students as part of their unit of study or after the completion of a unit. The presentation is not the sole representation of the knowledge, like a fully written essay or report it is one product of the knowledge obtained. Mr. Tufte also makes it seem as though the use of PowerPoint presentations has taken the role of writing papers out of the classroom, when really the only thing that PowerPoint has lessened has been the use of poster-board presentations. And in this economy, I’m sure most families are grateful not to have to purchase so many additional supplies throughout the year.
References
Lewis, C. S. (1949 - 1954). Chronicles of Narnia. Harper Collins.
Rowling, J. K. (1995 - 2007). Harry Potter Series. Bloomsbury.
I wholeheartedly agree with Vivian’s initial post.
I find preparing a PowerPoint before a presentation does help me organize my thoughts and data into an appropriate format to be presented effectively. I think that if students are taught those organizational skills, especially students in special education, the use of PowerPoint as a presentation tool will be highly valued. I also agree with Vivian’s statement that it “enhances traditional instruction in the classroom,” but feel that a caveat must be noted that this is only true when used properly. When properly utilized, a teacher can really highlight important concepts and extend concepts to outside of the classroom creating the presentation into having an almost WebQuest type feel. For many students, once a concept is broadened to outside the classroom walls, it carries more meaning.
I feel as though teachers are using technology as a benefit to students. In my opinion students pay more attention while they are watching the computer or manipulating with the computer than watching a teacher write on the smart board. Although some of the powerpoints are boring and not interactive then tend to be much more interesting than just writing on the board.But teachers need to also learn then benefits of the powerpoint programs an include them into their teaching. By incorporating the uses of technology into the classroom we are further developing the needs of all students. As a special education educator I think that is important to include some technology into the classroom. Although it can be overwhelming for some students we still need to introduce them to what is going on in the world in which they live. While we are preparing students for jobs that they can do independently they will still need the use of technology to check in at work or check someone out at the grocery store. The most important thing that we can do is to make sure that we combine technology and education at the highest potential available for students to learn.
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