For Robert Bailey, using PowerPoint slides for his class lectures hinder a student’s learning capabilities.
Bailey, a professor of biology, teaches three entry-level biology courses and said he tries to keep PowerPoint use to a minimum.
“I used anywhere from 30 to 50 slides per class when I first started teaching and would give students print versions of the slides, but it didn’t take long for attendance to come down,” he said. “Before Thanksgiving break one year, only 10 students showed up for our final unit on human genetics. I knew I had to do something.”
Bailey said students cannot seem to decide what is important from a PowerPoint presentation and think everything posted is golden.
“It’s convenient to use PowerPoint slides for large lecture classes, but students get caught up in trying to write everything down and spend their time writing instead of listening,” he said.
It can be useful, however.
“We just need to remember that less is more. Slides should contain the most useful information. I try not showing more than 10 slides per class. I believe active, not passive, learning is the most beneficial,” Bailey said. “By active learning, I mean group interaction, where we all can get a better understanding of what the issues are and solve them.”
The write way
Kitty Payne, assistant professor of Human Environmental Studies, teaches HDF 100: Human Development through the Lifespan. With 320 students in her University Program course, Payne said she uses overheads in her class lectures.
“I use many overheads to assist with note-taking, and know from brain research that writing out notes is an aid to memory for many students,” she said.
Ada sophomore Brett McMahon said he does not like when PowerPoint slides are used in his classes.
“I like when teachers physically write on the board what they feel we need to know. PowerPoint presentations don’t make classes harder, just confusing. I never know what to write down and how much,” he said. “I like when professors use other methods like YouTube videos to get their point across.”
Similarly, Yale freshman Erika Schrand said knowing what to copy is easier when professors write directly on the board.
“Sometimes teachers put too much information on the slides and I can’t sort what is important from all the other excess information,” she said.
Convenience
Debra Linton, assistant professor of biology, does not think PowerPoint affects learning abilities either way, but the presentation does.
“PowerPoint is just a tool, not a teaching technique or design. As a tool, it can be used well or used poorly. I have heard students complain about PowerPoint usage, but I would predict that it was the design of the lesson, not the mode of presentation,” Linton said. “When used well, PowerPoint is an elegant way to present images and diagrams, highlight key concepts or terms in text forms, and integrate animations and video.”
For Linton, PowerPoint is a great organizational tool that utilizes the same functions as overheads, visualizers and VCR and DVD players.
“Being able to use the computer-based presentation programs gives you all the ability to do everything in one tool and makes the process and class presentation more seamless,” she said.
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Patricia Emenpour
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Professors trying to use Powerpoint for their lectures has been my biggest pet-peeve while attending CMU. It’s a waste of paper, ink, and time, and only increases tuition to cover the cost of the paper and ink wasted when students print out full slides of black background presentations. No offense to the professors, as I’ve had many great ones over the years, but I’ve never had a professor who provided notes correctly by use of a computer. (Ok, maybe one). Most of the time, the idea of outline organization has been non-existent.
I do realize professional seminars and events such as TED seminars often use Powerpoints, but the environments there are completely different than a classroom.
To the professors: Anyone can remember and regurgitate information given to us on pre-made Powerpoint presentations, but if it’s information we could have critically and actively filtered through while simply listening to you speak, why make a Powerpoint for it? Why not just give us the ideas and concepts you want us to understand without dividing our attention away from listening to instead focusing on a big projector with the SAME thing you just said, just in different wording? This makes even less sense when you take into account how much professors usually dislike all the new technology, anyway. Why give us Powerpoint notes, base exams solely on those notes, and then mark us down for not coming to class? What do you honestly expect to come of that?
The only bigger interest killer I’ve seen is when professors spend 5-10 minutes trying to project a piece of paper that everyone already has. Why do we need to see it in two different places? We know how to follow along
Contrary to popular belief, it is very possible to give a lecture without all these external visual aids. Every time a new semester begins, or there is some problem with the computer network, up to 5-10 minutes or more is wasted trying to figure out the technology, and if it doesn’t work, the professor acts like he/she doesn’t know what to do. For some reason, it seems academic administrations have forgotten the simple tool of speaking outward to a classroom without all this technology mumbo jumbo.
Conclusion: Step away from trying to fumble with the technology and tell us what you want us to know. If the technology is absolutely necessary for your lecture, figure it out beforehand instead of during class time.
powerpoints give the faculty the break of having to actually TEACH the course!!!!