The advent of presentation software in the early days of computing has forever changed the modern education landscape. While presentation software itself had been first invented in the late 1970s, and in some degree of use in the 1980s, it wasn’t until Microsoft’s introduction of the now industry standard PowerPoint that both the business industry and the education industry began to adopt the mechanic of presentation software practically en masse.
This of course has led to over use of the technology, to the point that Presentation Software itself is almost synonymous to boredom in the wrong presenter’s hands. Within education itself, presentation software can replace the tried and true technology of chalk or white boards, leaving a teacher far freer to engage in the topic without having to stop and write out demonstrations on the board.
As with any technology, the best implementations of it depend on how well the teacher can use the respective technology to convey their thoughts. Depending on the intended nature of the subject matter, presentation software may hold significant advantage or not. Put more directly,
If students are expected to retain complex graphics, animation, and figures, PowerPoint presentations may have an advantage. If students are expected to retain alphanumeric information, the lecturer could use either of the presentation styles. If students are expected to retain information and/or concepts that are best conveyed through dialogue or verbal explanation, traditional presentations appear to be best. (Savoy, 9)
That’s not to say any subject cannot use presentation software, but some subjects will naturally be more predisposed to work better with presentation software, as will some teachers.
In general, the best way to create a power point is to “keep it simple.”
Highway billboards tend not to go more than for ten words, given the extremely short time available for a billboard to grab attention and deliver the message. While presentation software has more time than a billboard, it still needs to be concise. If a teacher puts all of their data on a PowerPoint slide, can lead to a “data overload” effect.
If there is too much information to absorb, it might cause less data retention over all, or given most people’s reading speed outpaces their listening speed, students may be reading ahead of the teacher and missing the spoken part of the lecture and lesson partially or even entirely.
The best way to use presentation software is use it to aid a lesson, not supplant it; major points can be explored with supplemental details by the teacher directly. Presentation software, by its nature, is a visual medium that is served best than more than just text on a colored background. Pictures and other eye grabbing graphics can serve to aid in student attention and retention.
Take a look at the following presentations, and pay attention what you find does work and what does not work.
This of course has led to over use of the technology, to the point that Presentation Software itself is almost synonymous to boredom in the wrong presenter’s hands. Within education itself, presentation software can replace the tried and true technology of chalk or white boards, leaving a teacher far freer to engage in the topic without having to stop and write out demonstrations on the board.
As with any technology, the best implementations of it depend on how well the teacher can use the respective technology to convey their thoughts. Depending on the intended nature of the subject matter, presentation software may hold significant advantage or not. Put more directly,
If students are expected to retain complex graphics, animation, and figures, PowerPoint presentations may have an advantage. If students are expected to retain alphanumeric information, the lecturer could use either of the presentation styles. If students are expected to retain information and/or concepts that are best conveyed through dialogue or verbal explanation, traditional presentations appear to be best. (Savoy, 9)
That’s not to say any subject cannot use presentation software, but some subjects will naturally be more predisposed to work better with presentation software, as will some teachers.
In general, the best way to create a power point is to “keep it simple.”
Highway billboards tend not to go more than for ten words, given the extremely short time available for a billboard to grab attention and deliver the message. While presentation software has more time than a billboard, it still needs to be concise. If a teacher puts all of their data on a PowerPoint slide, can lead to a “data overload” effect.
If there is too much information to absorb, it might cause less data retention over all, or given most people’s reading speed outpaces their listening speed, students may be reading ahead of the teacher and missing the spoken part of the lecture and lesson partially or even entirely.
The best way to use presentation software is use it to aid a lesson, not supplant it; major points can be explored with supplemental details by the teacher directly. Presentation software, by its nature, is a visual medium that is served best than more than just text on a colored background. Pictures and other eye grabbing graphics can serve to aid in student attention and retention.
Take a look at the following presentations, and pay attention what you find does work and what does not work.