Kathy Sanchez-Gonzales CHEP

Yes they are oraganized and if done rigth will keep the attention of the students

Barry Westling

Hi Kathy:
Putting together good PPT's takes a lot of thought and planning for them to convey what thebteacher is wanting to convey. Better PPT's provide an outline for the teacher to follow in a lecture or discussion.

Personnaly, I feel the PPT's that come from the publisher are not as good as the individually designed ones.

Regards, Barry

James Lauer

I will always have to edit ppts from the publisher. Its not that the slides are bad, but I find the whole presentation incomplete occasionally.

Barry Westling

Hi James:
I agree - sometimes there are helpful slides but basically publisher slides are a brief outline of selected parts of the text. The image library can be a bit more useful and help make my personalized slides a bit more interesting and informative.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Deborah:
Many PPT's have the potential to gain ttention, but for me, they take effort, time, and thought in the planning and formating to mae that happen.

One thing is the PPT is only a tool to learning, therefore, it should not dominate the lesson, just be a means of conveying information. There are many just as good alternatives to PPT that can be considered In fact, mixing up media makes for a more interesting presentation any way.

Regards, Barry

Eva De Dominicis CHEP

Powerpoint are great at capturing the student's attention. Having pictures & text on the slides,the student can have a better sence of the product & equipment they are going to be working with out in the field.

Marsha Buchanan

I love to use power points. I ad-lib much of my informaiton and use many photos which pertain to the subject at hand. The students enjoy the lecture more with visual pictures. It also opens the door for more group dicussions.

Rickey Jones CHEP

I use Power point presentations as an opportunity
to deliver daily content in a more diverse manor.

Carmella Hoover

I enjoy power point presentations since it provides students with more material in a short time.

Jennifer Toomey

I feel like power points can be a resource tool for students to take with them, but when they are used in classes, I find that they tend to stare at them but not soak in the information. Also, if the instructor just reads them, the students are getting any more than words

Barry Westling

Hi Eva:
I think one of the best uses for PPT is when photos's, charts, graphs, or diagrams are needed to enhance the content delivery of a lesson.

Keeping text to only essential points, for me, is better than lots of text that substitutes for lecture and discusssion. PPT should not dominate or be the focus of instruction, just a tool to enhance it.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Marsha:
Great. Photos' grapghs, charts, tables, figure, simplified schematics or illustrations of concepts do add a lot to a discussion, say along side a lecture with flip chart or whiteboard.

As interesting as this may be, care to not overdo it by filling too much time with the same activity, as students can begin to lose interest or attention. But as a tool, I think what you're doing is probably quite enjoyable.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Rick:
PPT can conisely zero in on a point, very true. I like PPT to give major bullet points, or as an outline of my discussion. Trying to put whole lecture condensed into slides ins't effective.

We also want to avoid PPT from dominating the focus of the lesson, PPT is just a tool. The information in the lesson is what is important, not the "tool" used to assist in it's delivery.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Carmella:
PPT is good. I think the keys for good PPT is:
* colorful and interesting
* proper formatting
* brief, sumarrized point (vs lecture notes)
* great for charts, graphs, tables, illustrations

Things to avoid include making sure the PPT doesn't become the focus of the class, dominating. PPT is a tool. Emphasis should be on the information, not the tool providing it.

Regards, Barry

Bryon Keil

I have had thoughts about doing some upgrading to the ppt slides the publisher puts out. Need to change things up a bit and make it more interesting with the use of images and more color.

Bertram Harris

I have found using powerpoints difficult, difficult because in most cases the lights need to be dim, how do students take notes in these cases?

Barry Westling

Hi Bryon:
I find the publisher PPT's are usually not too helpful, with the exception of some illustration, charts, or grapghs. It's like they're just summaries of the textbook chapter(s).

I much prefer to make my own slides. I might use a slide from the image library, but my lessons use the text as resource or reference, but I want to control the content and the sequence of topics and how they're delivered. And good PPT's take time to construct. So, It takes time to prepare them.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Bertram:
PPT requires an LCD projector. Most newer LCD's allow the lights to on and still project a pretty decent image.

I have had my engineering department set up the flourescent lights on two circuits (swithches) so that the gront row of lights can be off, with the back row of light on, providing more than enough light to take notes. Might try that.

Regards, Barry

Marie Bosley Gordon

I use PPT for teaching math. My textbook does not offer publisher PPT notes thus I create my own to help give my students a guideline for solving problems.
Many of my students have stated that in prior math classes PPT were not used. I feel if I gave the major points in PPT students spend less time writing down information from the whiteboard but helps students on answering questions.