Power Point
I have found it works best for me if I set up my power point presentations with very little text. I like slides with pictures and diagrams that I can talk about. You can include an outline as a guide so you remember what you need to discuss with the students regarding each slide, and offer the notes to the students in a printed form if you like. This way you'll avoid simply reading the notes to your students and putting them to sleep. It does require that you know the information inside and out, because you can never tell what questions your students will ask you.
Thomas,
A picture often speaks a thousand words- having pictures, charts, and graphs with little text allow you and the class to discuss and have dialogue. I agree you as an instructor must know the content as student will be able to tell. PowerPoint is a great tool and often times we do not take advantage of what all you can do with it. Good use of technology and good luck with your course(s).
Antoine Lewis
I have found out that if I include the notes (listed at the bottom of each powerpoint slide), and save the presentation that I just presented as a PDF and send to the students the next day. The information comes in very handy and is reviewed.
This way, it covers not just the visual learners but also the textual learners.
Mark,
Great way to take advantage of technology as this allows you to meet other learning styles. These indeed comes in handy for all students as they can refer to the visual, text or both and retain the information in the best possible way.
Antoine Lewis
Prezzi is a neat alternative to PowerPoint. There is a little learning curve, but the quality of your presentations is profoundly different. Students are much more engaged.
Deborah,
Prezi is becoming more popular and opens up the classroom to active learning and interactivity, making lessons understandable. Good use of technology in the classroom.
Antoine Lewis
I like to use Powerpoints occasionally and find it best to keep the text to a minimum as well and use some well placed pictures as well as sounds. It even helps to use some video clips and play them and then have discussions. I have found though that Powerpoints are not a good fit for every class whether it is the topic or just the students. Sometimes they are just distracting to me and the students and we do better with just discussing the topic and not having the visual distraction pull us away from the topic.
Tammy,
Students today have various learning styles and PowerPoints can have a great impact on the Visual, Auditory, and and Read/Write learner all in one setting often times.
Antoine Lewis
I agree, Thomas...I love using a PowerPoint presentation when I teach, for many reasons. First and formost, this allows me to move about the room, making good contact with each student. Can't do that from a podium while focused on a text book. Additionally, I love that you can imbed links into a PP, allowing me to progress from one topic to another, or provide additional visual aids, without taking time away from students. I also believe that the fewer slides and fewer words on the slide, are best!
Michelle,
PowerPoint is indeed a great tool and we has faculty do not take advantage of all its features. Many times we do not use PowerPoint as it was intended. It is best used to make a point related to the subject matter. Often times as teachers we attempt to pack the whole lecture into the Powerpoint, instead of using the its other features to add illustrations and sound.
As teachers we must productively use PowerPoint to share photos and graphics in order to keep students engaged.
Antoine Lewis
Power point has it advantages as it addresses the learning styles of students. I find some instructors read power points word for word instead of using it as a tool
Bob,
PowerPoint is indeed a tool and many of my college professors read from it word for word. In my opinion it can be used often for visual aid when lecturing. We often forget we can add audio and video to PowerPoints now and student can refer back to the content if allowed by the instructor
Antoine Lewis
I couldn't agree more about a picture is worth a 1000 words. I almost structure most of my lectures around my powerpoint. I also am able to walk and interact with my students but most important we refer back to the powerpoint after testing for a better understanding of their mistakes. Its an easy way to review the same material multiple times and accurrately.
Jerry ,
PowerPoints incorporated with lecture helps with student engagement. The visual aids enhance the lecture as a large number of students learn visually. PowerPoints are a great tool as long as you do not overload with material. PowerPoint is easy for us to update, saving time and it allows for "portability" of materials as we can share them with colleagues or students.
Antoine Lewis
I use the power point presenations the same way. I feel it allows for more discussion from the students and keeps them engaged and focused.
Elizabeth,
PowerPoint does allow for structure and good discussion. It really helps to have open –ended questions that relate to the text and situations occurring today.
Antoine Lewis
I rarely use PowerPoint, as the transitions between the slides don't need to be that interesting anyway. I make sure the slides and multimedia files are numbered sequentially and just open them up all at once. One advantage is that I can use the basic editing tools to draw arrows and circle things on the picture directly. A disadvantage are memory issues that make me watch "spinning beachballs", especially if the materials are being brought up from across a network.
Mark,
Thanks for sharing the use of using multimedia files as I might do that the next time I teach a course onsite.
Antoine Lewis
