Sleep Incubator
I am easily amused but even I was bored with some of my PowerPoint presentations. So I abandoned them. I did not return to the overhead projector or to the chalk board. I did not technologically turn back time.
"If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those powerpoints that hurt you
and you'd stay (in love with physics)
"I don't know why I did the things I did
I don't know why I said the things I said
PowerPoint's like a knife, it can cut deep inside
Those slides are like weapons, they wound sometimes"
PowerPoint has wonderful uses but delivering basic information to students on a regular basis in a classroom setting should not be one of them. I post past PowerPoint presentations on BlackBoard but most students never access them. They will, however, access narrated PowerPoint tutorials if they really want to learn. In-class PowerPoint has been replaced by the following - outside class:
- students reading books and gathering basic information
- students accessing a website and gathering basic information
- students viewing a short video and gathering information
Student-gathered information is then followed with a discussion in which we put it all together in a new and interesting way. Or it is followed by a lab or activity or problem session in which they use the new ideas.
If you still want to Point with Power, keep the lights bright, the giggles frequent, the time short, and the discussion level high.
P.S. - Full disclosure - I used two slides from a PowerPoint presentation last week to discuss the concept of Newton's Third Law. That law is the toughest concept in basic physics and the PPT organized the graphics for me.
P.P.S. - I recommend the use of PowerPoint more often at the beginning of a career or a new class.
P.P.P.S. - I don't have a dog.
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