Over the past few weeks, I have been discussing the use and misuse of Powerpoint with @GeraldHaigh. I happen to believe, that Powerpoint is a fantastic tool, often used poorly in teaching. I remember the first Slideshare competition winner Mr Henry (220,000 views). It was the first time I was wowed by the simplicity of visual communication. Up until that point I had been bored many many times by text heavy, TIMES NEW ROMAN presentations. If I wasnt bored the first time through, I would often get a copy the presentation to take away.
Slideshare competitions and online conversation brought design to the forefront. The Presentation Zen blog and Garr Reynolds practical tips are excellent, his Powerpoinr is exemplar, matched only be his excellent presenter delivery! I also have to admit that I first saw the much maligned’ Did You Know’ (Do you really want a hyperlink?) as a Powerpoint before watching it 47 times in the following 18 months as a video……
Design soon became very important to me, which is a little ironic as I am not a natural designer. In fact I find good design very difficult. But to every story there is a flip side, I however an expert at the over-complicated, cluttered Powerpoint. So I sought out resources to help and discovered Slide:Ology: The Art and Science of Presentation Design, the blog site with some simple, design effective slide resources and more.
Taking inspiration from all these resources, I mashed my top ten Powerpoint tips for educational use (I do not consider myself an aficionado), offered these to Gerald Haigh who combine my written thoughts with our two phone conversations. The post from Gerald to follow in the not too distant future I hope.
1. Powerpoint is a presentation tool, which can be manipulated to be a teaching tool. However, primarily a presentation tool
2. Presentations encourage the default style of teaching – stand at the front and teach. Use this methods sparingly
3. Even more concerning is presenters who read their own slides to the audience, worse again, their entire presentation
4. Avoid default themes and text fonts, your students have seen these many times this week
5. Master slides are an underused tool. Custom animations, entrances, exits and emphasis are effective, but should be used sparingly but be consistent. Remember content is king
6. Classroom presentations are often too long – research shows that after 10 mins attention falls rapidly. Have you tried Pecha Kucha with your students.
7. Vision is the dominant sense – let your slide images do the talking. Teacher slides are often too wordy
8. Get good, copyright free images. Morguefile, sxc,hu, openclipart
9. Are your slides are too cramped. Space is important.
10. Contrast is a valuable visual tool
11. Use idea anchors, key points coded with colour or icons, and recap at the end?
Great post – hope people read and take your advice! I too have seen some very poor presentations.