PowerPoint

I have used PowerPoint to deliver many presentations to public and private forums since 1995 ranging from classrooms to boardrooms. I have never used a PowerPoint to present material online or within video conferencing; however, this will become part my future and represents an example of my commitment to embrace technological developments that will aid my delivery of content. After watching a comical video "Life After Death by PowerPoint" (McMillan, 2009); then, reflecting upon personal experience with PowerPoint over the past 15 years, I could easily improve every slide show that I have either delivered or viewed throughout this time.


(McMillan, 2009)  Life After Death by PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a tool that I will use to deliver an audio-visual message to my audience. This audience may be within a room or across the web. As I attempt to engage learners within a classroom environment I will be using PowerPoint as a framework to communicate text, audio and visual specific to a topic.

As active learning research implies, particularly Dale's Cone and the Learning Pyramid; all of the good stuff that we tend to include within a PowerPoint presentation represents the bottom fifty percent of the least effective ways to engage learners (The Abilene Christian University, 2000). Furthermore, of the few that may relate to this method of content delivery the Learning Pyramid indicates that only twenty percent of this information is likely to be retained (The Abilene Christian University, 2000).  So why use PowerPoint to deliver content?

My answer to this takes me back to the purpose I use PowerPoint; as a framework, for guiding the delivery of content to learners. My slides will be brief, containing minimal text; potentially linked to audio explanations; include sounds for added emphasis or, to provoke emotion, by adding background music. Above all, my slides will apply visuals such as still pictures and film. I believe, pictures can convey a thousand words; therefore, I will use this to my advantage within a PowerPoint presentation; however, I shall remember that this remains among; the bottom fifty percent of, the least effective learning experiences (The Abilene Christian University, 2000).  I will seek to place the student at the centre of the learning experience by using the various slides to guide more effective forums; such as, other demonstrations; group discussions; and, linking practical situations to what may have been discussed within the slide. This summarises my use of PowerPoint as a framework to guided active learning experiences.

References

The Abilene Christian University (2000). Active learning online: Why use active learning?: Dale's cone. Retrieved from http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whyuseal2.htm


McMillan, D. (2009). Life after death by powerpoint [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.viddler.com/explore/donmcmillan/videos/1/