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Is It Finally Time to Ditch PowerPoint?

The proposition, based on cognitive load theory, is that "Since people can not read and listen well at the same time, the reporter suggested, then this may mean 'the death of the PowerPoint presentation.'" This presupposes that the words in a Power Point slide are designed to be read, that is, understood as creating meaning through encoding in a grammar. But the point of words on a slide is to give the viewer something to look at, not to read. The words are better understood as signs or patterns, to aid in future recognition, not to be read for semantic content. In other words, the writing on a slide is different from the writing in a book (which would make measuring the impact of them by the same means a somewhat ridiculous exercise). Via Shareski, who highlighted this today. Gary Reynolds, Presentation Zen, December 11, 2008. [Link] [Tags: , ] [Previous][Next]

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Re: Is It Finally Time to Ditch PowerPoint?

Karyn Romeis, December 11, 2008

Or... as some of us have been trying to say for the longest time... you leave the words off the PowerPoint altogether, and use imagery and symbolism. Honestly, who ever told them that PowerPoint was about text anyway? Argh! [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Is It Finally Time to Ditch PowerPoint?

DeirdreB, December 28, 2008

PowerPoint saved my educational life. I dropped out of university initially because I fell asleep at lectures. When I went back 10 years later, PowerPoint gave me something to focus my attention and I ended up with a Master's degree. Yes, it is too often used as an information dump but that's not PowerPoint's problem. It's arrogant profs who think they don't need faculty development to teach. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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