PowerPoint

**PowerPoint ****__Overview__ Microsoft PowerPoint has revolutionized the world of education. Long ago, there was a time when there were only two ways for students to learn: audio and visual. The teacher had two accomplices in his or her mission: the book and the chalkboard. Things have changed. PowerPoint has synthesized and drastically enhanced these two modes of learning. With the simple use of a computer and a projector, PowerPoint enables any teacher to, with just the click of a button, rotate through countless cycles of images and slides of content to enhance the learning of students. As a teaching tool, PowerPoint is invaluable, allowing anything scan-able to be instantly disseminated across an entire classroom, allowing far more information to be presented in the course of one class (Voss 2004, pg. 156). It also allows for movement within individual slides, with scrolling titles, fade-ins, and other exciting strategies to draw students into their lessons. It enables teachers to use varied delivery techniques to introduce new material. Of course, this is a double-edged sword, as in more recent years and with more technology-savvy students, the abilities of PowerPoint may seem more and more like gimmicks to students, and teachers have to be very careful to use PowerPoint’s bells and whistles wisely, as “students [tend to] get frustrated by PowerPoint presentations that are full of graphics and words flying across the screen while lacking substantive content” (Voss 2004, pg. 155). Nonetheless, in a 2003 study conducted by Bersin & Associates, the program was revealed to be one of the most popular tools for creating computer-based training applications, being cited by 48 percent of 3,500 training professionals. It was second only to Dreamweaver (a web development application). PowerPoint is not only a useful tool for teachers in a lecture environment, but it is an incredibly useful tool for students, as well. The interactability of PowerPoint democratizes the classroom, giving students the chance to present material to their colleagues and their teachers and thereby reinforcing the material to the students and demonstrating their knowledge of it to the teacher.

__Features:__ **
 * PowerPoint has the ability to incorporate and project pictures, moving images, sounds and text to any number of people simultaneously
 * The ability to hyperlink between slides, other files and websites allows for integrative information presentation

__Strengths__:
 * Instantaneous dissemination of information to an entire classroom
 * It can make otherwise static information “come alive”
 * It is usable as a platform for information presentation by both teachers and students
 * It is packaged with Microsoft Office, and is therefore widely available

__Weaknesses__:
 * many teachers overuse PowerPoint in the classroom, thereby boring their students and hindering their education rather than helping it
 * it is not a substitute for active and engaging instruction
 * its interactive features carry the prerequisite that students have ready access to computers and the internet

__Before using...__ PowerPoint comes free with Microsoft Office. No additional hardware or software is necessary.

__Best Practices #1:__ //A good teacher alternates his or her instruction by using a variety of methods to keep his or her students engaged and on their toes.// Repetition breeds boredom, and boredom prevents learning. Like any other interpersonal relationship, the social dynamic within a classroom stagnates if it becomes predictable. The effectiveness of PowerPoint is maximized only if its delivery is augmented by inspiring instruction. There have been many “presentations in which the PowerPoint overkill detracted from good content instead of supporting and enhancing it” (Lanius 2004, pg. 159). The risk of an overemphasis on PowerPoint is that it can lead to “PowerPointlessness,” in which teachers focus more “on graphics, animations, or sound effects more than course content” (McDonald 2004, 160). If one stares at anything for too long, they fall into a stupor, even if that “thing” is moving. The human touch must be preserved and made paramount in education, and that can’t happen if more of the students’ attention is focused on a projection. PowerPoint should be where education starts, not where it ends. Students enjoy technology, and “we can use their enjoyment to motivate skill developments that they find less enjoyable” (Lanius 2004, pg. 159), but we would be shortchanging our students if we stopped there. PowerPoint is best used when it presents ideas and functions as a springboard into more personal teaching or, better yet, student interaction.


 * __ Best Practices #2: __ ****// Use PowerPoint as a bridge between your students and yourself, not a barrier. // The great thing about technology is that it can structure student-teacher interaction, but we need to make sure that we work with our students when they delve into technology. It is wonderful when “PowerPoint presentations used by the instructors serve as models for student projects in terms of providing guides on how to organize material” (Keefe & Willett 2004, pg. 158), but that structure does not preserve itself, it needs to be reinforced and followed up with by responsible and responsive teaching. Similarly, it is critical that students are able to use PowerPoint themselves. With the availability of the free Microsoft PowerPoint viewer, users are able to interact with class materials at home, without requiring students to own Microsoft Office themselves (Keefe & Willett 2004, pg. 157). Use of a Master Slide allows teachers to utilize the concept of the internet forum as a tool to encourage communication between instructor and pupils, allowing students to “seamlessly bring up the discussion forum while they are reviewing the class material and raise questions or share observations with other class members and faculty” (Keefe & Willett 2004, pg. 157). In addition, that material that is presented during class can be very interactive through the use of “dynamic links to supporting information, which [the instructor] can access during class discussions and students can access during follow-up studies” (Keefe & Willett 2004, pg. 157). The bottom line is that PowerPoint enables the lines between students and teachers to remain perpetually open, meaning education has 24/7 opportunities.

Best Practices #3 // Assessment // Students can benefit from the organization that PowerPoint offers for presentations to classmates. By creating slides instead of lecture notes, students can easily manipulate their presentation as well as add visual elements to their presentation. PowerPoint presentations are most effective if they contain talking points (as opposed to lengthy text boxes), and forcing students to pare down their content into a few key words or phrases is an important skill to learn. **
 * 

__Bibliography__ **
 * Voss, D. (2004). PowerPoint in the classroom, is it really necessary? //Instructional Computing.// 155-156.
 * Keefe, D. D. and J. D. Willett. (2004). A case for PowerPoint as a faculty authoring system. //SRI International//. 156-158.
 * Lanius, C. (2004). Powerpoint, not your grandmother's presentations, but is it evil? //Sinton Independent School District//. 158-160.
 * McDonald, K. (2004). Examining powerpointlessness. //Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.// 160-161.