Using PowerPoint to Encourage Learning

Presentation Software Can Promote Good Teaching and Learning

May 9, 2009

PowerPoint tools often lead to teacher-centered instruction and lecture. However, presentation software can be used in many other effective ways.

Presentation software tends to place the focus on the teacher or presenter. Even when students are asked to create presentations, the tendency is to over-emphasize the presentation instead of content or learning. Student-created presentations also lead to the problem of time spent giving the presentation to the rest of the class. When students are turned into lecturers, the disadvantages may outweigh the advantages.

However, PowerPoint and other presentation software provide a useful composing environment for students. With presentation software, students can use multiple sources of information as they build an understanding of the topics they are studying. For example, students can import sound clips, video clips, image files, and alphabetic text in creative ways that encourage active learning.

Sharing PowerPoint Shows

As important, PowerPoint begs the creator or author to find an audience. There are several innovative ways this might be done without asking each student or student group to present to the whole class, one after the other. An important tool built into many presentation software programs is the audio recording tool.

With presentation software, a computer, and a microphone, students can polish their oral presentations by recording their voices and setting the timer feature to automatically advance slides. When students use the audio capabilities of PowerPoint, they can rehearse, record multiple versions, and practice their speaking skills, as well. Act360 produced a tutorial teachers and students will find useful as they learn to add audio files to their PowerPoint presentations.

Once students have completed their presentations, there are several ways their work can be shared. If your students have a class blog or access to a discussion forum, students can upload for viewing by others when they have time as homework.

The teacher might also set up a computer as part of a learning center. As students rotate through the center, they can view and listen to the PowerPoint, they post their comments on the blog. PowerPoints can also be set to run continuously using the timer and looping options (in PowerPoint 2007®, these controls are found in the set up group on the slide show tab). If the teacher has access to five or six computers in the classroom, students can view several shows by moving from one to the next.

Presentation Slides as Webpages

PowerPoint shows can also be saved as webpages or as PowerPoint shows linked to webpages. Using this feature, presentations can be linked to the class webpage for parents to see from their home computers.

Using PowerPoint to Organize Research Projects

Each slide of a PowerPoint file can serve as a notecard, much like the 3X5 index cards often used for planning research projects. If students have presentation software on their laptop computers, work at a desktop computer station, or have presentation software on their handheld computers, they can take notes in the body of the slide, add bibliographic information in the note section of the PowerPoint slide, and use the slide sorter to organize their papers.

Classroom Time Management

To help students keep track of time spent on different tasks in the classroom, the teacher can create a slide with each task typed using bullets. By animating text and using the timer, each step of the task can be grayed out as students should have it completed (Rocklin, 2001).

Andrew (2009) suggests some additional alternatives for presentation tools in the classroom. Presentation software need not automatically lead to teacher-centered lectures (which do have a place as an important source of information in the classroom). Similarly, students do not need to present every PowerPoint they create to the entire class. In addition, presentation software offers additional opportunities for sharing student work with other students and with parents.

References:

Rocklin, T. (2001). PowerPoint is not evil. The National Teaching and Learning Forum. Retrieved May 9, 2009.

The copyright of the article Using PowerPoint to Encourage Learning in Teaching & Technology is owned by Tom Wolsey. Permission to republish Using PowerPoint to Encourage Learning in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.