POWER POINT COUNTER POINT.

Two columnists for the Northern Star evaluate the merits, or not, of Power Point heavy classes.

Aaron Brooks, in the negative.

Foremost, students learn best in different ways, specifically seven different ways. Although PowerPoints satisfy those who learn best visually and verbally, those students who learn best socially, kinesthetically, and logically often have their needs unmet.

That learning-style taxonomy is probably wrong. But the Assessment Weenies objectives and rubrics fetish creates an environment made to order for structured presentations.  The problem with canned presentations on slides is that too often they degenerate into "Read these instructions silently while I read them aloud."

Often during a PowerPoint, my mind tends to wander and I become disconnected from the presentation. Granted, maybe it is my fault for reading the book before class that day, but my frustration with class after class of PowerPoints is not without justification.

University Diaries links approvingly to the column.

Parker Happ, for the affirmative.

Some call them boring, but PowerPoints offer advantages such as the ability for teachers to organize data and create a message. Once that message is created, PowerPoints distributed online through blackboard prepare students for what they will learn about in class.

Also, students can gain a "big picture" focus on what lectures are going to be about when slides are posted online ahead of time. Instead of having the awkward moment when a professor asks, "What do you all think about [insert complex topic here]," and students reply back with blank stares and drops of drool slowly pooling at the corners of their mouths, slide presentations create conversation through organization. Students could create questions pertaining to the PowerPoints online. This clarity on subject matter leads to classes running smoother and can create schemas for subject matter ahead of time preventing blank stares and stalled class discussions.

Oftentimes, the notes I take from professor's slides are relevant to potential information that will be on finals too. Why not get that information sooner and have access to it online whenever I want?

Discussions break down, or don't get started, when the students have failed to prepare. That's a problem as old as cuneiform tablets, and the availability of online books or presentations does nothing for the individual who doesn't take the time to prepare.