Group 3 Technologies - Power Point

In this post I’m going to introduce you to the wonderful world of Power Point! *Cue groans from audience.* Now, don’t be fooled by all those ‘death by Power Point’ presentations you’ve sat through before! I promise that Power Point can be a valuable teaching tool; it just needs to be used right.

As I am currently completing my placement in the Business Department of a local high school I have been able to see Power Point used fairly regularly and one presentation in particular stood out as truly wonderful. When I first heard that the Year 12 class needed to sit through a long presentation on Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) I cringed inwardly, the opportunity for failure and boredom was rife! However, after seeing the presentation in its entirety I am extremely impressed. The presentation used the following features to enable the learning manager to engage their class:

• Embedded Activities – links to relevant websites and research activities were placed on slides within the presentation. In this way, when the learning manager reached the slide the students could then take a break and direct their own learning. The students were able to place the information that they found in the notes section of the presentation and then save this copy to their own work folder for later use.
• Consistent Formatting – the designer used the same formatting and theme on all slides thus creating uniformity in the presentation and allowing students to easily view the information without competition from contrasting fonts that may cause eye strain.
• Concise Information – all information on the slides was presented in note form or short sentences. Large blocks of text would make the information harder to read and so this was avoided.
• Notes Function – students were advised to use the notes function in Power Point to record any extra information or useful examples. As they will be able to use the presentation as reference material later in their unit, these notes could prove very useful.
• Humour – almost every time there was a change of topic the author had included a slide with a humorous image relating to OH&S. Sometimes it may be a cartoon, at others it may be a photograph of hilariously bad OH&S practices. Not only did these images provide comic relief to the students but it created talking points so the class was able to stop for discussion. The learning manager would ask simple questions such as “What is going wrong in the picture?” and facilitate the discussion from that point.

Admittedly this was a fairly basic Power Point presentation, the author didn’t include any animations or fancy slide transitions but it was EFFECTIVE! The students were engaged in what is normally a very boring unit of work and they were able to adapt the information to their own needs.

Below is a short ‘Plus, Minus and Interesting’ on the benefits, negatives and potential of Power Point presentations in the classroom.

Plus

• It is an easy format to use; students can pick up the basics quickly if they haven’t used the program before.
• Information can be presented in a variety of ways including images, videos, text and graphs.
• Students can add their own notes using the notes function.
• The presentation can be quickly updated if information or figures change.
• It can be used as part of assessment either as a standalone document or an oral presentation to build public speaking skills. The program is also an excellent tool for use in group activities, thus encouraging students to work together and encourage communication and cooperation.

Minus

• There is a high chance of ‘death by Power Point’. Presentations should include the aspects mentioned earlier to avoid being bland and the learning manager should make their expectations clear to the students from the outset.
• While it is a staple of Microsoft Word the technology is a little dated. Students could achieve the same results by creating a website or wiki depending on the assessment.
• Training needs to be provided to students so they can incorporate videos, sound clips and graphs effectively.

Interesting

• The notes function allows students to personalise the information.
• The Microsoft Word website provides easy to follow tutorials to help students and learning managers get the best out of Power Point.

It was so refreshing to see a Power Point in action that actually made an impact on the students and was useful for their learning experiences. In the future I won’t shy away from using Power Point but I will definitely be sure to incorporate the key aspects that I identified from this one.

Stay fabulous dear readers!