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Use of PowerPoint and Other Electronic Presentation Software in Class
PowerPoint and other presentation software packages allow the instructor to show notes, images, animations, and other electronic media to the class. Furthermore, PowerPoint slides can be posted either on the course website or a courseware page as in WebCT or CourseInfo. Posting slides in advance of a class meeting allows students to bring printouts of the slides to lecture and write notes in the margins. (See below for some advice.) They can also listen more intently to the lecturer and review the slides after class. Students may not have PowerPoint on their computers, so it is good practice to convert the slides to html or pdf and then post both the Powerpoint and other format online.
PowerPoint has its drawbacks, and therefore should be avoided if a class does not lend itself to that format. One problem is that composing a PowerPoint lecture can occupy an inordinate amount of the instructor's time. Another is the temptation to cram too much material into the lecture, causing students to copy madly the notes while only barely listening to the instructor. Once the slide changes, the students can no longer view the material on it. Instructors should design their presentations to leave ample time for interaction with the students to discuss the material.
PowerPoint can, on the other hand, promote student interactions if used judiciously. Many instructors incorporate student response systems ("clickers" and a receiver plugged into a PC) into their PowerPoint lectures. See the webpage on student response systems for more information on this technology.
If you are planning to post your PowerPoint lecture for students to view, download, and print, here is some advice:
- Use dark letters on white background on as many slides as possible. Otherwise, the students will quickly exhaust the toner on their printers if they wish to print out portions of the lectures.
- Convert the PowerPoint file to PDF, which is not as platform and version dependent as PowerPoint tends to be. If you have animations, there is software that can install these in the PDF file as well. Another option is to convert the PowerPoint file to Flash, which is web-friendly and can deal with animations, etc. Here is a link to one such software product: <http://www.presentationpro.com/products/PowerCONVERTER.asp>
- Consider using HTML instead. The software Dreamweaver (available at University Computers for somewhat less than $100) allows you to create web pages that you can use in your lecture as well as post in exactly the same format on the course website. Another advantage is that you can scroll through the lecture instead of changing pages. You can then allow the material you covered a short time earlier to stay on the screen when you move on to the next topic, an advantage to the slow note-takers. On the other hand, it is not as straightforward to place graphics exactly where you want and to use symbols like Greek letters, and these are not completely browser-independent.
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