Universities should ban PowerPoint — It makes students stupid and professors boring

[Ilija.m]

Quote:A review of research on PowerPoint found that while students liked PowerPoint better than overhead transparencies, PowerPoint did not increase learning or grades. Liking something doesn’t make it effective, and there’s nothing to suggest transparencies are especially effective learning tools either.

Research comparing teaching based on slides against other methods such as problem-based learning - where students develop knowledge and skills by confronting realistic, challenging problems - predominantly supports alternative methods.

PowerPoint slides are toxic to education for three main reasons:

Slides discourage complex thinking. Slides encourage instructors to present complex topics using bullet points, slogans, abstract figures and oversimplified tables with minimal evidence. They discourage deep analysis of complex, ambiguous situations because it is nearly impossible to present a complex, ambiguous situation on a slide. This gives students the illusion of clarity and understanding.

Reading evaluations from students has convinced me that when most courses are based on slides, students come to think of a course as a set of slides. Good teachers who present realistic complexity and ambiguity are criticised for being unclear. Teachers who eschew bullet points for graphical slides are criticised for not providing proper notes.

Slides discourage reasonable expectations. When I used PowerPoint, students expected the slides to contain every detail necessary for projects, tests and assignments. Why would anyone waste time reading a book or going to a class when they can get an A by perusing a slide deck at home in their pyjamas?

Measuring the wrong things
If slide shows are so bad, why are they so popular?

Universities measure student satisfaction but they do not measure learning. Since organisations focus on what they measure and students like PowerPoint, it stays, regardless of its educational effectiveness.

Hospitals measure morbidity and mortality. Corporations measure revenue and profit. Governments measure unemployment and gross domestic product. Even this website measures readership, broken down by article and author. But universities don’t measure learning.

Exams, term papers and group projects ostensibly measure knowledge or ability. Learning is the change in knowledge and skills and therefore must be measured over time.

apple computers Missouri school of journalism university classroomMissouri School Of Journalism
Students in a lecture hall at the Missouri School Of Journalism

When we do attempt to measure learning, the results are not pretty. US researchers found that a third of American undergraduates demonstrated no significant improvement in learning over their four-year degree programs.

They tested students in the beginning, middle and end of their degrees using the Collegiate Learning Assessment, an instrument that tests skills any degree should improve – analytic reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving and writing.

Any university can deploy similar testing to measure student learning. Doing so would facilitate rigorous evaluations of different teaching methods. We would be able to quantify the relationship between PowerPoint use and learning. We would be able to investigate dozens of learning correlates and eventually establish what works and what doesn’t.

Unfortunately, many key drivers of learning appear to reduce student satisfaction and vice versa. As long as universities continue to measure satisfaction but not learning, the downward spiral of lower expectations, less hard work and less learning will continue.

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[craxyguy562]

I actually learned a lot from powerpoints. I have one teacher whose lessons are 90% percent powerpoints and I'm doing just fine in his class. See proof powerpoints are educational. Please don't replace them with tiresome study packets school.

[TheCancer]

I hate PowerPoint. I realize it's just a medium but in my experience it's... Well, to be honest, I've never once seen it used well. That doesn't mean it can't be used well but after a while you start to suspect the medium. Even it it's not fair. Like blaming pencils.

[no]

What about as a tool for students to give presentations? Or is that all but dead in favor of moar testing?

When I was in elementary school I would use powerpoint's animations and clip art to make little cartoons when I was bored in the computer lab. In middle school when that was an actual assignment mine were the most complex. Sure, it's very limited and not intended for that purpose in the slightest, but not entirely worthless.

[TheCancer]

I personally just don't like it. I don't forbid it either. If a student wants to make a PowerPoint - whatever. I'll give him or her an A but I'm not very likely to actually watch it.

And no, I'm not about testing. That's much worse.

[brainiac3397]

It works in business but in what they call "decks" which is the collection of the slides themselves being what matters rather than the presentation(or even the software since any slideshow style thing will suffice). When you have different financial and management stuff to present, it's a lot easier to fit the main points into the slides to cover the basics.

College powerpoints are either like headlines the professor uses with his/her notes or packed full of long lists and some pictures. They aren't precise and straight to the point.

[TheCancer]

Yeah

I don't know exactly why it just irritates me.

Perhaps because they're always there when nothing interesting is being said (in my world)

[brainiac3397]

For academic purposes, my opinion is that the powerpoint should be simple and straight to the point(preferably in infographic format) while the actual substance comes from the presenter themselves. Most people try to make up for their lack of presenting skills with powerpoints, instead of using the powerpoints to enhance their presenting skills.

As a student, I've had to sit through a fair share of boring ass presentations by students and teachers. My presentations have always been attention-grabbing and quite informative by the mere fact that I control the information rather than the powerpoint controlling it.

For business, the presenter isn't as important as what's on the slides(often because the people analyzing the data being provided are usually aware of what the data means so you don't have to explain it them as much as just introduce it to them). They'll know what they're looking at, and usually the purpose of presenting is just to bring up a topic, solicit questions, or establish a foundation from where a discussion will continue from.

[TheCancer]

I'd rather get a packet to read it on but whatever.

[brainiac3397]

Well the purpose of academic is to "teach" other students of your topic and your presentation to demonstrate your knowledge on it. If a student can't orally explain a topic then how exactly is he going to persuade others about his knowledge? People do read but the verbal description usually has a big effect if the audience isn't knowledgeable on the subject.

Maybe it makes sense for you to read packet because you probably know the shit being presented. The other students however benefit more from agood student presenter rather than the PowerPoint itself.

[TheCancer]

I occasionally give presentations to groups of teachers. I do it without any visual aids, notes, or hand outs. I just speak or lecture. I teach the same way. If I want my students to do something I tell them. I usually open the class with a 10-15 minute lecture that can be expanded if the students ask questions or want to debate or make comments. I make sure I know my content well before I start teaching which is actually pretty rare where I'm at. While other teachers are grading papers and making copies I'm usually reviewing the content. I want the students to feel like they can ask me questions and trust that I can answer. I think it's good for them to hear it in a conversation form instead of using Google. So when I go to teacher workshops and they're running a PowerPoint I feel like they're usually ill-informed and lazy. We had one presenter run a PowerPoint that quoted a middle eastern author that I was familiar with and when I commented on the context of the quote it was obvious he knew nothing about the writer. He was flown in and getting a fat payday, too. It may seem trivial but in fact it really pissed me off and I made sure to adequately expose his ignorance. My feeling was he shouldn't put it up there if he doesn't even know what it means.

[brainiac3397]

Yeh it sounds like what I had mentioned. The guy was trying to use the powerpoint to cover up his lack of knowledge, rather than using it to make it more interesting. I mean, a lecture can be made more interesting wtih powerpoints. Say we're being taught about some WW2 battle. It'd be far more attention-grabbing if while you gave your lecture, you had a powerpoint with some great clear images of the battle scene, battle map, and perhaps even a basic gif on the action.

Unfortunately students have the habit of slapping all the info on the powerpoint and then use it like their own notes. I personally never even use notecards or my powerpoint to give me cues. If I haven't memorized all aspects of my topic and have myself prepared for potential questions, I clearly haven't done my studying right. Professors however usually let the student slide because it's like "well powerpoints aren't going to be important in his career" but I find such presentations are excellent at demonstrating the skills of the student.

That's why I enjoy watching people in class make presentations. It's that moment I can tell how seriously they're taking the work and even how diligent/intelligent they are.