Associate Professor Nick Forster - Unit Award

'Excellence in Teaching - what is it?'

My teaching tip is, "Ban Powerpoint", in teaching or, at the very least, try to minimize its use. Why? Because it is a ubiquitous, monopoly technology used by everyone - although its use is banned in Microsoft. It is hugely monotonous - often featuring 'the speaker' reading in monotone, parrot-fashion style from wordy slides. PP is intellectually suspect, because it reduces complex ideas to meaningless bullet points. PP is the equivalent of academic television, encouraging passivity and rote learning. It does not promote educare or self-learning. So let's minimize Powerpointlessness and remember that the very best audio-visual aid we have at our disposal is ourselves.