Roger Smith - Feedback concerning this issue

A response to the comments about Power Point

From: Roger Smith [ mailto:rsmith@ecel.uwa.edu.au]

Sent: Thursday, 21 March 2002 2:21 PM

To: catl@uwa.edu.au

Subject: issue0202

A response to the comments about Power Point in the Vol 8 #2 March issue.

It has been interesting over the past few years to see the growth in the acceptance and use of Power Point and the subsequent criticism that has been leveled at its use. There are claims that it is overused, that it represents style over substance, that it reduces complex ideas to meaningless bullet points, that presenters just read from the slides and that it encourages passivity. There is no doubt that when Power Point is not used well then such criticisms are valid, but the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater.

Power Point is really not a lot different to any other teaching or presentation aid such as transparencies, videos or flip charts for example. It is quite easy to misuse any of these aids and thus have the above criticisms of Power Point apply equally to them.

Rather than damning Power Point or any other aid, our real concern should be with ensuring that they are used well.

Just repeating what is on the slide (Power Point or transparency) is obviously not the way to go and I would be surprised if any teacher worth his or her salt would do this. The slide, whether in bullet points or not should be a guide and summary of the main points to be presented. With the guide information visible it can be discussed, argued and even changed in the same way as any points can be discussed and argued whether presented verbally or via a visual aid. Using aids such as these at least ensure that material is presented logically and that none of the areas of concern are left out. There are also handling and ease of use issues with Power Point that do give it advantages over other visual aids. One way of looking at Power Point is to see it as a more convenient method of presenting slides than through the use of transparencies.

Of course, if the seminar or session consists of nothing but Power Point then there could well be cause for concern. Any teaching learning situation should consist of a variety of learning techniques both in the interests of motivation as well as the need to cater for the individual learning styles of students.

So, let's ease up on the criticism and work harder at coming up with the most effective ways to use Power Point.

Roger Smith

Professor Roger Smith

Director of International Programmes

Graduate School of Management

University of Western Australia

Nedlands WA 6009

Phone 6488 1441 or 6488 3980 Fax 6488 1072

CRICOS Provider Numbers 041069F: MBA (4152), 52 weeks

003028G: MBA (Advanced)(4153), 78 weeks