Week of February 12

PowerPointless Presentations

1. What makes a PowerPoint Presentation, PowerPointless?

• When it is overused
• When it is just a fancy copy of notes
• When instructors read directly from PowerPoint
• When the format distracts from the content
  

2. What makes a presentation effective?

• When the content is substantial
• When the text is limited
• When it provides a visual outline of material presented

3. What's the role of PowerPoint in a presentation?

• To serve as a visual outline
• To provide graphics, audio, & hyperlinks that support the content
  
• To help enhance understanding by the audience

I have seen teachers that use PowerPoint to present vocabulary words to their class. Although this doesn't seem to be any more effective than writing the words on the board, it does give the teacher an easy way to provide students who are absent with vocabulary words that they miss.