In two or three sentences, submit a comment, question, or observation about the educational use of Microsoft PowerPoint, either relating to the New York Times article or from your own experiences.
While powerpoint can be a great aid in classroom, I feel many misuse it. As the article states, some just click through the slides and do not elaborate on the actual content of them. Powerpoint must NOT be used to write paragraph after paragraph in which presenters just read straight from the slides.
Although I believe PowerPoint is a great tool to articulate and illustrate information, I agree with the article in that it enables students to get away with a lack of critical thinking, as long as they have an excellent presentation. From my high school experience, I remember that presentation of information often affected your grade as much as comprehension of information. What made this worse is most of the time having a good presentation just meant creating a flashy PowerPoint, rather than effectively communicating your message.
We know PowerPoint has great potential to excite kids (initially, at least) about subjects they may have previously thought unappealing. Perhaps we can maximize the learning potential by emphasizing the content of the presentation, and not grade the components like animation, color, etc. Since these factors are secondary, the students must know we will only give them minimal attention.
I'm not sure the problem of kids not focusing on content can totally be blamed on PowerPoint. I remember making posters in Elementary school and I worried a lot about the pictures and the type of bubble letters I was going to use. In both cases I think it's part of learning how to balance the information and presentation and kids get better with practice and teacher feedback/direction.
I have never thought that Powerpoint may limit the users', especially children's imagination. Even though the article has brought up some plausible arguments against drawbacks of using Powerpoint as educational tools, I believe that Powerpoint is one of the most useful and easy-to-use presentaion instruments that many people in many ages could use now.
After reading "Powerpoint Invades the Classroom" I was reminded of the classes I have attended where powerpoint was used, both sucessfully and unsucesfully. For powerpoint to be sucessful, I feel that it simply needs to provide visual images and refrences while the lecture and lecturer remain the main focus. If the main focus is the powerpoint students quickly lose interst, as the article mentioned.
My experiences with powerpoint have been very successful but just as the article says, I tend to concentrate more on how the presentation looks than on what the presentation is on. Also, I feel that not everyone is on the same level when it comes to technology so that is why some might be against powerpoint.
I think powerpoint is a very effective tool when used correctly. It cannot replace someone, a teacher or student, actually stating ideas that they learned from something, but it should be used to give main ideas while the speaker embellishes on the points.
I was surprised when I read about the teacher in California who uses PowerPoint with her 5- and 6-year-old students. I know that many elementary school teachers use PowerPoint, but I had no idea that kids as young as 5 and 6 were beginning to learn how to use it already. The fact that the teacher said using PowerPoint was like "picking up a pencil" for these kids blew my mind.
After reading Chapter 4: "Teaching with Digital Images," I was amazed at how much I learned! I have spent my whole life using images from Google on PowerPoint, and while some (not all) of my teachers encouraged us to include the website where we got the image from, no one ever suggested I contact the artist, editor of the page, etc. Although it might be tedious for students to give proper recognition to the sources of their digital images, I think it is very important because, just like copying text, copying images is plagiarism and is illegal.
While I read Guernsey's "PowerPoint Invades the Classroom," I found myself asking the same few questions. Does PowerPoint actually take-away from critical thinking skills at the elementary level, or does it enhance oral language, written, and critical thinking development? Are students becoming more engaged in lessons and activities with the use of more advanced presentation technology?
I agreed with Jamie McKenzie, Joan Vandervelde, Jerry Crystal, and Colleen Cordes in Guernsey's article about Powerpoint. I actually find the assignments for the course to be more akin to a philosophy of technology course than a course that teaches us how to use technology (for which I, who don't know how to use Powerpoint but have an assignment due Tuesday to make my first Powerpoint presentation, had different expectations). I find the amount of time spent patiently doing hands-on computer/techonology training impatient and minimal, and the time spent waxing philosophical about technology excessive and somewhat pointless inasmuch as if I don't know how to use the technology, it is pointless to philosophize about it. Training us first in how to use the technology and philosophizing later in the semester when we know what we're doing would seem to me to have a more positive impact. This is a statement regarding the structure Curry has chosen for the course which the teachers of the course have been dealt, and not a statement on the teachers. I find the courses in the Curry Library far more practical, educational, and useful.
I found the “Digital Images and Copyright” article to be very educational and interesting. None of my previous teachers had discussed the “fair use” law, with the four parameters to guide legality, and I think it is important for both students and teachers to be fully aware of this. I think I will begin to use search engines such as Ditto, Creative Commons and the National Archives website.
I think that allowing students to explore things like fonts & colors on PowerPoint, just like the presentation boards or other similar projects of pre-PowerPoint school days, is an important part of learning - it helps to encourage creativity and organizational thinking. The trick for the teacher is giving the students a project that they will be excited about putting together - content/subject included - because otherwise it's still just another boring presentation, no matter how many fonts you use.
I think that powerpoint is a great tool for the classroom. Although the article pointed out many possible ways that powerpoint can have a negative effect, such as children not being focused etc. I think that as long as the teacher shows students how to use powerpoint effectively, it can be a great tool in the classroom.
I think, as the article states, too many people misuse powerpoint in ways that are not effective within the classroom and are not helping students learn. I know from my own experience, I've always appreciated powerpoints that are used as outlines that can guide listeners through a presentation verses the powerpoints that try to include everything in one slide.
I think that power point is a tool used too often and at times inefficiently. While it is helpful to show key themes and ideas, I think that teachers rely on it too much. Instead we need to educate the teachers not only on using power point efficiently but also other important technology tools to mix up the monotony of lectures.
I really liked the way the teacher used powerpoint to create a visual representation of the story that her students were reading. What a great way to get kids who are just learning to read to really get excited about reading a new book!
My experiences with power point have been positive and negative. For a class in high school all we ever did to present projects was make a power point because that was about all we knew how to do in the computer lab- and it was always very boring to listen to them for every single project. However, for a note-taking point of view, I appreciate power points because I once had a teacher who had us take notes as she wrote them on an overhead projector; with power points, note taking can be more time-efficient.
20 comments:
While powerpoint can be a great aid in classroom, I feel many misuse it. As the article states, some just click through the slides and do not elaborate on the actual content of them. Powerpoint must NOT be used to write paragraph after paragraph in which presenters just read straight from the slides.
Although I believe PowerPoint is a great tool to articulate and illustrate information, I agree with the article in that it enables students to get away with a lack of critical thinking, as long as they have an excellent presentation. From my high school experience, I remember that presentation of information often affected your grade as much as comprehension of information. What made this worse is most of the time having a good presentation just meant creating a flashy PowerPoint, rather than effectively communicating your message.
We know PowerPoint has great potential to excite kids (initially, at least) about subjects they may have previously thought unappealing. Perhaps we can maximize the learning potential by emphasizing the content of the presentation, and not grade the components like animation, color, etc. Since these factors are secondary, the students must know we will only give them minimal attention.
I'm not sure the problem of kids not focusing on content can totally be blamed on PowerPoint. I remember making posters in Elementary school and I worried a lot about the pictures and the type of bubble letters I was going to use. In both cases I think it's part of learning how to balance the information and presentation and kids get better with practice and teacher feedback/direction.
I have never thought that Powerpoint may limit the users', especially children's imagination. Even though the article has brought up some plausible arguments against drawbacks of using Powerpoint as educational tools, I believe that Powerpoint is one of the most useful and easy-to-use presentaion instruments that many people in many ages could use now.
After reading "Powerpoint Invades the Classroom" I was reminded of the classes I have attended where powerpoint was used, both sucessfully and unsucesfully. For powerpoint to be sucessful, I feel that it simply needs to provide visual images and refrences while the lecture and lecturer remain the main focus. If the main focus is the powerpoint students quickly lose interst, as the article mentioned.
My experiences with powerpoint have been very successful but just as the article says, I tend to concentrate more on how the presentation looks than on what the presentation is on. Also, I feel that not everyone is on the same level when it comes to technology so that is why some might be against powerpoint.
I think powerpoint is a very effective tool when used correctly. It cannot replace someone, a teacher or student, actually stating ideas that they learned from something, but it should be used to give main ideas while the speaker embellishes on the points.
I was surprised when I read about the teacher in California who uses PowerPoint with her 5- and 6-year-old students. I know that many elementary school teachers use PowerPoint, but I had no idea that kids as young as 5 and 6 were beginning to learn how to use it already. The fact that the teacher said using PowerPoint was like "picking up a pencil" for these kids blew my mind.
After reading Chapter 4: "Teaching with Digital Images," I was amazed at how much I learned! I have spent my whole life using images from Google on PowerPoint, and while some (not all) of my teachers encouraged us to include the website where we got the image from, no one ever suggested I contact the artist, editor of the page, etc. Although it might be tedious for students to give proper recognition to the sources of their digital images, I think it is very important because, just like copying text, copying images is plagiarism and is illegal.
While I read Guernsey's "PowerPoint Invades the Classroom," I found myself asking the same few questions. Does PowerPoint actually take-away from critical thinking skills at the elementary level, or does it enhance oral language, written, and critical thinking development? Are students becoming more engaged in lessons and activities with the use of more advanced presentation technology?
I agreed with Jamie McKenzie, Joan Vandervelde, Jerry Crystal, and Colleen Cordes in Guernsey's article about Powerpoint. I actually find the assignments for the course to be more akin to a philosophy of technology course than a course that teaches us how to use technology (for which I, who don't know how to use Powerpoint but have an assignment due Tuesday to make my first Powerpoint presentation, had different expectations). I find the amount of time spent patiently doing hands-on computer/techonology training impatient and minimal, and the time spent waxing philosophical about technology excessive and somewhat pointless inasmuch as if I don't know how to use the technology, it is pointless to philosophize about it. Training us first in how to use the technology and philosophizing later in the semester when we know what we're doing would seem to me to have a more positive impact. This is a statement regarding the structure Curry has chosen for the course which the teachers of the course have been dealt, and not a statement on the teachers. I find the courses in the Curry Library far more practical, educational, and useful.
I found the “Digital Images and Copyright” article to be very educational and interesting. None of my previous teachers had discussed the “fair use” law, with the four parameters to guide legality, and I think it is important for both students and teachers to be fully aware of this. I think I will begin to use search engines such as Ditto, Creative Commons and the National Archives website.
I think that allowing students to explore things like fonts & colors on PowerPoint, just like the presentation boards or other similar projects of pre-PowerPoint school days, is an important part of learning - it helps to encourage creativity and organizational thinking. The trick for the teacher is giving the students a project that they will be excited about putting together - content/subject included - because otherwise it's still just another boring presentation, no matter how many fonts you use.
I think that powerpoint is a great tool for the classroom. Although the article pointed out many possible ways that powerpoint can have a negative effect, such as children not being focused etc. I think that as long as the teacher shows students how to use powerpoint effectively, it can be a great tool in the classroom.
I think, as the article states, too many people misuse powerpoint in ways that are not effective within the classroom and are not helping students learn. I know from my own experience, I've always appreciated powerpoints that are used as outlines that can guide listeners through a presentation verses the powerpoints that try to include everything in one slide.
I think that power point is a tool used too often and at times inefficiently. While it is helpful to show key themes and ideas, I think that teachers rely on it too much. Instead we need to educate the teachers not only on using power point efficiently but also other important technology tools to mix up the monotony of lectures.
I really liked the way the teacher used powerpoint to create a visual representation of the story that her students were reading. What a great way to get kids who are just learning to read to really get excited about reading a new book!
My experiences with power point have been positive and negative. For a class in high school all we ever did to present projects was make a power point because that was about all we knew how to do in the computer lab- and it was always very boring to listen to them for every single project. However, for a note-taking point of view, I appreciate power points because I once had a teacher who had us take notes as she wrote them on an overhead projector; with power points, note taking can be more time-efficient.
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