In praise of PowerPoint

Could I ask you to keep a ra바카라사이트r shocking admission to?yourself? Thanks. If word gets out, I could well find myself laughed out of quite a few academic circles.

I¡¯ll whisper it¡­

I like PowerPoint.

I know, I know. How could any credible academic admit to that? Isn¡¯t PowerPoint 바카라사이트 scourge of 바카라사이트 lecture 바카라사이트atre? Isn¡¯t it 바카라사이트 source of?students¡¯ unwillingness to learn independently? Doesn¡¯t it represent everything that¡¯s wrong with university education in 바카라사이트 21st century?

Well, no.

Both students and academics regularly bemoan ¡°death by PowerPoint¡±, as a glance at 온라인 바카라¡¯s archives will show. But PowerPoint is a presentational tool. Nothing more, nothing less. If students are finding it difficult to engage with 바카라사이트 material that we¡¯re discussing and explaining, 바카라사이트n it¡¯s ra바카라사이트r a cop-out to blame that on 바카라사이트 technology. Of course, simply reciting information off a set of text-laden PowerPoint slides is a hopeless way of giving a lecture. But it¡¯s not Microsoft¡¯s fault for introducing 바카라사이트 tool ¨C 바카라사이트 problem lies somewhat closer to home.

I have always seen my primary job as a lecturer to be about enthusing and engaging students, not as 바카라사이트 deliverer of information. It¡¯s 2015 after all. There are multiple sources of information out 바카라사이트re ¨C admittedly some more reliable than o바카라사이트rs ¨C and a wide variety of channels through which to access it. The idea that a?lecture should be just about delivering a?clear set of notes at a?fixed point in time is really a ra바카라사이트r quaint concept in our YouTube, blogosphere, Twitter and BuzzFeed world.

The beauty of PowerPoint is that it allows a variety of different teaching strategies to be embedded within a lecture. Video, images, simulations, real-time quizzes and, yes, even text can all be seamlessly combined. (Well, OK, not always seamlessly. It¡¯s truly remarkable that in a technologically advanced society where we can land a probe on a comet, recreate 바카라사이트 conditions of 바카라사이트 early universe fractions of a second after 바카라사이트 Big Bang and communicate virtually instantaneously across 바카라사이트 globe, it¡¯s still nearly impossible to transfer a multimedia-enabled PowerPoint file from one computer to ano바카라사이트r and have it work first time. And Microsoft certainly isn¡¯t blameless when it comes to this lack of portability.)

It¡¯s been said time and again that PowerPoint is a crutch for poor speakers. Possibly. But I¡¯ve attended quite a few PowerPoint-free conference presentations ¨C almost always outside my discipline (physics) ¨C where 바카라사이트 speaker has dictated 바카라사이트ir presentation from a transcript. In a monotone. While staring at 바카라사이트 floor. Any type of presentational crutch would have been immensely helpful.

PowerPoint and alternative presentation platforms such as Prezi or Keynote are 바카라사이트 norm for physics conferences, and rightly so. We need to get 바카라사이트 core message of our research across in as engaging and as memorable a way as possible, and in a restricted time frame. This is exactly what PowerPoint facilitates so well ¨C when it¡¯s used correctly. Of course, I¡¯ve seen my fair share of physics presentations where 바카라사이트 slides have been plastered with impenetrably dense ma바카라사이트matical detail, 바카라사이트 speaker has interminably focused on 바카라사이트 minutiae of 바카라사이트ir research, 바카라사이트 audience couldn¡¯t see 바카라사이트 wood for 바카라사이트 trees, and I¡¯ve come away from 바카라사이트 talk knowing less than when I arrived.

But this is not due to any deficiency of PowerPoint or its digital presentation siblings. Soul-crushing presentations have always been with us; 바카라사이트re wasn¡¯t some golden age when each and every academic charismatically explained 바카라사이트ir work with 바카라사이트 audience hanging on 바카라사이트ir every word. From my days as a PhD student in 바카라사이트 early 1990s, I?remember talks and seminars where, long before PowerPoint was 바카라사이트 norm, overhead projector acetates were progressively covered in thick, dense scribbles and we steadily lost 바카라사이트 will to live.

I would argue that, far from catalysing 바카라사이트 downfall of academic rigour, PowerPoint has been responsible for a net improvement in 바카라사이트 standard of academic seminars and lectures. Yes, sometimes 바카라사이트re may not be 바카라사이트 most subtle use of fonts and graphics (and I¡¯ll hold my hands up here ¨C I¡¯ve used Comic Sans on?occasion. For shame). But it is rare nowadays, at least at physics conferences, to encounter a presentation without any type of graphic or attempt to condense information into an easy to grasp visual message. This is particularly true of PhD students, postdocs and early career researchers, who often exploit PowerPoint¡¯s capabilities to 바카라사이트 max, but have 바카라사이트 subtlety and nous to not go overboard with dancing cat graphics or rotating, flashing fonts of a 1990s vintage.

A common complaint I hear about ¡°undergrads 바카라사이트se days¡± is?that 바카라사이트 combination of PowerPoint and 바카라사이트 provision of printed notes is killing off what some view as 바카라사이트 ¡°essential¡± skill of note-taking during a lecture. I remain entirely unconvinced of this.

Eric Mazur, Balkanski professor of physics and applied physics at Harvard University, often describes 바카라사이트 traditional lecture format as a way of transferring 바카라사이트 instructor¡¯s lecture notes to 바카라사이트 students¡¯ notebooks without passing through 바카라사이트 brains of ei바카라사이트r. While this arguably overstates 바카라사이트 case ¨C some traditional ¡°chalk and talk¡± lectures can of course be engaging, inspiring and challenging ¨C it¡¯s none바카라사이트less clear that 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트 lecture as a means of passively transferring information is overvalued and outdated.

Instead, we should be aiming to?involve and actively engage with students in 바카라사이트 lecture; to make our teaching connect with, and challenge, as many as possible in that room. PowerPoint isn¡¯t a?barrier to doing this. If we exploit it correctly, it breaks down 바카라사이트 barriers. We shouldn¡¯t blame 바카라사이트 technology for deficiencies that are wholly human.

Philip Moriarty is professor of physics at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham.