Blog Post #9 PowerPoint… Evil?

The positions presented in both resources are drastic and inflexible. Power Points presentations are not supposed to substitute a speaker. They are supposed to aid the speaker to visually emphasize the most important points of presentations. PowerPoint helps the speaker organize the presentation, but that is not the only purpose. A PowerPoint tool will not compensate for poor presentations skills. There is no excuse; the presenter, teacher or student, should be knowledgeable about the presentation topic. The presenter would choose the type of PowerPoint resources, based in what are the presentation’s goals or objectives. The speaker can choose to use it, as part of a lecture including slides that will provide a visual aid to the audience. In this case, the speaker is the center of the presentation. A different use of Power Point will be as tool to interact or engage the students in which scenario it becomes an audience centered presentation.

In the educational field, PowerPoint enhances traditional instruction in the classroom. This tool supports student learning in various ways. This technology is not a substitute of traditional teaching, instead is a resource that complement an educational goal. Various PowerPoint educational objectives are to assist in provoking higher level thinking in content areas, reinforce procedural and technical skills. Another objective can be to provide different type of learners with a supplementary way of demonstrating understanding of content information in instances where the traditional way would prevent it. One more goal can be to provide students with necessary computer skills necessary in a global and competitive economy. PowerPoint can be a student centered activity when is used as an Inquiry based-learning project. The student will have to answer an essential question, find relevant resources, interpret the information found, and report the findings. A Power Point presentation is the end result of a thinking and preparation process, not a substitution for it. Of course, if the lesson objective is showing writing skills, a PowerPoint will not be the best resource to show mastery. Like every other teaching resource, a PowerPoint presentation should not be used if is not going to support the educational goal. However, one cannot drastically discard the use of technology without assessing its added value to teaching and learning.