Dartmouth students generally have mixed views about Powerpoint. As an economics major, it is difficult to avoid it in class. Unusually for me, I had managed to avoid courses taught entirely with slides until this term. Having a taste of that, I now realize how indiscriminate use of Powerpoint can easily disrupt the learning process.
Powerpoint slides per se are not inherently bad. In the same way, morphine is not inherently bad either. The problem with the use of Powerpoint is that very often faculty consciously or unconsciously allow the slides to take over the teaching process, making themselves redundant or just plain irritating.
Let us begin with a simple assumption. Let's assume that there is no such thing as Powerpoint. We have a simple classroom with just two pieces of teaching equipment: a chalkboard and an overhead projector. A professor in such a classroom would presumably deliver the lecture from her own notes and use an overhead for whatever charts or graphs she has. She would use the chalkboard to draw all the necessary diagrams.
In such a classroom, a professor's teaching ability is fully exploited. The main conduit of information is her voice, supplemented with whatever necessary images on the chalkboard or overhead. Eye contact is always maintained with her students in some way since the professor is the source of all information.
Let's look at the empirical evidence. Some of my best economics professors have been very effective teachers with just these two factors of education. The reason is simple: students want contact with professors. All else being equal, any Dartmouth student would prefer to be in a smaller class because there is the possibility of greater contact with faculty. Professors are the most impressive when they are able to spout wisdom from their mouths without any teaching aid.
Let us now relax our assumption. Powerpoint is now available as another teaching tool. Let us also assume that our professor in this classroom uses only Powerpoint and nothing else. The overhead projector sits on the floor and the chalkboard is always clean. All lectures are delivered by Powerpoint. In fact, all necessary information is contained in these slides. The professor clicks through the slides and provides a running commentary that essentially repeats what is contained in the presentation.
What happens in this classroom? The chief conduit of information is visual. The professor stands in the background. Students may give the professor an occasional glance to make sure it is not a tape recorder that is doing the talking. Most of the time, however, their attention is focused on copying information off the screen. If the professor makes these slides available after class, students might even be dozing or having breakfast.
Essentially our high-tech professor has made himself redundant. By putting his main resource, his knowledge, on the slides, the professor has reduced his ability to add value in the teaching process. If a student can run through the slides in his room and learn everything in the course, well, what is the professor for?
Of course, in the real world, faculty rarely use Powerpoint to the extent in our model. Nonetheless, some of them come dangerously close. In their enthusiasm to embrace technology in teaching, some professors have adopted Powerpoint without really knowing how to use it. Granted, on a technical level, some faculty have managed to create wonderful presentations with snazzy fonts and color schemes to match the classroom carpet, but many do not know how to utilize Powerpoint as a teaching tool.
At the fundamental level, a difference should be noted between a paragraph and a bullet point. As its name suggests, a bullet point is a concise summary of information, ideally in one sentence or phrase. When there is only one bullet for each slide and that bullet is five lines long, I would advise the professor to go to the composition center for some help. Students do not like to stare at a mass of words on the screen at 9 a.m. I'm sorry, but it takes time for the caffeine to kick in.
At the same time, not every piece of information has to be on the slide. If a student can learn off the slides alone, why come to class in the first place? Slides should only be used as an outline. Professors should rather focus on fleshing out each bullet point during the lecture itself.
Faculty should also realize that students still take notes even when Powerpoint slides are used. With Powerpoint, there is always a temptation to click through the slides in a race against the clock. The problem is students need time to copy down the complex diagrams or formulas that faculty themselves have avoided drawing. The whole point of using Powerpoint is to convey information more effectively, and not to be able to click through all 48 slides in an hour.
Ultimately, Powerpoint should supplement teaching and should not take over the process of instruction itself. Faculty should control the use of Powerpoint to suit their needs and not the reverse. The use of Powerpoint will only increase. I just hope that I won't see the day when the listing in the course bulletin reads: "Economics 101, hourly showing at Filene Auditorium, Tuesdays and Thursdays, THX surround sound, synopses at the door."
