What would it look like if Honest Abe had PowerPoint at his disposal on that fateful day in 1863?
Quite possibly, this.
Its creator, Peter Norvig, also describes his rationale here, and considers the value of PowerPoint in “PowerPoint: Shot with its own bullets,” which was published in The Lancet.
We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bullet-pointed bathwater, but the Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation might prove useful for those discussing with students (or colleagues) what makes for good (and bad) PowerPoint.
I’ve been thinking about David’s post a while back discussing strategies for effective PowerPointing. In writing instruction, one of the best ways to get students to begin writing with confidence is to have them “write what they know.” What they know is less important than that they develop the ability to explore and express it. Such an assignment implicitly takes some of the focus off of the content, and moves it onto the form. Though those two elements of writing are never completely separable, it’s often helpful to have assignments that focus on one more than the other.
I’m not sure that students are ever given much of an opportunity to learn to present or to PowerPoint in this way, to “PowerPoint what they know.” Would this be helpful as a freshman year assignment in some type of intro course? (I’m of the mind, by the way, that all freshmen should be taking a required media literacy course in their freshmen years… this would fit perfectly in that class).
I once worked with a freshmen class that used PowerPoint to create documentaries about their families, with embedded movies, audio interviews, and images. The goal of the assignment was to get students to break out of the PowerPoint box, and to get them to construct a narrative through the medium. The only rules were no clip art and no gratuitous animation. I gave them a workshop on PowerPoint, helped them storyboard their presentations, and then assisted them with the programming. Finally, they showed their work to the class. This assignment was a successful way for them to master the software and develop their voices at the same time, with the added bonus of creating community in the classroom through the sharing of personal information.
All of what I’ve written above is just prelude to the PowerPoint slides included below, which are examples of the more serious work that some Baruch students might produce if we give them the chance to PowerPoint what they know. Click on the image to read it.
(Slides taken from here, with a warning that readers not of the hip-hop nation may be offended).
I know PowerPoint is not the most popular kid on the block these days. Without sounding too much like a conservative talking about gun control, I have to confess that I’m a firm believer that PowerPoint itself is not inherently evil, but people tend to use it in primarily evil ways. While attending the workshop on Technology and Media at Friday’s CUNY Writing Fellows meeting, it was clear that has the potential to engage students in the classroom using visual media. However, most of us are still struggling to come up with creative ways of using it which do not impose an artificially linear structure to classroom discussions and stifle students’ ability and willingness to communicate their ideas and think critically about the material.
Although I am still one of those people who are constantly trying to come up with better uses of PowerPoint in the classroom, I thought I would share one way I’ve used PowerPoint in class that tends to promote engagement, discussion, and debate among students without feeling imposing. It’s also fun!
This is Jeopardy! That’s right, the popular game show format (along with many others) has been creatively employed in PowerPoint presentations using slide links and transitions. There are several templates available online (just Google “PowerPoint Jeopardy”). Ethics Jeopardy is one version I’ve created and used several times in a graduate level seminar on research ethics (although I’ve also used it in undergrad classes in social psychology and statistics). I usually start by splitting the class into two or three teams. One team picks first and gets to respond to whatever question (answer) they pick. If that team does not provide an adequate response, the other team can steal the points away. I usually give the teams a few minutes to talk amongst themselves before they respond. Once we’re done discussing the first item, the next team gets to pick a category. As you can see, the items do not have right or wrong answers, and are constructed to promote discussion, debate, and critical engagement with the material. PowerPoint allows for audio and visual clues to be included, and this is especially fun to do with Daily Doubles. My favorite is the Debate Daily Double, which requires the teams to take contrasting positions on an issue and spend some time going back and forth on a critical issue. Final Jeopardy can also be used as great prompt for some low-stakes, in-class writing activities. Generally, the game show format, although it seems quite corny, creates a low-stakes atmosphere and I often find students who do not normally participate taking more active roles in the discussion. It’s also great for exam review.
In my opinion, this is just one way in which PowerPoint and other presentation software packages can be employed in useful, engaging, creative, and fun ways. I definitely agree that PowerPoint is dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands, but I’m not ready to give up on it as a potentially useful teaching tool. I’d love to hear others’ thoughts and examples of creative uses of PowerPoint in the classroom.
A lightbulb went on in my head in the last couple of weeks. In May and June I have had the opportunity to work with students in the capstone course for the Healthcare MBA that Baruch sponsors with Mt. Sinai Hospitals. They were required in groups of three to develop and submit a business plan which they would then present to “juries” playing the role of venture capitalists, bank loan officers, or hospital board of directors. It was my job to videotape a dress rehearsal with them, offer my suggestions from the perspective of communication style, and then watch the videotape with them. I have done a very similar version of this with undergraduate senior-level Business Policy students for two years. It has always seemed like a useful process to me, and I have always been convinced that it benefited the students.
However, I think I made connections between my own academic work and the work with MBA students this spring and a few things clicked into place more clearly. I don’t know how long I’ve told students, “writing is a process.” (Imagine you are hearing that mantra from an annoying professor, battered at you in a sing-song-y voice.) But I think it sunk in a little further for me. After watching 11 groups of successful medical professionals present solid Powerpoint presentations, that nonetheless still needed revision, and watching them watch themselves on video, the light went on. Prior to this they had already submitted the paper versions of their business plans, and felt well prepared. But in addition to the videotape making clear the various nervous tics they had while speaking, or that they engaged the slide screen far more than they did the audience, it also helped them see the entire scope of their presentation, how well its various parts fit together, and where they needed to change the emphasis. They could clearly see if their argument needed bolstering with evidence in some areas, or increased clarity in others.
Watching them, I realized that the only way their presentations could make it to the ‘next level’ so to speak, was by going through this final review and revision process. Not only that, for these students especially, I was truly more of a coach and facilitator than anything else. It was a combination of my experience, their experience, the videocamera, and their own critical review of themselves, that really made the process worthwhile. I wouldn’t say they didn’t need me, but it was the process and the assemblage of them, me, the camera, and the review, that was essential.
This spring, the New York Times offers a series of blogs written by students graduating in the class of 2007: The Graduates, Eight College Seniors Face the Future. I actually haven’t read many, because facing what I assume will be the optimism of new graduates feels a bit unmanageable in the face of my own struggles to make it in the real world! 
However, yesterday’s post by Juliet Moser addresses something we all attend to when working with students. The question of praise. She responds to an article in the Wall Street Journal “The Most Praised Generation Goes to Work.” I can’t read the WSJ article, since it is not free online and the internet is my sole source of news, but her discussion and readers’ comments to her blog are worth reading. Are students today more narcissistic? Do they demand more praise?
As a CUNY Writing Fellow, I recall learning a method for responding to student writing: First, tell the student what you see happening in their work, in a neutral fashion; second, comment on what they do well; and third, propose a question that will help the student make improvements in their work or think about it more deeply. I wonder, is this instruction to fellows (and faculty) at least partially aimed at offering positive critique that won’t damage students’ self-esteem or stir up their defenses? I actually do think it’s a useful technique for responding to student writing. Commenting on student presentations can be a bit more difficult though, because there are a lot of “no-no’s.” I find myself saying: “Don’t cross your legs, don’t hold your arms, don’t lean on the furniture,” along with other positive commands such as “Stand up straight, Project your voice, or Look at the audience!”
In the two years I have worked with students at BLSCI, I have started to think the Mary Poppins school of teaspoon-full-of-sugar-making-the-medecine-go-down, is not a bad pedagogical strategy. I find myself framing my comments to students in terms of what I know they are doing well, and how they can improve their presentation further. I think of my sister, training two new puppies, and how much positive reinforcement in the form of praise (and Cheerios) shapes their behavior. Some time ago, one of the most e-mailed articles from the Times was from the Modern Love section “What Shamu Taught Me About A Happy Marriage” by Amy Sutherland who, in studying animal trainers, learned a new technique for dealing with some of her husband’s behavioral quirks that irritated her most. She began to ignore his negative behavior and reward the positive. I would say there are things students need to be told not to do. But I wonder, are students today more sensitive to criticism? What about cross-cultural differences? In sum, what are good strategies for responding to student presentations today?
Just recently, each of us at the Communication Institute has been granted a copy of Edward Tufte’s slim and visually appealing manifesto against PowerPoint, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within. [PowerPoint from here on out is referred to as PP.] I am about three-quarters of the way through this nifty subway read, and so far find it thought-provoking as anything. Although one of his main complaints is that PP dumbs down detailed and dense arguments, he himself does a nice job of making a pretty strong argument in thirty-one 8 1/2 X 11 pages. I am in the process of compiling my list of Agreements/Disagreements, and I promise not to publish them later here in bullet format.
It is particularly interesting to think about his argument in light of the work that those of us who support communication intensive Business Policy Courses do. We work with students who are required to incorporate a PP presentation into their final analysis of a company’s strategies, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and position in the industry. I expect to write more on how I think Tufte’s problems with the so-called ‘cognitive style’ of PP relate to our work with students. But in the meantime, check out these nifty links:
PowerPoint Remix
Learning to Love PowerPoint
PowerPoint Is Evil
Mikhail’s post about the ability of a blog to provide static and interactive content in the same post, complete with a playable Space Invaders, reminded me of a photo I saw recently on a favorite site.
That’s as good an introduction as I’m going to get to discuss knitting in academic settings. Some may find it rude when someone is knitting while listening to a keynote speaker at a conference, or to a lecture in a large class. Most knitters (and crocheters, too) find that working on a simple pattern helps them focus on what they’re listening to, rather than distracting them. I find it particularly useful to knit or crochet when I’m listening to something that doesn’t have a visual element, because my eyes don’t wander in search of something to focus on, which would in turn distract me from listening. Others find doodling helpful to occupy themselves visually while they focus on listening. We acknowledge the benefit of white noise to drown out ambient noise when we need to focus. If we occupy our ears with the sound of a fan, for instance, when we need to concentrate visually, why not focus our eyes and hands on something when we need to concentrate aurally? These posts on knitting and public politics and knitting in class provide interesting insights to the issue, as well as readers’ reactions.
I suppose the other message of my post is to encourage speakers to incorporate visuals into their presentations such that the audience becomes engaged both aurally and visually. I have just received a copy of Edward R. Tufte’s The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within and am encouraged that PowerPoint might, in skilled hands, be reclaimed as a tool for visually engaging listeners.
I just came across an interesting article by Cliff Atkinson in the March 1, 2005 issue of Executive Travel. In “Beyond Bullet Points: How to unlock the story buried in your PowerPoint,” Atkinson describes an important point of convergence between the Humanities and the Business World.
The problem with bullet points and slide headings, says Atkinson, is that they typically do nothing more than establish dry, lifeless categories of information. What is usually missing is a story, something “juicy, coherent and full of life.” Hence, “some of the world’s largest organizations have adopted the word ’story’ as their new mantra for corporate communictions.”
Atkinson cites Aristotle in his definition of ”story”: it should include “action, a plot, central characters,” and even “visual effects.” He adds that classical notions of rhetorical persuasion should also play a part in the formulation of presentations. PowerPoint slides should thus articulate a story, an old-fashioned narrative incorporating ancient ideas of how to be persuasive.
Some interesting food for thought, I think, for those of us engaged in both Humanities and Business education in institutions like Baruch.
Jim Drogan initiated a conversation here, and because my response is long and I think including some links would be helpful I’m posting rather than adding another comment. I enjoyed reading through your ideas on visual communication Professor Drogan. It encouraged me to read a little about pattern recognition in various places online, and to try and connect these thoughts with what we do at BLSCI.
My understanding of pattern recognition (which is pretty limited) is that it involves using statistical models to classify or categorize large amounts of information. I think the interesting thing about it is that the ‘meaning’ then comes from the pattern itself, not the individual pieces of information that are being communicated. Which seems like a useful way to deal with such massive amounts of information but also leads me to ask if we are then required to change our ideas of what effective communication is.
I think to some degree, yes. On the one hand, things like accuracy and clarity are still important. But effective visual communication probably can’t stop there, because more ‘affective’ qualities are what catch people’s attention amidst information overload. Of course, many times in our work with students, we are addressing pretty basic ways to improve communication. But many of them are still very affective and visual. Stand up straight, don’t swing your arm like that, use natural gestures. Or, don’t use yellow and red together in a Powerpoint slide–it hurts the viewers eyes! All these things serve to keep the audience’s attention.
If these more qualitative elements of communication have become increasingly important, I also think it suggests that talking about ethics is important. For instance, in your document, you use the image that BLSCI has incorporated into the invitation for the Symposium this Spring. When Mikhail first showed that image to us at the institute, we had a conversation about the fact that it was an image from the 1950s of all white men in suits standing around a desk. My first thought was ‘yikes!’ That is not particularly representative of the world these days, especially not Baruch and CUNY. But that was exactly his point, to use an image of ‘the old’ to raise the question of whether there might be “New Rules” and thus the need to debate “Convention and Change in Communication.”
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