basic introduction to using presentations to support teaching

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Basic Introduction to the use of Presentation Packages to support

teaching

James AthertonDecember 2011

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ProblemStrategyDesign

One issue students have with any

lengthy lecture is keeping track of

the overall argument

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Yes, I know lengthy lectures are undesirable,

but they do happen, so let’s mitigate their

downside.

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There are three topics in this

presentation: one word for each, and highlight the next one coming up...

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Presentation packages are too easy to use

Spawning new presentations costs only time But easier to write than revise

They confer spurious professionalism They can be plonked on the VLE So they are used without

thought

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thought

Just because the package makes a space for a title by

default, doesn’t mean you have to

use it.

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thought

Just because the package makes a space for a title by

default, doesn’t mean you have to

use it.

More about bullet points

later...

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ProblemStrategy

Design

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Using slides sends, “I am prepared”

Basically teacher-centred

Everything you do in the classroom

sends some message or other.

Presentation packages send

some of the clearest.

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Everything you do in the classroom

sends some message or other.

Presentation packages send

some of the clearest.

Not necessarily

a bad thing!

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Whiteboard/flipchart/ smart board sends, “This is spontaneous”

Potentially more accessible to class

Flip-chart sheets can be kept and hung around room

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Whiteboard/flipchart/ smart board sends, “This is spontaneous”

Potentially more accessible to class

Flip-chart sheets can be kept and hung around room

So probably more suited to

promoting/supporting discussion

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On or Off the Rails?

Encourages you to cram in too much sheer information How often have you had too many slides and

gabbled through them to finish? And taking stuff out of (your) order is

clunky So can you be responsive to

student interest?

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student interest?

One of the big issues with

presentation packages: great

for a single sequential thread...

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student interest?

One of the big issues with

presentation packages: great

for a single sequential thread...

...but not well-suited to a branching topic or one which

can be approached from several angles

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On the other hand, who said you can only have one presentation

available at a time? Prepare different versions to support

different directions, and switch between them if necessary by using Alt+tab to cycle through

all open applications on the machine

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Epistemology

The default setting is the bullet point With limited scope for change Everything is reduced to a

succession of such points Isolated gobbets of knowledge,

which reinforce surface learning And the lower reaches of the SOLO

taxonomy (Biggs and Collis, 1982)

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Epistemology





Philosophical label for the

theory of knowledge.

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Epistemology





The basic question is, “What kind of knowledge

transmission does a presentation package

promote?” when...

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Edward Tufte sees PowerPoint as

tyrannical, imposing its own repressive

order on everything it touches

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint



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Parallel or Complementary?

The slide says the same as you are saying. It reinforces the message and

introduces redundancy makes it easier for students to

make notes but it can be dull (“death by

PowerPoint”)

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The slide says the same as you are saying. It reinforces the message and

introduces redundancy makes it easier for students to

make notes but it can be dull (“death by

PowerPoint”)

Two basic strategies of how

the visual presentation can

relate to the verbal.

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the same Reinforces: introduces

redundancy Easier for notesdull (“death by PowerPoint”)

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But why so wordy on the previous

slide?

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But why so wordy on the previous

slide?

16 words instead of 36; punchier, quicker to read, less distraction, but same

content

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Redundancy 1

Like a rope twists together manystrands to gain strengthredundant communicationreinforces the

messagewith back-ups

and patterning

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Redundancy 2

Like a rope twists together manystrands to gain strengthredundant communicationreinforces the


and patterning

But this bit is redundant (in the

other sense), when you are explaining it

verbally, too...

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Redundancy 1

redundant communicationreinforces


and patterning

So cut it out!

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Counterpoint: diagrams, quotes, references,

illustrations

Distracting? if you leave it on if graphics attract attention to

themselves


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illustrations

Distracting? if you leave it on if graphics too obtrusive


Despite what some business-oriented design gurus say,

you do not want a presentation to attract

attention in itself.

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illustrations

Distracting? if you leave it on if graphics too obtrusive


It’s a means of getting at the content; it’s a

window you look through, not a picture

you look at.

Despite what some business-oriented design gurus say,

you do not want a presentation to attract

attention in itself.

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Would a picture of a window on this slide help, or not?

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Reading slides Except (perhaps) for quotations and

definitions, and meeting the needs of visually impaired students, if you are reading out what is on the slide, you are putting too much detail on the screen

Use the slide for headings and topics, not as a substitute for speaking and/or handouts

What is wrong with this slide?

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Using master layouts

Click with Shift

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Using master layouts

Click with Shift

Edit the master layout to apply a consistent style to all

your slides at once.

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Click with Shift

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Using master layoutsThis (top) slide is the master of the masters; modify that to alter all

subordinate layouts

What does this add?What does this add?

For teaching purposes and For teaching purposes and clarity?clarity?

What does this add?What does this add?

For teaching purposes and For teaching purposes and clarity?clarity?

The built in themes are obtrusive and distracting for teaching

purposes.

Or this one?Or this one?

How would you respond to an hour of this?How would you respond to an hour of this?

The animation will not show on SlideShare so you are spared that. Inexorable animation is

exhausting!



K.I.S.S.



Keep It Simple,

Stupid!

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Text 1

No more than 4 or 5 points per slide

The smallest legible point size is 18 point

Use simple fonts: sans serif rather than serif Serif fonts are the ones with the little

twiddley bits on them. It makes them easier to read as body text on a page, but not on the screen.

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Text 2

No more than 4 or 5 points per slide

The smallest legible point size is 18 point

Use simple fonts: sans serif rather than serif Serif fonts are the ones with the little

twiddley bits on them. It makes them easier to read as body text on a page, but not on the screen.

One designer recommends no

more than seven words per slide. But design is the servant

of content for our purposes

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Typefaces

Go for an open, sans serif typeface (Arial)

A good workhorse

face

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Typefaces


Go for an open, sans serif typeface (Arial Narrow)

Very easily looks cramped

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Typefaces



Go for an open, sans serif typeface (Verdana)

Lower and wider; a good choice

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Typefaces




Go for an open, sans serif typeface (Times New Roman)

Used to be the default in older versions of PPt, if

you do want a serif face, there are better choices,

such as Georgia

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Typefaces




Go for an open, sans serif typeface (Times New Roman)

Go for an open, sans serif typeface (Comic Sans)

Generally agreed to be the one to avoid! But some

people with dyslexia like it.

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Text 2 No more than 5 or 6 points per slide The smallest legible point size is 18 points Use simple fonts: sans serif rather than

serif

USE UPPER AND LOWER CASE, NOT CAPITALS THROUGHOUT it preserves the shape of the words

If you are building up an argument over several slides, you can keep previous points in mind with

small recaps.

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Graphics 1

Slides are great for graphics

When relevant, and not merely

distracting



distracting

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Graphics 2



distracting



distracting

There are very few images in this

presentation; I think they need to earn their

keep, and clip art in particular rarely does.

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Graphics to organise content

Use graphics to map out your content

When touse

Timing

Complementaryand parallel

Practice

Strategy

Reveals

Using OHTs

Interactivity

Text

Design

Graphics

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SWOT analysis

Social

Attention

Feedback

Complementarity

Tracking

Lectures21/06/2005 - v2

To you

To them

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SWOT analysis

Social

Attention

Feedback

Complementarity

Tracking

Lectures21/06/2005 - v2

To you

To them

Or you can use a mind-map or similar, colouring branches

progressively to show what has been covered, and return to it as

you proceed through the teaching—even week by week.

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A really simple summing up via the original key-

words

basic introduction to using presentations to support teaching

Technology

use of presentation

presentation available

bullet points

default setting

problem strategy design

issue students

new presentations costs

lower reaches