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PPT (Power Point Presentation) - v/s Whiteboard Teaching

Training sessions are being customized to suit the needs of the participants. This is evident in how training has witnessed the change from white board teaching to modern innovative teaching. But, the debate still continues over the traditional approach of classroom training and modern use of method training, as both have their own merits to look at.

White Board could be considered outdated for the present scenario but we cannot overlook its advantages. It supports the session where the trainer would like to initiate discussion on a topic. It enables him to jot down the important points of discussion on the board, which helps him to come out with the conclusions at the end of the session. It would be used to explain concepts in a much better way when compared to oral explanation.

Benefits of white board Teaching:

Synthesis of information Facilitates spontaneity It induces dialogue between the speaker and the participants Make participants more engaged and focussed during a discussion or brainstorming Low Tech-can be easily mastered and used in any environment Allows for display of the main points-Critical issues right through session In a discussion, views and opinions elicited from the participants can easily be collected and

referred to throughout the session.

The modern version of the white board is -PPT. PPT makes learning more interesting and captivating for the participants. It’s a combination of audio, video and graphics etc. The message here is conveyed with more clarity and at the same time leaving a lasting impression in the minds of participants, thereby, retaining it for a longer period of time.

But the problem lies when session is run merely on the slides. It creates an atmosphere of one sided learning. A good training session should be one which imparts knowledge as well as creates an interactive session through discussions. An ideal scenario should be the combination of the use of both PPT (to make learning interesting) and white board (to enable discussions).

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Tips for Improving PPT (Power Point Presentation)-

PPT aids in conveying the message with more clarity to the participants. Presenting the PPT without any proper flow would leave the participants in a confused state missing out the message completely. When properly structured it enables the participants to connect more readily. Following tips would come handy before you are all set to run a PPT-

The first and fore most important point that needs to be taken care- is to limit the number of slides. Too many slides would not capture the attention of the participants.

Write down on a paper what points you wish to cover in the session before you actually start preparing for the PPT.

Don’t dump everything in the slides. Always limit yourself to the main headings which later needs to be explained in detail in the class.

Avoid writing paragraphs. It’s advisable to use bullet points or short sentences .It’s easy for the participants to read and retain it.

Make sure that the design of the PPT is very formal. Avoid using bright flashy colours and too much of graphics. The font, text should be readable and the alignment should be uniform throughout the PPT.

Use a video or an audio in between to illustrate an example or process. This would bring back the attention of the participants

Use of image creates a good impression but it should not be used on each and every slide making it look cumbersome.

Graphs and charts can be used to explain the numbers which needs to be highlighted to make the participants understand better.

Apart from these tips, the presenter should mind that PPT conveys only half the message until it is coupled with detailed explanation and further discussion on the topic. Mere presenting the PPT would never create a learning atmosphere.