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My university has hired an outside training firm to come in and teach us how
to pop in video streams, etc., to make our PowerPoints really a nice
multimedia show. Ultimately, life is theatre and certainly teaching as a
profession requires showpersonship. That is, McLuhan
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/02/home/mcluhan-obit.html was on the
money in saying the "medium is the message." How you say what you are
saying becomes what you are saying in many ways.
Hey try this:
Open PowerPoint 2000, create a new slide, click FORMAT, then BACKGROUND,
then on the left you have two BACKGROUND FILL boxes click on the slide to
open the menu for the smaller of the two (the one below the larger box),
click on FILL EFFECTS, then GRADIENT EFFECT, for colors (to make it easier)
click PRESET, then click DIAGONAL DOWN, then click on the VARIANT in the
lower left quadrant, then click OK, then click APPLY.
If this took you to parts of the software you've not been to, then you
should realize that you have a lot of ways to make your PowerPoints more
intriguing that you are not leveraging. Hey, you can take your students to
the same places. That is require that THEY each pop in a photograph, the
national anthem, a BACKGROUND FILL effect and so on. That is, prepare them
to make less humdrum PowerPoint presentations when they venture in the
corporate universe.
What's your reaction? (Post to mg-ed-dv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu , of course)
Charles Wankel
mg-ed-dv discussion fomenter
wankelc@stjohns.edu

P.S.: Ken we Mg-Ed-Dv-ers should all come visit you sometime in Norway. I
bet it is beautiful.

From: Rajeev K Bali [mailto:r.bali@coventry.ac.uk]

Dear All

I teach my students presentation skills and I admit to using PowerPoint (AA
tell us that the first step is to admit that you have a problem!). Anyhow,
when my students come to deliver their own presentations, I deliberately
choose a classroom which does not have such facilities, forcing them to use
the "old" projection units.

As I tell them, you need to become expert in this medium first and then, and
only then, progress to PowerPoint etc. Learn to walk first, then attempt to
run. An interesting thing to do is to turn the OHP off, turn it round, flip
the bulb to the off position, turn down the visor etc just to see what
students do. You'll be amazed how many of them seem to have no idea.

Also, OHPs offers them a contingency plan- what if the PowerPoint
presentation fails? What if the laptop breaks down? What if...etc, etc.?

Rather than face a potentially embarrassing situation, be prepared! - have
black and white backups always. This has come in useful to me twice now
(once in a conference) - students also need be prepared.

Another caveat - students are tempted to use the "helpful" Carnegie-approved
templates which come bundled with later versions of Powerpoint - Urgh! You
can spot these a mile off.

In conclusion then, if used properly, PP can be an extremely useful tool.
If abused, then it can distract the audience from the key points of the
presentation. YOU need be in control of the resources, not vice versa.

This has been just one guy's opinion.

Regards.

Raj Bali
========

Dr Rajeev K Bali
Course Tutor,
MSc E-Commerce & MBA (IT)
Coventry University, UK
e: r.bali@coventry.ac.uk
w: www.mis.coventry.ac.uk/~rajeev

From: Mitchell Adrian [mailto:madrian@longwood.lwc.edu]

I tend to be a bit more optimistic about the use of PowerPoint as an
in-class tool but I do admit that it is commonly misused (even by me).

I've found that it does involve a unique "Catch 22." If I don't use
PowerPoint then students are likely to complain that I don't utilize our
technology. If I use PowerPoint but don't use it properly, students are
likely to complain. It seems that they do want the "eye candy," but don't
want it to be a "teaching crutch."

I think of PowerPoint just I think of the old "overhead slides" so it
really isn't that new as a tool. My greatest use of it at the moment is as
something I call "eye candy." As "eye candy" in a presentation it as a
supplement, not used as the primary teaching tool. After much thought,
I've come to believe that all our e-media technology will not truly replace
the classroom as our primary tool for education. We are social creatures
and we usually want to see and interact with people as part of our learning
process. The classroom should be about faculty/student and
student/student interactions.

However, display tools can be used to reinforce important subjects. If I
pose a question to the class and have them discuss among themselves, I like
to also post the question on the screen. (I could just write it on the
board, but PowerPoint is faster, easier to read, and gives students a
stronger impression that I was prepared - hey this is important in the
world of student evaluations!). Important subjects can be reinforced by
bringing attention to them (flash the word on the screen) and they can be
reinforced by bringing attention away from them (present a bit of humor or
video related to the issue).

I don't know that the proper use of "eye candy" really helps students to
understand the topic, but I've found that is does help them to remember the
material discussed.


Mitchell Adrian
Associate Professor of Management
Longwood College
201 High St.
Farmville, VA 23909
(804) 395-2832
(804) 395-2203 - Fax
http://web.lwc.edu/staff/madrian/adrhome.htm

From: Steve Harper [mailto:steve.harper@pragmatek.com]

Hi All,

I am an enthusiastic user of PowerPoint, but fully confer with the points
made -- it needs to be used carefully to enhance rather than overwhelm or
obscure the messages you are trying to get across. Properly used, the
graphical power of PP can bring about understanding of your basic points in
ways that words simply cannot. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is
more than just a trite truism. I work in the technology sector and find
that explaining technology to senior executives using pictures and graphs
is frequently more effective than trying to do it simply with words and
TLA's (three letter acronyms).

As others have said, the tool itself is not the issue. Any tool -- black
and white transparencies, paper and ink, oil paints on canvas -- can be
used to communicate effectively or communicate ineffectively. As Ansel
Adams once said "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy
concept."

Steve Harper
Sr. Consultant
PRAGMATEK Consulting Group, Ltd.
steve.harper@pragmatek.com
"Success is the Only Option"

From: Conna Condon [mailto:gandolf@cyberverse.com]

Thanks Adrian for bringing up that PowerPoint is only the delivery
mechanism.

Years ago I had to turn my back to students to write on a board in order to
display what they needed to see.

Overhead projectors helped, and I took a course in the right way to create
vugraphs/transparencies. Font size, color, balance, bullets, etc. This
was a vast improvement over my board writing in deliverying my message. I
never ran out of space any more or had to cram thoughts together or
determine what could be erased. And, they could have copies.

Along come data projectors and the delivery mechanism has improved, allowing
the quality of the product delivered to be improved.

However, key point, it is still my content. My facilitation. The data
projector is only the delivery mechanism. It does not teach, cannot teach.

I would much rather be in a classroom with a data projector and a faculty
person using it and their wisdoms than in one with movies showing all night
and the faculty person is mentally not there at all.

IMHO
Conna Condon [mailto:gandolf@cyberverse.com]

From: Jay Warner [mailto:quality@a2q.com]

Some folks around Wash. DC., USA call them PowerPoint jockeys. Fantastic
slide
show, maybe good meeting, all to hide lack of content. What does your
audience
want?

Guess I'm out of sync. I agree with Tufte - the information to ink ratio
should be
high.

Jay Warner
Principal Scientist
Warner Consulting, Inc.
4444 North Green Bay Road
Racine, WI 53404-1216
USA

Ph: (262) 634-9100
FAX: (262) 681-1133
email: quality@a2q.com
web: http://www.a2q.com

The A2Q Method (tm) -- What do you want to improve today?