Powerpoint... Now there's a term that practically everyone would know. But what about the potential that it has for classroom learning?
Many people (myself included before commencing the eLearning course) think of powerpoint as a way of presenting information to aid a presentation. Ok so it can be used in this way, but wait....it can do much, much more.
Forget static boring presentations with powerpoint, you can create interactive powerpoints.
There is nothing worse (my opinion here guys so you can totally disagree if you want) with sitting through a boring presentation where a person is speaking and there is a powerpoint in the background but it's static and nothing interactive or interesting is happening. So sometimes this may be an effective way of transferring information, but it doesn't require the viewer to think much nor does it give the person much of an opportunity to apply their own ways of thinking to the information/konwledge they are acquiring. Where's the constructivist learning?
I must admit that I have seen a few presentations on powerpoint, that if you asked me what they were about I would not be able to remember, they just did not hold my attention. Was the learning then effective?
On the other hand using powerpoint in an interactive way can be very effective. For example you could create a powerpoint (interactive) that allows the viewer to click on items in the slide that take them to different slides depending on what they are interested on learning about. That way you give the learner the control and allow constructivist learning to take place. Keeping in mind that for learning to be constructed the knowledge learnt is not a mere transferrence of facts (Mergel, 1998).
Other interesting things that you could use powerpoint for that are not boring:
- Powerpoint can be used as an assessment item. You could create a click and drag on your powerpoint and have your learner show you what they know about something. This could be tied into a science topic of classifying the learners would be able to classify items on the screen. This is a great way to assess lower and possibly higher order levels of thinking.
- It can be used to create mind-maps. Concept mapping is a great thing for learners to be completing and has many advantages for learners. See an earlier post on concept-mapping for a list of advantages. Cognitive learning benefits a lot from this kind of task (Lein, n.d)
- The powerpoint slides can be saved as jpeg files and imported into windows movie maker so your learners can create their own movie.
The list can go on. It's practically endless. But the main thing is that powerpoint has endless uses for the classroom. A bit of creativity and fiddling around and it's amazing what you can come up with. Powerpoint is a tool that all learning managers should be using in their classrooms.
References
Lein, K. (n.d). Elearning pedagogy. Retrieved from http://elearningpedagogy.com/index.htmlMergel, B. (1998). Instructional design & learning theory. Retrieved from http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm
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