From the Stanford Daily:
In a recent Bio 43 lecture, the following equation appeared at the bottom of a PowerPoint slide explaining “Offspring Genotype Frequencies”: Q’=1/2*2PQ+2PR+(1/2)Q2+(1/2)2QR=2(P+1/2Q)(R+1/2Q)=2pq. As the professor waved his laser pointer around and explained the slide, filled with variables and other equations, I took a look around to see if other students were as unengaged as I was. A roomful of blank stares, tapping pencils and busy Facebook checkers indicated that very few of us were processing or benefiting from anything the professor was saying. By the time I tuned back into the prof, the next slide was up, this one filled with more charts and equations.
I thought to myself, “It’s cool, the lecture will be posted on Coursework, and I can look through it later.” Upon further reflection, I decided it wasn’t cool at all. What is the point of sitting in Hewlett for an hour when I’ll have to go over it all by myself later? Lecture should be a time of quality explanation of concepts, and out-of-class work should be for re-familiarization of those concepts. Something tells me that, not long ago, this was how things worked at college. But this isn’t how it works anymore, and I think this is largely the fault of professors’ dependency on PowerPoint. So far this year, I have taken the following classes that used PowerPoint as the primary lecture tool: Advanced French Grammar, Chem 31A and B and Bio 43. All of these classes, however, require writing and derivations that simply cannot be presented effectively on a slide. When a prof takes the time to write on a board, students are able to visualize the logic of equations and the structure of sentences. It also forces the class to move at a pace conducive to note taking.
Lectures that don’t depend on PowerPoint are typically more engaging, as well. I hear that Robert Sapolsky just gets up and talks during his Human Behavior Biology class — sans PowerPoint — and that’s supposed to be one of the most interesting classes on campus! In my own class schedule, I have encountered very few professors who either 1) don’t use PowerPoint or 2) use it effectively. Only Econ 50 with Ran Abramitzky gives me hope that some profs can overcome PowerPointlessness. He used a tablet laptop, and his slides contained a title and some x and y axes. Then he filled everything in as he spoke.
My observation is that professors who use PowerPoint tend to load a lot of text and graphs onto their slides, post the slides on Coursework and call that a lecture. I ask you, fellow students, to not settle for such half-ass teaching. There is something you can do, and that is give feedback. Shoot a quick email to your prof or head Teaching Assistant and mention that you would appreciate on-the-board explanations. Mention these issues in your end-of-quarter evaluations. Our professors are certainly capable of teaching in different ways — they just have to know the demand is there. I sent one email to the head Bio 43 TA, and, the next day, the professor mentioned in class, “I know that these equations don’t mean much to you like this on the slide, but go home and practice and you’ll get it.” Obviously that wasn’t the response I was looking for, but it was a start. What if more people sent emails and spoke up? Save Stanford from the infectious PowerPoint trend. Otherwise, you’re being gypped of time, money and respect.
AUX ARMES, CITOYENS!
[And don't miss the How I Write streaming video: click under Sapolsky's picture at the left of the screen.]
May 14th, 2008 at 2:00PM
I keep feeling that I need to know in a comprehensive way just how many professors are using PowerPoint routinely, across a range of institutions. I’ll read something like this and think, "Is it really true that at Stanford, most classes are heavily reliant on PowerPoint?" Is it just sciences and economics? Everybody? I mistrust student representations a bit, because they tend to casually generalize from the worst experience they’ve had. But maybe I’m the one doing that when I think that poor or rote usage of PowerPoint in courses at highly selective institutions isn’t common.
From another angle, though, I’m not sure that the PowerPoint pedagogy described above is radically different from what some faculty in large (150+) lecture classes have done for generations now. A droning bore teaching rote memorization is a droning bore teaching rote memorization, whether they scrawl it on the board in real-time or speed-flash through some slides. The only thing the PowerPoint version of force-fed lectures does is raise the truly pertinent question that the student asks: namely, why am I bothering to come here and listen to this? Why not just send me lecture notes or the slides, and leave me to puzzle them out as I will?
May 14th, 2008 at 2:01PM
(Sapolsky’s Primate’s Memoir, btw, is a very good book. I think you’d enjoy it. I had a very good experience teaching it this past fall.)
May 14th, 2008 at 8:49PM
I’m studying geology in a small department at a state school. Most of our professors use power point well. Part of it may be the subject matter, since earth science concepts are often presented best by illustrations and PP is a good way to present photos, graphs, and cartoons. Equations, definitions, and other concepts best presented as text are usually provided as handouts. Many instructors make their PP presentations available on the web before the lecture, in a format that puts images on one column of a page and ruled space for taking notes on the other side. It’s very helpful to be able to take notes alongside the images.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:53PM
The other interesting PP usage is that all majors classes, undergraduate and graduate, require at least one student presentation each semester. PP isn’t required but most students use it, and get critiqued on the effectiveness of their presentations. So we students actually learn how to do engaging PP presentations here.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:55PM
Do you really think these people were good lecturers before Powerpoint? Don’t give technology an agency it does not possess.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:29PM
I agree with Westen Dave. I had a professor for two quarters who used Powerpoint fairly effectively for music theory, especially to give aural examples. This quarter I have a different professor for the same class who doesn’t use powerpoint at all, only an overhead projector to demonstrate analysis, and his lectures are completely ineffective.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:41AM
I also agree with Dave. At school I recall one, maybe two, inspiring teachers. They made it look effortless.
And this isn’t limited to education. I’ve attended dozens of conferences and seen too many presentations. The best presenters invariably have fewer slides. This isn’t because fewer slides meant better presentations but rather because better presenters required fewer slides.
November 11th, 2008 at 9:13AM
Thank you for these comments. I have recently returned to grad school for an MPH after 13 years of teaching & doing "other things" with my PhD. Suddenly, as a student, I am immersed in the world of Power Point. Your description of this fearsome landscape is accurate. It’s disturbing. The young people around me are literally asleep; on their laptops (quite visible)they are playing solitaire or flirting via email. Some are texting. I myself feel ripped off: Absolutely, if this is already online, why am i even in your class? The dynamic nature of true teaching is gone. When necessary examples deviate from the equations posted on the screen (in, say, Epidemiology or Stats), they are talked ABOUT. The professor does not budge from the clicker-ready podium. We have to, ah, imagine? the equations. In the air. Pretty useless!
I myself have found that I listen and attend much better if i do NOT have the Power Point printout with me already. I look at it beforehand to "prep" my mind for the lecture–but I engage myself by scribbling furiously during the lecture. This in turn prompts me to formulate questions for clarification & I am very involved in class. Other Ss appear to be asleep at the switch. I am convinced that hand activity is crucial to comprehension. something about engaging the brain thru writing . . .
When I give my own required PP presentations, I use the screen as a true visual, not a script. I have also attended professional presentations that do the same–they too tend to use the visual as such, posting graphs, photos, brief quotes, and so forth, to bolster their own talking points, but not displaying an exact script from which the presenter reads. Ugh to that.
As a teacher I am concerned about what has happened in the past ten years, turning true interactive dynamic teaching into this drivel. I am so upset at being spoon-fed this garbage that I am seriously considering transferring to an online MPH program. Why not? I hear I’ll get more attention that way.