Another professor joins the Teach Naked movement.
… [John] Kilbourne said he was asked about his use of technology, especially PowerPoint, when he applied for the job at Grand Valley. While not his first choice for lectures, he promised to be open-minded and give it a shot, converting most of his lectures to the program.
“At the start of my first semester I stayed true to my use of markers and board for the first few weeks of class. The students, like those from my previous college, seemed alive and attentive.
“When we got to Rome and the Gladiatorial Games I started using my PowerPoint slides. From almost the first slide I felt uncomfortable with this approach to teaching and learning and was made even more uncomfortable as I experienced the disquiet and anxiety of the students.
“Because the lights were now turned down and the room was darker I could no longer see interest in the students’ faces and as a result could not query them with a question or thought.”
During his third lecture, a student asked him to go back to his old style, using the board.
“I liked your lectures when you used the markers and board. It seems that every professor is using PowerPoint,” the student told him. “How do they expect us to read the notes, write them down, and think about the information all at the same time? I do not like PowerPoint.”
“Awestruck, I asked the class how many of them felt the same? Nearly every hand went high into the air.
“Following their near unanimous response I removed the disc from the computer and swore to them that I would never lecture with PowerPoint again. I followed my promise by leading a discussion with the class about effective teaching and learning, and PowerPoint.”
Kilbourne said students felt as though too often they were simply copying information to be memorized for regurgitation later on an exam.
… Kilbourne [has] had “Teach Naked” T-shirts made up to promote the movement…
September 6th, 2009 at 3:00PM
My problem with this is that a technology, powerpoint, is being confused with poor use of that technology.
I use powerpoint:
I never turn the lights off
I use it for images or extended quotes I want to talk about, just as I once would have used a slide
I do not use it to deliver information
I frequently write straight on to powerpoint if students ask me for a citation or something similar, just as I would have written on a black board.
I do agree it is often used incredibly badly, but it doesn’t have to be.
September 6th, 2009 at 3:19PM
Agreed absolutely, Farah. But you are the exception in the use of this technology, if the overwhelming reactions of university students here and abroad are anything to go by. I think left to their own devices many professors will continue to use — misuse — this technology. But I also think that student protest is growing louder every year, and this, if nothing else, will either move professors toward using the technology sparingly and responsibly, or – if professors stick to their lazy ways – will eventually doom the technology itself.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:08PM
You might enjoy this example of the art of the presentation.