Day 9: Powerpointlessness

Everyone has experienced the senseless use of powerpoint presentations.  I have definitely seen powerpoint presentations with all the bells and whistles but with very little substance to them. Reading this article brought to mind a project on the topic of Human Rights that a group of English 11 students were required to present during my volunteer experience.  Most of the presentations were very unorganized, without discernible purpose to them, yet very fancy in terms of design, photographs, and sound effects.  The students presented by reading right out of the slides, since all the information was right in front of them in bullet form, copied and pasted right out of the web.  This forced me to try to read and listen simultaneously, making the presentations hard to follow and the ideas presented incoherent. 

These are the kinds of presentations that Brown cautions us against, urging us to train our students to use powerpoint effectively and with purpose. Training students to first research a topic, then organize their ideas appropriately, and finally use powerpoint in order to enhance and aid their presentations is an excellent idea.  This can be a tool for enhancing their learning as well, since collecting and organizing information in a meaningful way may help them develop a thorough understanding about their topic.