teaching with PowerPoint

While Edward Tufte presents a logical argument for the analytical limitations surrounding use of PowerPoint in his text The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint:  Pitching Out Corrupts Within, there is room to further address the positive elements of using the tool in both business and classroom settings.

Tufte’s analysis of the NASA PowerPoints used to assess shuttle Columbia’s re-entry in 2003 illustrates the need for detailed documentation in order to develop a credible argument.  Agreed, but how often are PowerPoints used as the sole source of material in any teaching circumstance?  My experience with the tool has not been so limiting, and while any presenter has the power to manipulate and persuade with ambiguous phrasing, from my experience, just as many can use the tool to focus learners’ attention on a concept that is supplemented by other modes.

As a former teacher with a SmartBoard, an interactive tool that projects what is on a computer, but also allows users perform various actions by touching the screen, many of my lessons incorporated PowerPoints that posed questions for my students around points of focus.  For complex concepts, the PowerPoint provided a visual that helped students trace the ideas we were discussing.  Tufte asks “Exactly what is the presenter’s story?”–but is he considering the various roles of the presenters (or facilitators, just as likely) and the audience? 

As an instructional designer, a few months ago I prepared a workshop teaching managers how to utilize a computer program.  The two-day workshop was developed around a 100+ slide PowerPoint serving a variety of purposes (not strictly note-taking) that helped carry interactive learning.  Learners had a packet of materials that supplemented the PowerPoint as well as a copy of the slides with space for note-taking.  Is there a problem with using the tool as a delivery method? 

Once (that I can recall) I was on the receiving end of a presenter who used the PP as a complete crutch, reading line by line.  It is demeaning and ridiculous, but is this really the norm?  To avoid this, MSPowerPoint allows creators to enter notes to expand upon material they can discuss (rather than line by line delivery).

Also, Tufte uses the example of students who submit 6 slide PowerPoints with limited verbiage.  For a student who is nervous about presenting, slides can serve the purpose of keeping him/her on track. But is this necessarily the only product to be submitted?  Can’t the detailed documentation/write-up coincide? 

Many of Tufte’s points about the way we process verbiage on PowerPoints are valid, but there’s room to explore the true use of the tool and re-evaluate the roles of those receiving the information and those ”delivering” it.