In TJ's post about PowerPoints being used in yesterday's class presentations, he complained that it was not an effective tool for teaching/learning information. I have to disagree. With specific reference to my history class this semester, PowerPoints are the only way I am able to follow the instructor. Without an outlined plan of how the lesson is being taught, it's much harder to understand how everything fits together.
I don't mean to say that TJ's presentation was bad, but as another example, it was harder to follow than when the presenter visually showed me where he was going. Good speakers can still receive good feedback and understanding from the audience without a PowerPoint, but there is certainly nothing wrong with an supplementary visual to help present information.
Which leads me to another important factor that is easily forgotten—the contents of the slideshow matter! If you type out everything in paragraph form and read to the audience, we would consider that a bad presentation. Matt spread his points across multiple slides so that we could enjoy an amusing picture while he explained his research. And as far as students taking notes from PowerPoints, that's not the presenters fault! I find myself takes less meaningful notes without a PowerPoint, especially when the teacher often gives completely useless information that's hard to distinguish from the important stuff when taking notes. (cough-cough: history again...)
Lastly, please understand that I didn't hate TJ's presentation, I simply felt the need to explain why I will be showing an accompanying slideshow during my presentation tomorrow. It's not cliche, it's simple and practical
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