Welcome to MSDN Blogs Sign in | Join | Help

For The Developers!

A blog by a Geek for Geeks

Syndication

PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool - It's Broken

Yup, I said it. PowerPoint as a teaching tool? It's broken. It's broken badly. And unfortunately, there is a good number of people out there who either don't realize it, or don't care.

First of all, thanks Seth Godin. Seth gave a presentation at GEL 2006 recently (link via PresentationZen, via Chris Sells), where he talked about things that are broken. He mentioned in the video that from now on out, we will start making the same observations and share with him one of his annoyances. Well, he didn't lie. It's only 24 hours later, and I'm starting to think of certain things as "broken".

This concept of "PPT As A Teaching Tool" that people seem to like? Again, it's broken. Now, as a Technical Evangelist, I think education is a big part of our job. We not only need to educate ISVs and other business partners, we need to educate other Microsoft employees, and we need to educate the community. Using PPT as a major "Teaching Tool" though? Broken. Borked. Use the right tool for the right job. If you are wanting to provide "a resource" to educate people though, don't use PowerPoint, please! ... (Read More)

Published Monday, August 28, 2006 10:07 PM by jolson

Filed under: ,

Comments

# re: PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool - It's Broken @ Monday, August 28, 2006 5:46 PM

Wha? Is PPT really broken or more fundamentally are static slide presentations as a teaching tool broken. There's a definate distinction.

If you want to teach via slide presentations I think PPT is the best way to get you there... are slideshows the best medium for teaching? as you mention, probably not.

The message should be that slide shows as a teaching medium are dangerous, not that PPT is.

Sean.McLellan

# re: PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool - It's Broken @ Monday, August 28, 2006 6:02 PM

Sean, keep in mind that I don't use the term "broken" as "not working", or as talking about the quality of the software. I am using "broken" as a more general term (like in Seth's presentation), that it doesn't work for several of the reasons that Seth mentioned in his speech.

Yes, in general, I was talking about static slide presentations in general. I say PowerPoint though because I believe that probably a huge number of users out there running windows are using PPT and can visualize what I'm talking about. There's "technically" a distinction, but a distinction that I feel wasn't too important as it's a distinction that doesn't necessarily help communicate any better than otherwise.

Keep in mind, also, that this post was also a generalization. There are some good slide shows out there. In the general sense though, people abuse PowerPoint and don't really use it for where it's power really lies. I don't want a White Paper on a slide. PowerPoint (or any slide show tool) is a presentation tool; reiterated, it is a tool to aid someone in giving a presentation. Unfortunately, I don't think many people think of it this way and use it as a crutch.

Also, I might disagree with the "as a teaching medium are dangerous" sentiment as I think the term "dangerous" leaves room for the concept that slide shows can be used as a good teaching medium, if only used properly. I believe this is not correct. Slide shows can be used as a teaching tool, but not a medium in of itself (or, I should say, it _can_ be used as a teaching medium, but probably not a quality one). It's a means to an end, not the end itself.

jolson

# For The Developers PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool It s Broken | Paid Surveys @ Thursday, May 28, 2009 7:00 PM

PingBack from http://paidsurveyshub.info/story.php?title=for-the-developers-powerpoint-as-a-teaching-tool-it-s-broken

For The Developers PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool It s Broken | Paid Surveys

# For The Developers PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool It s Broken | Uniform Stores @ Monday, June 01, 2009 9:46 AM

PingBack from http://uniformstores.info/story.php?id=18860

For The Developers PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool It s Broken | Uniform Stores

# For The Developers PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool It s Broken | Cellulite Creams @ Monday, June 08, 2009 11:08 PM

PingBack from http://cellulitecreamsite.info/story.php?id=6103

For The Developers PowerPoint As A Teaching Tool It s Broken | Cellulite Creams

Anonymous comments are disabled
© 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use  |  Trademarks  |  Privacy Statement  
Page view tracker