Power Point Facts

A Really Bad PowerPoint:

Seth Godin states that it’s the way people use PowerPoint which is wrong. The wrong is in the communication as we just write facts, so we might just as well write a report. When people view a slide show presentation they use two sides of judging you. So they watch you and your body language. Also they pay attention to the idea you’re presenting, often in this case they come to a conclusion quite fast. The reason for doing PowerPoints is to present an idea to other people. One should write note cards out for yourself, and make supportive slides of your idea. At the end of the show one should tell the audience the important facts, but make sure you don’t do this at the beginning.

When Brains overheat:

The author says that an expert in education thinks people teach us the wrong way. Professor Sweller states that teaching doesn’t take affect in the way we think. Part of the brain provides the memory we need for learning and tasks and such. The Professor also thinks that giving the students already solved answers is better for the working memory. The brain has a limited amount of capacity of memory of data received in a certain amount of time. Teachers often deliver the information in a harder way for students to understand than necessary. Only some of the working memory can be remembered over long periods of time. When viewing a slide show one might be overwhelmed when trying to listen to the speaker, and read the text for one’s self.

The Science behind the PowerPoint:

Richard E. Mayer has been researching about the human mindset. He’s found out that it’s not good to put more than five lines on a slide. He wrote that listeners have to senses when it comes to PowerPoint. The one being able to listen to the speaker and the other to read the slides. Also people’s minds get overloaded at some point. The author says it’s better to reduce the amount of writing on a slide and have it as handouts instead.

However he reminds us that the decision is up to us whether to reduce those many bullets found on the slides.