Power Point and the Iraq Debacle
I've heard dumber explanations. (Note this is alleged to be only one problem among many.)
I think that power point could--theoretically, anyway--be a good thing. But the ways I've seen it used have mostly been disastrous. A couple of things to keep in mind:
(1) Good graphics often distract people from dumb content--so beware when people start with the slides.
(2) You almost never need to use power point through an entire presentation. Use it when you need it, don't when you don't.
I've noticed that my better students tend to absolutely loath Power Point while my worse students almost demand it. Coincidence? Again, though, I don't think that Power Point is bad in itself. It just seems to be used badly.
I still use handouts and overheads, since my teaching materials change from semester to semester, and because Power Point can't do lots of the things I'd need it to do. But, anyway, I'm not averse to its limited use in principle.
I've heard dumber explanations. (Note this is alleged to be only one problem among many.)
I think that power point could--theoretically, anyway--be a good thing. But the ways I've seen it used have mostly been disastrous. A couple of things to keep in mind:
(1) Good graphics often distract people from dumb content--so beware when people start with the slides.
(2) You almost never need to use power point through an entire presentation. Use it when you need it, don't when you don't.
I've noticed that my better students tend to absolutely loath Power Point while my worse students almost demand it. Coincidence? Again, though, I don't think that Power Point is bad in itself. It just seems to be used badly.
I still use handouts and overheads, since my teaching materials change from semester to semester, and because Power Point can't do lots of the things I'd need it to do. But, anyway, I'm not averse to its limited use in principle.
posted by Winston Smith at
1:02 PM
2 Comments:
I'm not going to defend PowerPoint, but I think you're comment that "Good graphics often distract people from dumb content" needs some tweaking.
I spend a lot of time on the design of the graphics I use. I mainly use statistical graphs, but also a lot of conceptual diagrams to illustrate how ideas and data relate to one another. Designing a good graphic is hard work, but when you get it right it communicates ideas and relationships in a very effective way. I often find that I don't really understand an argument until I sit down and try to draw a diagram of it. As far as I'm concerned, if something is "dumb content" it can't be called a "good graphic."
Change it to slick graphic and I'll agree with you in a heartbeat.
Well, YOU give way more thought to visual presentation than anybody this side of Tufte, so I don't want to disagree with the substance of what you say.
We've just got an ambiguity in 'good' to deal with. I was using the slacker definition, you the better, tighter one... 'Slick' is, indeed, the better choice of terminology here.
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