PowerPoints

This process of creating PowerPoint presentations has been enlightening. PowerPoints have been a part of our education from the beginning and many teachers have taken advantage of this program to liven up their presentations. It was interesting to do all the reading on the do’s and don’ts of presentations because it makes you think before you start any presentation. My favorite aspects of the presentations in class were the backgrounds. A few of the PowerPoints used pictures very effectively as backgrounds. These images were good at enforcing what was being said. Also some presentations were very good at using the perfect amount of words on their slides. The combination of a few words and great pictures for backgrounds made the PowerPoint engaging and made the information stick in my mind.

On the flipside of the fantastic backgrounds and word choice, there were a few presentations that were heavily based on bullet points. It became distracting when slides were filled with words and pictures and there was no white space to allow your eye to fall upon. When there is that much information on a single slide it becomes difficult to retain any of it. It’s just hard for your mind to recall and work through that much information at a time.

I feel that I had a problem with putting too many words on a page too. I tried very hard to minimize my word choice and only put crucial words upon a slide, but at times I was unable to attain this goal. Also I feel like the biggest downfall of my presentation was the backgrounds. My choice of format was not that engaging and I feel like I could have chosen my pictures more efficiently.

I feel that PowerPoint has great potential when a presentation is needed. Lecturing is necessary in a classroom even though it tends to be the least favorite form of instruction and PowerPoint allows lectures to have a little bit more flair. Through this program you are allowed to add pictures, words, sound and video to make a lecture more tangible and address visual learners. For many, having visuals reinforce what is being said is very helpful and makes the information that is needed to be digested more retainable. Even though PowerPoint can be very beneficial, there are also a few things that can go wrong with this presentation. Sometimes presenters fall back on PowerPoint though and use this type of presentation just because it can be easier. Also this program can be used poorly. Presenters are not always equipped or fully understand the most effective uses for creating PowerPoints. Another issue is that sometimes teachers will begin to use PowerPoints for every lesson and then these presentations can become boring and will no longer be useful tools for instruction.