"How to Gain Control of Your PowerPoint Culture"

NOTE: Mr. Klein, since I wasn't in class on Wednesday, I wasn't able to take notes, or know who read and wrote about which article, so I chose this one - is that alright? :p

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Cliff Atkinson asks readers the question of who controls PowerPoint - yourself, or PowerPoint itself? When organizations try to control branding by forcing a typical PowerPoint template, where the presenters bore their audiences. Organizations try to control information through encouraging the use of bullet points on slides, and PowerPoint culture CAN be controlled. It is just that companies and organizations are trying to control the wrong things; if they take control of the right and correct things, they can also then control PowerPoint and its culture. Five main things that each organization should know about PowerPoint is that they should control the value (they should try to make their PowerPoint presentation captures, communicates to the audience, and shows your intellectual traits), next, they should control the big picture (being able to have and see a visual view of PowerPoint, and having the ability to see and monitor it professionally is a great step to taking control of PowerPoint), powering the system by providing an easy buildup form where communication can grow), controlling the metrics (How are you with PowerPoint in general? Is it created in good quality?, etc.), and finally, learning how to manage the process of PowerPoint. PowerPoint is a constantly changing and dynamic new language your organization is figuring out to learn and speak. It will always improve and get even better. If you ask the audience the correct questions and give them the exact needed tools, they will be able to figure out the answers pointed out in your presentation. The main thing is to control the right process. And through all of these key facts, your PowerPoint will most likely be a very interesting and thorough one.

3 Articles.

"Really Bad Powerpoint": The writer says that PowerPoint will be used all the time in different companies no matter what (most likely). It was made to help communicate with the marketing business, and it helps communicate to others verbally at the same time. The right side of our brains is sensitive and moody. The left side, however, is based on logic. Many times, people judge your presentation by the time the second slide is shown. Presentations are used to create, sell, and make more ideas arise. Four things to make a good presentation: make cue cards to hold onto, make slides that demonstrate what you are trying to say, then make a written document that includes footnotes and details, and we should also create a feedback cycle. It is very important that presenters do not hand out written notes in the beginning of the presentation, and not include more than six words on a single slide. Images should be professional, and transitions are best not to be used. Sound effects and print-outs are probably not advised either - because they don't exactly help.


"Help! My Brain is Overloaded!": This second article is talking from John Sweller's perspective, a man from the School of Education, found the "Cognitive Load Theory", which is basically when teaching does not help the way that we think and learn. This theory says that 'working memory' (part of the brain that gives storage) is needed for more complicated tasks, like lanuguage comprehension, learning, and reasoning. John Sweller also says that problem-solving areas focus on working memory - and teachers are better off giving students solved problems, so that they can learn those problems at home. Almost all information leaves right after twenty seconds or so, unless there was practice and rehersals. Teachers give students false information, which makes it harder for them to comprehend based on working memory, according to John Sweller. The same information can be organised in such a way, that it would be easier for us to understand. The "Cognitive Load Theory" says that working memory is only used when new information is being learned. And in a classroom dilemma, only limited material is going to be remembered, unless notes are being taken, or if they are handed out to them. PowerPoint presentations can go wrong if the information is the exact same as the verbal communication.

"The Science of PowerPoint Overload": This final article is based on the research of Richard E. Mayer. Mayer says that PowerPoint is the way that the human mind works, and that no more than five lines of text on one slide should be used. Presenters should reduce visuals by moving text off-screen, and to design a slide in the Notes Page view. This idea gives a better projected media experience, even if it means more work. This way, however, will make the PowerPoint easier for the audience to understand your topic. Bulleted points seem like they may be a good idea, but in reality, the information is actually harder to process. Show some pictures, but not too many, be sure to know what you are saying, and finally, keep it simple.

Do you think PowerPoint is mostly used well?

I am not sure if PowerPoint is mostly used well, but I don't think that it can be bad as well. It just depends on the speaker and how they present their PowerPoint presentations. However, most students take PowerPoint as an advantage of making "colorful" and "pretty" slides, ignoring what they REALLY need to talk about through their presentations. They may use several, or even too many clip art pictures and animations that the whole slideshow just looks extremely tacky. In my personal opinion, I do not like it when people use animation or transitions for slides and letters. They could use it less often. Plus, some people also like to use too many colors as their background for each slide. It should look "pleasing to the eye" instead. If I were to create a presentation, I would probably make its overall appearance look neat and organized. This does not mean that these factors will automatically make the presentation boring, however. That is depended upon how well the information is portrayed. The information should be presented in interesting ways (for example, unique facts about the topic could be typed on some slides). However, there also should not be too many slides on the presentation because that will just take up lots of time and lots of slides in general. Graphics should be laid out nicely (in case there are any on there), and animations should not be too ''dance-y'' or ''distracting''. If it was distracting, then your whole presentation would basically be pointless and the audience would forget what your complete presentation was about because the animation could have nothing in common with your topic. It also depends on what the speaker is saying, and the speed and tone that he or she is talking in. If his or her voice is monotonous and slow, the audience would most likely be thinking about everything else BUT the presentation. If he or her also makes too many pauses or stops, that tends to bore others. These are my personal ideas on how one can improve his or her PowerPoint presentation in order to make it more interesting, different, and intriguing to the audience that that person is talking to.

POWERPOINT...

Australian researchers have questioned Power Point by saying that teachers should focus more on giving students answers, instead of making them to figure out problems by themselves without any sort of assistance. This research explains how the human brain gets information if it is either written down on a piece of paper, or verbally said - however, not at the same time. John Sweller, one of the faculty from the University of New South Wales, also agrees that Power Point should not be used. He also says that it is easier to learn through diagrams, because information is shown differently, and learning through too many words puts too much pressure on students' brains, and only gets them even more confused. Some also say that Power Points are dull and never ending. One Power Point user disagrees with this, however. He says that bullet point slides usually progress to boring talks, but that doesn't mean that Power Point isn't the fault. Slides are created as an advantage for the presenter. Good speakers know what they are talking about and stick to their topic. If a speaker talks too much and gives too much information, the audience gets confused and bored. They also might forget about what the topic was even about in the first place. Power Point should be presented as ''rich''. A single slide should not have more information than what is probably needed. The viewers of the Power Point presentation should understand the topic. Personal notes, illustrative slides that show major points of a presentation, and handouts are things that make a ''good presentation''. Power Point is an easy way of presenting photographs and drawings. People should not blame Power Point if a presentation is bad. It is the speaker who determines how his presentation is perceived by others.

IS POWERPOINT EVIL? oO

The downfalls of PowerPoint presentations are that they waste time and bore the viewers. However, it is very popular and used commonly around the world. Teachers also make their students use PowerPoint presentations, instead of allowing them to write their reports on paper instead! PowerPoint presentations can also give too little information, and people usually don't understand the context of the whole report. If one were to create a table of different rates and numbers, the PowerPoint will result in a mess of inaccurate numbers. It can also be presented as meaningless with boring colors, be not comparative, uninteresting, indifferent to content, and simply, pointless. This can be changed, however, if the presentation is created in good-quality, and if it has relevance to the topic that is being presented. The words included in them should be on point, and the colors should be pleasing to the audience. PowerPoint is overall a slide manager and helper. One has to be professional when making presentations, however. The advantages of PowerPoint are that they tend to entertain and be more interesting than simple textbooks that students have to read from at school. For the presentation to be considered "good", it has to be relevant to the topic and practical. PowerPoint has many useful applications that can make teaching more easy and accessible. A lot of what can be finished with PowerPoint can also be completed using white/blackboards, projectors, and flip charts, etc. So why not just simply use PowerPoint? ClipArt images from PowerPoint can also give students an apparent visual of what they need to learn. In addition to this, handouts can be easily printed through PowerPoint. Animations to give a clear view of a topic can be used, along with colors (that can go with your topic). You just have to use it in the correct way. Students tend to become less bored when PowerPoint is used because it is shorter, and makes the work 10 times faster. It helps the teacher stay organized and prepared for what they want to teach. So is PowerPoint truly evil?
You decide.