I've read and heard negative comments about Powerpoint for several years from a wide variety of sources. I hope we're not planning on completely abandoning a strong presentation tool because it has been abused and overused. Personally, Powerpoint represents a step up from overhead presentations which I absolutely despised as necessary evils. Any of the problems we have with Powerpoint stems from the way we abused overheads as well: trying to cram too much on one slide; sticking too close to the slides; inappropriate information; placing information such as graphs that won't visually project instead of using a handout. But I digress.
Beyond Bullets is a blog which presents ideas for effective Powerpoint use as well as discusses problems. Granted, it's purpose is to help businesses, but the applications can be used for educators. [Thanks to Fast Company]
Just to whet your appetite from the July 22 entry: "People often say that PowerPoint shuts down thinking, but Anthony Honeyfield has proven how easy it is to use PowerPoint to open it up." and
"It's always been important to set the stage for a presentation with a strong opening, and this slide shows how PowerPoint can help you make it even stronger. Compare it to every other PowerPoint title slide you've seen, which usually includes a boring background, a boring title, and no images except maybe a boring logo. Boredom is never a good place to begin, because that's likely where you and your audience will end."
This particular entry deals with creating a training module for Powerpoint. Tis the season to look over your powerpoints and plan for an exciting school year!
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