I read an article in this morning's Chronicle, the gist of which centered around a study which found that students gave low marks to the use of technology in the classroom (British Educational Research Journal, April 2009). The negative reaction was mainly be attributed to two factors: 1) The students overwhelming dislike for the poor use of PowerPoint. Instructors tend to be overbearing with slides, and, 2) the fact that other technologies forced them to be more active in class, contradicting their expectations of just sitting and listening. It seems a bit contradictory but, it makes sense when you work through it.
The overuse of PowerPoint is the classic example of the wrong way to implement a new technology. All to often, the first thing we think about when we see something new is how can it replicate something we're already doing. With PowerPoint we took our overhead slides and lecture notes and threw them into a new toy and thought we were being innovative. "See, I don't use overheads anymore. My kids love it." I can't tell you how many classes I've attended where the use of PowerPoint was downright overbearing.
The second factor seems a bit paradoxical. We're told that this generation more than any other loves the latest technology and likes to be constantly engaged. They don't liked to be talked at. They see themselves as co-creators of their reality. So why the dissatisfaction with professors who use technology to teach?
The answer lies in how we're using technology. Asking whether or not we're using technology is asking the wrong question. And it's the same wrong question we keep asking. It's the PowerPoint Paradox. In a rush to be innovative we take something new and immediately screw it into what we're already doing quite well. Instead, we should be asking, where does this new technology add value? How does it allow me to engage my students in a way I could not before?
The study found that after their initial resistance students actually did like being engaged during class when they saw that the engagement added value to their experience. According to the article, this was true whether the engagement was technology related, e.g. Twitter, or not, e.g. group work.
We need to learn that it's not about the technology and all about what we do with it. To often we ask, what does it do to make life easier for me and my students? And, if it makes our life easier we tend to go with it.
The overuse of PowerPoint is the classic example of the wrong way to implement a new technology. All to often, the first thing we think about when we see something new is how can it replicate something we're already doing. With PowerPoint we took our overhead slides and lecture notes and threw them into a new toy and thought we were being innovative. "See, I don't use overheads anymore. My kids love it." I can't tell you how many classes I've attended where the use of PowerPoint was downright overbearing.
The second factor seems a bit paradoxical. We're told that this generation more than any other loves the latest technology and likes to be constantly engaged. They don't liked to be talked at. They see themselves as co-creators of their reality. So why the dissatisfaction with professors who use technology to teach?
The answer lies in how we're using technology. Asking whether or not we're using technology is asking the wrong question. And it's the same wrong question we keep asking. It's the PowerPoint Paradox. In a rush to be innovative we take something new and immediately screw it into what we're already doing quite well. Instead, we should be asking, where does this new technology add value? How does it allow me to engage my students in a way I could not before?
The study found that after their initial resistance students actually did like being engaged during class when they saw that the engagement added value to their experience. According to the article, this was true whether the engagement was technology related, e.g. Twitter, or not, e.g. group work.
We need to learn that it's not about the technology and all about what we do with it. To often we ask, what does it do to make life easier for me and my students? And, if it makes our life easier we tend to go with it.
Absolutely agree Jeff! I often hear that students don't like PowerPoint, knowing full well that it's not PowerPoint they don't like but the way it's being used.
One caution, though - for many to adopt a new technology, they need to fit it into what they already do (think Rogers Diffusion of Innovations and compatibility). It's only after using it within this fit that they're able to see other ways of using it differently - it's an evolution. I also consider it a large part of my responsibility to help that new vision happen. The first step, using the technology in a familiar way, takes little support; the second step, using the technology in an unfamiliar way, takes much more support. Using ANGEL as an example, first faculty needed to use it to support what they were already doing in the classroom. Only after getting in there and working with it were they able to consider new ways of doing things.
So, back to PowerPoint - now that so many of us are guilty of "Death by PowerPoint," where is the support for the next step of evolution? Where can we learn about using PowerPoint differently, more effectively? I'll bet we could develop a great workshop!
The problem with presentation software is that people have come to rely on it as a substitute for handouts. Some people will even go so far as to expect the slides to be able to convey all of the information that was given during the lecture. If you can substitute your slides for your lecture then why are you wasting your time by standing up there and yammering away at all?
Jen the Luddite's recommendation: most instructors should use presentation software to organize any figures, charts, and images that they HAVE to show while lecturing. If they want to hand out notes, type up an outline and hand those out or make them available online in a format that students can edit and add to during the lecture. Otherwise, just get up there and talk. Your students are perfectly capable of taking notes.
where does this new technology add value? How does it allow me to engage my students in a way I could not before?
This is a very important point. I like to think of it as the Amish perspective on technology.
I'm with you! Perhaps we can use our e-Portfolio workshop as a model for future workshops...now we just need to build it.