The Overuse and Abuse of PowerPoints

Microsoft PowerPoint was developed as an amazing presentation tool but as it gained in popularity has become a monotonous and widely misused medium for presenting information. In an average school day, I watch 3 hours of PowerPoints. They have lost their edge. It would be difficult for me to accurately say how quickly my brain goes into sleep mode when that PowerPoint screen pops up. The thing is, this program can be an incredible learning tool. In fact, my Presenting Technical Information Class was based entirely on making our PowerPoint presentations more interesting and using various features to show information in a way that was relatable to people. If used properly a well-prepared presentation can benefit visual learners as well as though who learn more vocally or by instruction. I have come to the point this semester where I wish more professors had taken this class.

We students are bombarded with PowerPoints day in and day out and more often than not they seem to be used as a crutch for a weak presentation. No one really needs to know their information because it’s all there on the screen. I can read the slides myself. Sample problems aren’t worked on the board as often anymore. Instead, we are simply presented with the equation on a slide and expected to go from there. This isn’t teaching though, and this method often doesn’t get the point across effectively. Because these presentations have become so overused, they are expected and students seem to be tuning them out. Professors are no longer delivering lectures on the subjects they know so well, they’re giving a series of bulleted points from a screen that serves as a crutch rather than a dynamic learning medium. As a student, I come prepared, take the notes, and then leave feeling as though I have gained little. It isn’t as necessary to know the subject matter when you are simply reading from a screen. Trust me, this aspect of a PowerPoint has come in handy for me when I needed to give a presentations that I wasn’t adequately prepared for.
PowerPoints are great for graphs, videos, photographs and animations. They can be a good change of pace and be very interactive for students. This adds a lot of variety to class and can offer many different views of a subject. However, as of late, I have found most presentations to be badly in need of revamping and reworking in order to be as effective as one good lecture. I feel that if the methods of presenting information were varied more and PowerPoint slides read less, education quality at this school would greatly benefit.