I'm showing a PowerPoint presentation in class today and I know already what will happen: the lights go down, the slides go up, and immediately all my students--even the ones who rarely take notes--pull out pen and paper and start copying down every word on every slide. It's as if the PowerPoint logo acts as a subliminal trigger compelling them to slavishly copy down every word, even though often the only thing they'll see on the slide is an image and a question--but instead of looking at the image or responding to the question, they're busy copying it into their notes.
I know I'm not the only one who struggles with this. A colleague routinely gets complaints from students who insist that he needs to put more words on his slides, but my colleague points out that if he puts more words on his slides, then his students just copy down those words instead of engaging in discussion of what they see or paying attention to what anyone else is saying, as if transcribing the words from the screen into the notebook completes some essential cycle requiring no further thought.
I've tried a number of ways to fight this tendency. I don't use PowerPoint often but I do like to use images of various types to illustrate concepts or spark discussion, and in those cases I generally minimize words on the slides or eliminate them entirely. Sometimes, though, I use PowerPoint to convey a mass of information efficiently and I want students to return to that information to study it later, so I make the slides available on our course management system. That's what I'm doing today, and I'll tell them up front that the slides will be available online, but nevertheless I know what's going to happen. When I pause to ask a question, to encourage them to apply what we're learning to something we've read, I'll see a sea of faces staring at notebooks and a flurry of hands desperately scribbling down every word. Who can think or discuss or respond when engaged in slavish copying?
I want my students to take notes and I complain when they don't, but sometimes I need them to look up and examine some wonderful bit of art or other visual aide, and they can't do that with their noses in their notebooks. Eyes up, oh slavish copyists! The words will be there later! Rise up and see the point of the power of sight!
2 comments:
I have the same issue with PowerPoints in my classes, and have gotten so tired of the students’ copying response that I only post the slides in the course management system but don’t show them in class. I let the students know the slides are available at the beginning of the semester, and I have a few that will either copy them and bring them to class to write on or will load them onto their personal devices and follow along. For the most part though I find the students pay more attention to the lecture and discussion if I don’t show the slides at all. This way it is available to those who want it in class, available to study for before and after class, and doesn’t interfere with the class discussion as much.
Sounds like an excellent plan, except for those times when I really need students to look at an image in class. Of course PowerPoint isn't necessary to accomplish that.
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