Dear fellow bloggers,
Just like our coursemate Bella “bellissima”, I was misled by the seeming easiness of this week tasks. I was particularly mistaken to think that creating an interactive quiz using PowerPoint would be the least challenging of all tasks. No! It was unexpectedly difficult and stressful. But I’m so happy I had to rediscover this software (PPT) which I thought I was reasonably familiar with. The tool has great potentials and it will positively transform teaching if used wisely. Delicious Deborah provided us, as usual, with some very interesting articles to read about PowerPoint and how to use it effectively to add more interactivity to our lessons. But “interactivity is not simply watching the screen!” rightly says our course facilitator. There’s more to it than that. Interactivity, I came to learn, is putting life in ones’ lessons, kicking boredom out of the classroom windows, engaging students in and enjoying the learning process to the max. PowerPoint, in fact, is an empowering tool within the teachers’ hand to do wonder with in their classrooms. However, alone PowerPoint is powerless and would likely be just a redundant way of using the teachers’ old and true companion, the blackboard. There are tips and tricks that teachers should acquaint themselves with to optimize interactivity and learning using PowerPoint or any other presentational tool. Future teachers must be trained to get the most of these tools to make their teaching more effective and livelier. Us, digital immigrants, we need to have more trainings, like this web skills online course, to further tune up our teaching practices and boost the marketability of our products, so to speak. Alas, such trainings are very few and the ones available on the net are very often un-affordable. Fortunately, the Web abounds with all sorts of tutorials that demystify almost anything. Youtube, I believe, is like Aladin’s magic lantern. Once rubbed, the blue Genie appears with tailor-made videos to help us learn and master the ever-changing skills of today’s information society. But, of course, one must have the right magic formula; that is, a concise and precise querry.
Well, this week I began to learn how to make my PowerPoint presentations interactive. I opted for creating a language quiz in the “jeopardy” manner. That was the first time I heard of such a threatening appellation! In fact, the process of creating my jeopardy has exhausted me as I’m a slow learner. At one point, I even considered trying something else with PowerPoint and forget about jeopardy. But, again patience and stiff-neckedness whispered into my ear and encouraged me to keep on experimenting with the tool and, sooner or later, I will be capable of creating decent and attractive “jeopardies”. So, I consider my PowerPoint Language Quiz as just a first draft that needs further improvement. I’m learning a lot, folks, and I’m enjoying your company through your inspiring posts to the full. One more compound truth I learnt from my various readings on PowerPoint could be summarized in the following: Less is more and the simpler and briefer the slides are the more effective, persuasive and compelling they are. Powerpoint should neither be used in a way to eclipse the teacher, nor in a presentation-centered manner emphasizing visuals more than content. Learners, our VIP customers, must always come first and be at the center. Teaching with PowerPoint empowers teaching. Unwise use of this tool will result in what I call “PowerPeaching”;-) And mind you, the “peaches” will certainly be rotten!!
That’s it for now. I have to go to the beach, right now.
Regards,
Arbi
Useful links to articles on PowerPoint:
PowerPoint in the Classroom; Is It Really Necessary? Diana Voss
http://tinyurl.com/39cwmtv
PowerPoint misuse raises threat of losing audiences, Hilari Weinstein
Recommended Websites and Articles about the Uses and Misuses of PowerPoint
Engaging Large Classes: Strategies and Techniques for College Faculty
Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom
Actively Engaging Students in Large Classes
http://tinyurl.com/2w9hstl
Dear Arbi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the links - more is better in the case of sharing, even while it's not in the case of PPT slides.
I'm a bit confused about PowerPeaching - PowerPreaching I'd understand, but what's with the peach metaphor? Fuzzy? Hmmm...
Yours,
Deborah
Dear Deborah,
ReplyDeleteI'm very honored you passed by blog and left a nice comment.
I liked your coinage PowerPreaching and I just wonder what religious cloacks should we wear when Preaching?!!
"If a peach is able to heal, it should heal itself first." This is perhaps the Moroccan proverb that was behind the peach metaphor. Or may be, I've been eating so many peaches these days that I become to see things from a "peachy" perspective!
Best regards,
Arbi