Attack of the PowerPoint-Wielding Professors 467
theodp writes "A CS student blogger named Carolyn offers an interesting take on why learning from PowerPoint lectures is frustrating. Unlike an old-school chalk talk, professors who use PowerPoint tend to present topics very quickly, leaving little time to digest the visuals or to take learning-reinforcing notes. Also, profs who use the ready-made PowerPoint lectures that ship with many textbooks tend to come across as, shall we say, less than connected with their material. Then there are professors who just don't know how to use PowerPoint, a problem that is by no means limited to college classes."
Most professors guilty? (Score:5, Insightful)
Are all college professors doing this? I think there are always in every generation going to be professors who don't want to put much effort into teaching classes. They are either there for doing research and thus don't care about learning or they aren't sure what they are doing there and just needed a job. There are a few annoying classes I took (in computer science even) where the professor would simply read from the book.
Career preparation (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, I'm old. I never really stopped and thought about just how horrid modern class rooms have become, I certainly never pictured some twit droning on from a canned Power Point.
On the upside you'll be properly prepared for any number of meetings.
It's not the tech, it's the prof (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:5, Insightful)
Powerpoint sucks in schools (Score:4, Insightful)
I took a biology class a few years back where the professor provided a powerpoint presentation for every class. We were supposed to print it out before class and then in class, he would read through the power point presentation. Literally, word for word, reading the presentation, with little or no additional information. Obviously, once I figured out this was his modus operandi, I stopped going to the clas, as I'm quite capable of reading a power point presentation myself.
The problem with power point is that it's presenter (teacher) centric. This is fine in some forums, but in a classroom, a class lesson should be student centric. Students should interact and ask questions. The lesson should go at the pace that the students can absorb it, not at the pace the teacher can present it.
If all that's required to learn the information is to read, then why even have a class? Just give the kids a book and send them on their way...
Re:Actually (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:3, Insightful)
At least with overheads you had to listen to the professor and write the information down and thus commit it to memory to a certain extent.
PowerPoint could either be a complete slacker medium, or could be part of a more-encompassing lecture. It's all in the way it is used.
Learning is hard work, deal with it. (Score:3, Insightful)
The interesting thing for me is I am old enough to remember when students complain that some professors actually still writes on the board instead of using powerpoint! Because (1) their handwriting is poor, (2) professors write too fast anyway, trying to copy and listen at the same time is too much for many students, (3) professors could send out the powerpoint if they used it, so students don't have to copy them down!
Now, cue a decade later, professors used powerpoints and student complained they do not write on the board.
Yeah, right.
Newsflash! Learning is hard work. Unlike watching movies where you just sit in stupor for 2 hours and be entertained, when you attend a lecture you work hard to absorb and understand the materials presented by the professor. Most professor don't have $100M movie budget and 2 years to prepare a 2 hour lecture to entertain you.
If the presentation is lacking, then you take the effort to understand the content from it. If you cannot find any content in the lecture, then the course is probably not for you, either too easy or too hard, go enroll in another course, or read the textbooks yourself if you think the lectures are too easy.
You are responsible for your own learning. And if you are good, you might have understood this already before you leave school.
Re:Actually (Score:4, Insightful)
The only advantage that power point has vs. the old ways is the fact you can Download the Slides for further studying so you are not franticly trying to get all the information as notes. (which for some people) Distract them from actually listening and learning the material, and getting any of the tangents where the real stuff is learned. However even back in my day professors often had pre printed overhead transparencies, which were made by the publisher which made things just as bad as with powerpoint. Or worse the professor who kept the transparencies when he use to care about his class and just put up the hand written notes and put a piece of paper on top of it so you wouldn't get ahead of them.
Any Media can be used for good or for evil.
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently he was doing some highly lucrative and cutting-edge research, which is why he was kept on. The problem isn't powerpoint, the problem is professors who can't (or can't be bothered to) teach.
Re:Career preparation (Score:3, Insightful)
As opposed to mountains of overheads?
I don't get the powerpoint bashing... most classes I've been in used the overhead projector, seems like PP is just a replacement for that (at least its more visually appealing than boring black text on white).
Technology generally sucks in the classroom (Score:2, Insightful)
Not only powerpoint, but some classes at my alma matter began having so-called laptop classes. I had one for calculus II. It was basically an excuse for kids to goof off. People were instant messaging each other or going on the internet. Laptop classes are a waste in most cases in my opinion, unless it is graduate work and complex programs are needed. It is like teaching from a powerpoint. If a lecturer just repeats exactly what is on the powerpoint it is extremely boring.
Give me a professor who wants to interact with students and really teach, and I will take that every time over any great online lecture, powerpoint slides, etc.
Re:Actually (Score:4, Insightful)
In certain contexts -- actual ESL classes being an obvious one -- what you say makes sense. But in the broader context of this discussion (IT/science classes and anything similar), I disagree; if a student's going to study at a university that teaches in English, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to be able to follow a presentation, even if said presentation is simply a talk around a set of blackboard examples and doesn't feature notes at all.
At any rate, lecture notes shouldn't really be primary written sources anyway. Some people simply learn better from a written text regardless of language: that's why there are textbooks and online references, and a student who's struggling with lectures should probably be looking at those rather than a collection of slides skimming over the material. The lecture notes should really be, at most, an adjunct to what's being said, and that's where the less is more mentality (rightly, IMHO) comes in.
Re:Career preparation (Score:4, Insightful)
Wow, I'm old. I never really stopped and thought about just how horrid modern class rooms have become, I certainly never pictured some twit droning on from a canned Power Point.
On the upside you'll be properly prepared for any number of meetings.
Wow, you are old. You didn't have books when you went to school? I can tell you that a teacher reading from a book is even worse. The problem is not books nor powerpoint, the problem is teachers or professors that couldn't care less.
Re:Amazing that Lectures Still Exist (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Actually (Score:3, Insightful)
There's a RIGHT way to use a computerized slides, and a WRONG way.
I once attended a presentation at which the presenter had been ordered by the organisers to use a Powerpoint presentation. The powerpoint presentation he used was just a slideshow of classic artworks (unrelated to the presentation) which went on in the background while he gave an excellent talk on the actual subject. I file that under "RIGHT way".
Re:Actually (Score:3, Insightful)
Neither chalk, power point nor even 3D animations can magically transform a boring lecturer into a fascinating one, if he/she simply does not perceive how receptive the audience is.
It really isn't that hard to tell. If everything is whooshing over their heads, their confused faces will tell you that you need to change your tack.
If they are yawning, then you're droning.
If they aren't interacting with you, then you haven't made them comfortable or interested enough.
The first step to becoming better is to actually notice that there's a problem.
Sadly, too many teachers seem oblivious to how their students receive them. Worse, they seem to have no intention to improve or to quit, much to the detriment of the hapless individuals who have to endure their classes.
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, I was in college before Powerpoint was really in existence, and we used chalk on black boards, no white boards.
Years later, I was helping a friend get her masters degree in economics, and it was amazing how much non-linear PDE's were used, and they didn't have the rigorous mathematics background to support it. Wild...
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:1, Insightful)
You are partially correct because poor note taking skills are a contributing factor to sub-optimal transmission however even the best note taking can't make up for poor presentation. I've seen classes that were all power point and were completely useless and talks with just chalk that were absolutely brilliant. It depends on the material being presented. If you are showing a derivation of an idea (like in physics or math) then power point is useless. If you are just presenting a series of facts (like biology and the social sciences), power point can be useful and better then chalk. If the prof is just going through the motions because it is in his job description then it doesn't matter either way.
Bottom line: Use the right tool for the job.
Presentation software is just a tool. (Score:3, Insightful)
Presentation software is just a tool. I had a professor who could actually handle it pretty well. He had his slides set up in a very simple but readable manner, they weren't cramped. They were to the point, short and very well planned. And he gave each of his students a miniature printout of the lectures slides, so that everybody could anotate each one by himself with whatever they needed.
He'd use maybe 40 slides in a 90 minute lecture. His talk was educating, informative, sometimes quite humorous and you could actually understand what he was saying simply because he didn't have to hop around 3 chalkboards all the time but could stay put at the podium. He was allways well prepared and his lectures where a feast. And that even though it was a hard subject (IT-electronics subcurriculum in CS).
Bottom line: ... duh). Use them correctly and you will be able to utilise the benefits that they bring along. It's that simple.
Presentation software, just like chalkboards, are nothing but tools. Use them badly or in the wrong way and your results will be accordingly (like, f.i., cramped, braindead presentation-slides or crappy handwriting on chalkboards
Re:It's not the tech, it's the prof (Score:3, Insightful)
ratemyprofessors.com contains utter bullshit
The "easy" profs get the good ratings.
The excellent teachers, but heavy in terms or assigned workload are deemed mediocre.
The "hard" profs are deemed poor.
ratemyprofessors.com is for lazy students looking to avoid real work.
Choose courses by word of mouth by meeting people in person - you can judge whether someone thinks a prof is "awesome" because the course is an auto-A+ or whether they actually learned something.
Slides are good to show examples (Score:3, Insightful)
Powerpoint is great for showing concepts through demonstration. Videos and animations can greatly enhance the student learning process. Of course there is a right way and wrong way to do this. I've come to prefer learning via Powerpoint instead of chalk boards (ugh) or transparencies. It's a bonus if we can get the slides ahead of time to print out and bring to class. That way we can write notes on our slides during the class.
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is when you have talented researchers spending their time teaching instead of researching. They don't want to do it, they're not any good at it, and the students are just as well off learning from the book. Send the prof back to the lab where his valuable skills won't go to waste.
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:5, Insightful)
You're confusing "All University Professors" with the elusive and endangered "Tenure Track Faculty". Most professors nowadays are employed as sessional instructors. That means that they are working part time on a contract which only lasts for a single semester, have no job security, no benefits of any kind, limited access to resources such as office space or the library, and are typically paid next to nothing.
Any illusions they may have had about doing actual research in their field should have disappeared after their first semester of being exploited, and if they really "just needed a job" they would have been better off serving drinks or flipping burgers. The hours and pay are a lot better and at least there would be some possibility of career advancement that way.
This is nothing new, but it's getting worse every year. Consider Allison Dube, at the University of Calgary [macleans.ca]. Despite teaching at the same school since before many of his students were born, working full time hours and winning numerous awards for excellence in teaching, he can barely afford to continue working.
All this, and you're pissed about your professors having the temerity to not prepare elaborate Broadway productions for every single lecture? Try this: Dig around in your pockets for all the loose change you can find and put that on the table along with five pieces of paper and a broken pencil. Now, quit your job and using only the resources in front of you design and teach three full year courses on microprocessor design, quantum theory, and the history of art in the Spanish Netherlands. When you are done you may treat yourself to a cheese sandwich.
Those are the conditions that your professors are working under. They're not lazy, they're not there just for the money, they're working as teachers because they really want to. Only a complete idiot would subject themselves to that kind of job if they didn't. If you want to be annoyed at anyone for the poor quality of lectures you have been forced to sit through, get annoyed at the University administration for treating their staff like dogs.
Worse than dogs, really. At least the dog gets fed.
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:3, Insightful)
Tons of people carve tiny wooden boats and then play with them in the bathtub. I only mention this because that has exactly as much relevance as your comment about writing code for free.
It's not about "oversubscribed disciplines", it's about fair employment and providing students with the education that they are paying for.
Let's take a more meaningful example from this community. Tons of companies are replacing their highly educated and competent employees and replacing them with lowest bidder "outsourced" staff. Somehow I never see anyone here cheering this as a brilliant business move guaranteed to provide everybody with a brighter future.
Now, getting back to the pedagogical issues which really are the whole point, is it a good idea for a University to put the majority of its teaching duties on the backs of people who are treated like office temps only without the office? When your teachers have to work two or three jobs just to eat every day, how can you expect them to devote the time that they need to preparing for their classes? So what does this mean for the students who are paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition and expecting the promised "excellence in education" in return?
It means the students are getting screwed. Now whose fault is that?
Re:I am a prof, and I agree!! (Score:3, Insightful)
I suggest considering the purchase of something like the Wacom tablets. You can handwrite wonderfully with those things. The best ones even have displays behind them, so you can see what you're drawing.
You can make your presentation work just like a blackboard. And, they're much easier to clean than a blackboard!
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Material from books (Score:1, Insightful)
Uh.. Philosophy, religion, art, music, and other liberal arts classes are usually taught from the professor's understanding of the course material, with books playing a supporting role. In your fervor to slam religion, I think you missed something.
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:3, Insightful)
If this is the case - then why are university tuition costs skyrocketing at multiples of inflation for the past several decades? Where the fuck, exactly is all this money going? Football scholarships?
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it's more than just having it backwards, you're looking at employment as though it was something created by the employee. First you pick the job that you need done, then you hire someone to do it. Whether you pay them and provide them with what they need to do their job helps you attract the right people and keep them from going somewhere else when their EI runs out.
Hi, Pot, my name is Kettle. Pleased to meet you.
While you're at it, why not have the students teach themselves? Then you could get out of hiring teachers altogether and reduce class sizes to one!
If it were a question of sessional instructors making the same as tenured or tenure track faculty then your argument would have some merit, but sessionals at many universities are working full time for less than $15,000 a year. That puts them below the poverty line in several parts of the country and well below minimum wage almost everywhere. I'm not "ignoring the question" of whether paying teachers enough to live on any more than I "ignore the question" of whether or not classes should be taught while ankle deep in kerosene.
Re:Most professors guilty? (Score:3, Insightful)
I taught for a while at a college where very few professors did any research. I struggled to do a little bit of research but ultimately did not have enough time to devote to it. But I did see some of the reasons why keeping current in the field (by doing research) is important for professors. It is very difficult to divide one's time appropriately into teaching and research.