Pros+and+Cons+of+Powerpoint+in+a+teaching+environment

This page deals with two great articles that focus on the advantages and disadvantages of using PowerPoint or any other slideshow application as a presentation tool. Pro PowerPoint “Learning to Love PowerPoint”: [] Against PowerPoint “PowerPoint is Evil”: []

The first article basically explains that the application enhances the creativity of the presenter. Not only can the presenter add figures and graphs but also he/she is able to add multimedia elements such as photos, audio, and video. The author expounds: “ I could bend the program to my own whim and use it as an artistic agent. The pieces became like short films: Some were sweet, some were scary, and some were //mysterioso//. I discovered that even without text, I could make works that were "about" something, something beyond themselves, and that they could even have emotional resonance.”

The second article deals with the format of how PowerPoint is often used, and that is from top to bottom. According to the author, this format might not be conducive to an efficient teaching style, “Rather than learning to write a report using sentences, children are being taught how to formulate client pitches and infomercials…Students would be better off if the schools simply closed down on those days and everyone went to the Exploratorium or wrote an illustrated essay explaining something.” The author concludes with the point that PowerPoint is often misused, instead of enhancing a presentation, it becomes a substitute for it.

Taking the strongest points from both articles, I would say that if one could have a creative slideshow that enhances a presentation with multimedia elements without replacing the main idea of the speaker or activity, PowerPoint could be an efficient tool in a teaching and learning environment.