benefits of powerpoint presentations in the classroom

Number of items in cart: 0

• Your cart is empty.
• Total: $0.00

What Are the Key Benefits of Using PowerPoint in Teaching and Learning?

Table of Contents

The Importance of PowerPoint Presentation in Teaching

An education-based PowerPoint presentation templates have become an integral part of teaching in today’s classrooms. They provide educators with a versatile tool for delivering engaging and interactive lessons. PPT presentations also offer numerous benefits for students, including the ability to improve concentration and comprehension levels.

Additionally, by using PowerPoint slides in conjunction with other instructional materials, such as textbooks and handouts, teachers can ensure that all students are able to access the information being presented in class. PowerPoint presentations can be a powerful tool for teaching and learning when used effectively.

The main reason behind this is that PowerPoint presentations enable you to interact with your audience psychologically. So, here we’re going to discuss the power of PowerPoint in education.

In most cases, presentations are designed for businesses and applied very commonly in business areas. Moreover, presentation slides are likewise used in the education sector and can make your educational or research content compelling.

Let’s get started. Scroll now to read the key benefits of using PowerPoint in teaching and learning .

Why PowerPoint Templates Are the Best Tool for Teaching?

PowerPoint templates are an excellent tool for teaching. They provide a consistent and professional look to your presentations and help keep your ideas organized. Presentation templates also make updating and changing your slides easy, so you can always keep your presentations fresh and up-to-date.

When teaching a subject like biology, getting your audience interested in what you have to say is essential. PowerPoint templates can help you set the tone for your presentation and reinforce the type of content you will discuss. There are various templates out there, so you can find one that will let you teach your subject efficiently and keep things neat and organized.

In addition, PPT slides can be easily shared with other teachers so that you can collaborate on projects and assignments. Overall, PowerPoint templates are a versatile and valuable tool for any teacher. With their help, you can create engaging and informative presentations to help your students learn and succeed.

How PowerPoint Templates Let You Engage Your Students or Audience?

At present, it’s more important than ever to be able to engage your audience. Whether you’re giving a PPT presentation to a group of students or speaking to a potential client, you need to be able to capture their attention and keep them engaged.

One way to do this is by using PowerPoint templates. With templates, you can create visually appealing and informative presentations. By using engaging visuals and helpful content, you can ensure that your audience stays interested in what you’re saying.

In addition, templates can help you save time when creating presentations. All you need to do with everything already laid out for you is add your content. Accordingly, templates can help you create professional and effective presentations.

Although presentation skills are essential for everyone, they are particularly important for educators. After all, a large part of a teacher’s job is to present information to students engagingly and effectively. Fortunately, there are some simple tips that can help to improve any presentation.

• First, it is important to be well prepared. This means clearly understanding the material that will be covered and knowing how to effectively communicate it to the audience.
• It is also significant to be aware of the audience’s level of knowledge and adjust the presentation accordingly.
• Finally, it is significant to be confident and keep the presentation interesting using various techniques such as humor, stories, or multimedia elements.

By following these tips, any teacher can deliver a successful presentation.

How to Create an Educational Presentation Quickly?

PowerPoint templates are a great way to teach your students detailed data. For your lessons to be practical, you need your students to focus and pay attention, so having templates allows them the tools they need to learn more effectively.

It’s a wise way of helping children in school hone their PowerPoint skills. Many children feel overwhelmed when they have to start creating presentations from scratch-templates give them a structure they can follow and tweak to make their own.

Additionally, templates can be reused multiple times, which saves you time in the long run. With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that PowerPoint templates are becoming increasingly popular in educational settings.

If you’re finding a way to help, your students learn more effectively, consider using PowerPoint templates in your next lesson.

However, you can create an informative and engaging presentation with some preparation and organization. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

• Choose a subject that is interesting and relevant to your audience.
• Gather information and resources on the topic.
• Outline your presentation content.
• Create visuals or slides to accompany your presentation content.
• Practice giving your presentation.
• Time yourself so you can keep it within the desired time frame.

Let’s walk through the best practices to create a unique educational PPT presentation.

Choose a Subject That Is Interesting and Relevant to Your Audience

When creating an educational PowerPoint, choosing a subject that is interesting and relevant to your audience is essential.

This will help engage the audience and ensure that they learn from the presentation.

Also, choosing a relevant topic will help keep the audience’s attention focused on the PowerPoint. There are a few different ways to determine what subject would be most exciting and pertinent to your audience. One way is to consider the age range of the audience.

Another way is to think about what type of information would be most helpful to them. Additionally, you can research the interests of the audience ahead of time. Considering these factors, you can choose a subject for your PowerPoint that will be both interesting and relevant to your audience.

Gather Information and Resources on the Topic

If you want to create an educational PPT presentation, it’s essential to gather information and resources on your topic first. This will ensure that the PowerPoint is informative and accurate.

There are a few different ways to go about gathering information. One option is to do some online research. Another option is to visit a library and look for books or articles on the topic.

Once you have brought together all the necessary information, you can start putting together your PowerPoint presentation. Remember to include only appropriate information and to present it in an organized and visually appealing way.

If a little effort is put into creating a PowerPoint, you can come up with an educational presentation that you will like.

Outline Your Presentation Content

You will need to describe your content thoroughly when creating educational PowerPoint slides. This will be useful to organize your thoughts and ensure that your presentation is cohesive and informative. Begin by brainstorming the main points that you want to cover.

Then, create an introductory presentation outline, including an introduction, body, and conclusion. Once you have a general overview of your content, you can begin to flesh out the details. In the body of your presentation, include supporting evidence for each point you make.

In conclusion, summarize the key points of your presentation and leave your audience with something to think about. By wisely and efficiently editing and structuring your content, you can create a captivating and interactive PowerPoint lesson that is both informative and interesting.

Create Visuals or Slides to Accompany Your Presentation Content

You must include visual components to reveal information in an instructional PowerPoint presentation. It will help to engage the audience and provide them with a more immersive experience.

Additionally, visuals can help clarify and strengthen the key points you are trying to communicate. If used effectively, they can also help to add interest and excitement to your presentation.

When choosing visuals, be sure to select ones that are high quality and relevant to your topic. Avoid using too many visuals, as this can overwhelm your audience.

Instead, focus on choosing a few useful visuals to support your presentation and help your audience understand your message better.

Practice Giving Your Presentation

Whether you are allowed to give a speech, practice builds expertise. By practicing your presentation, you can ensure that you are delivering your material in the most effective way possible.

Being careful with your delivery, body language, and overall clarity is essential when practicing. Remember that eye contact is key and that you want to project confidence in your ability to speak on the topic at hand.

It can also be helpful to tape-record yourself so that you can listen back and identify areas that may need improvement. With a bit of practice, you will be capable of giving an educative and memorable presentation.

Time Yourself So You Can Keep It Within the Desired Time Frame

If you’re planning for an educational presentation, it’s important to time yourself stay within the desired time frame. This can be exceptionally important if you’re giving a presentation to a group of students who have a limited attention span.

You can ensure that your presentation stays on track and doesn’t run over by timing yourself. There are a few different ways to time yourself. One option is to use a stopwatch or timer.

Another option for keeping track of where you are in your presentation is periodically checking the clock.

Whichever method you choose, ensure you give yourself enough time to practice to stay within the desired time frame when giving your presentation.

How an Educational PowerPoint Presentation Skyrocket Your Success

A well-designed PowerPoint slide can be the key to success in any educational setting. A PowerPoint presentation can help students grasp complex concepts and remember key points by organizing visually appealing and easy-to-understand information.

Additionally, a PPT presentation can add excitement and interest to a dull lecture or dry text. When used effectively, a PowerPoint presentation can engage students and encourage them to participate actively in learning.

As a result, an investment in a professional educational PowerPoint presentation can pay off handsomely in terms of student success.

PowerPoint templates are must-haves for both inexperienced and veteran educators. One of the top reasons is that it saves hours of manual work and struggles.

For instance, if you’ve picked a premium customizable education PPT template, it only requires a couple of minutes to edit and craft your presentation layout. It means you can develop professional PPT presentation infographics within half an hour.

There are countless templates that educators can use for a wide variety of subjects, including maths, science, humanities studies like literature and history, and many more.

It allows your children to have a hands-on, experiment-based curriculum where they can visualize key concepts while paying attention to multimedia elements tools provided by PowerPoint templates along the way.

Now, let’s walk through the top tips to present an impactful educational PPT presentation that will comprehensively drive knowledge to your potential audience.

• Arrange your presentation objective in a way that attracts your audience and familiarizes the area of discussion in seconds. You can use animated PPT templates or other visual aids to make it attractive and appealing.
• Try to insert at least one brief one-liner highlighting the relevance and benefits of learning that particular topic.
• Include self-image or videos to personalize your presentation content.
• Add animations and slide transitions to explain the key learning steps.
• Include charts, maps, infographics , images, and graphs that illustrate your topic at hand. A well-organized chart could be vital to driving your point home. Regarding corporate PowerPoint presentations , adding Gantt Charts and other business-related details is better.
• Avoid having several ideas on one single slide. It may overwhelm your viewers.
• Leave a little more white space around each element in your PPT slide.
• No need to add every sentence you intend to speak on your PowerPoint slide. Instead, add sharp points that are easily read and comprehended. Then, explain it.

It is not surprising that technology has fundamentally changed education. In former times, the only way to learn about a topic was to hear a lecture from a professor in a classroom. Today, virtual presentations have become an essential tool for educators. There are many reasons why online presentations are so valuable in education. So, learn how to create virtual presentations that capture your audience’s attention .

Advantages of Purchasing Fully Editable PowerPoint Presentation Templates for Teaching

As we discussed above, PowerPoint templates are a great teaching tool for many reasons. They allow the presentation to maintain a uniform look and feel, which is key for understanding the message. Moreover, it can quickly add sense to your teaching.

It is the only wise choice to purchase a fully-editable premium PowerPoint presentation layout for teaching purposes. Then, you can professionally teach your audience the way you want to educate them.

Here are the top reasons why one should turn to fully editable premium education PPT infographics:

• Fully editable PPT themes for education will let you overcome the stress of starting with a blank slate each time.
• All premium education PowerPoint layouts are made with plenty of ideas and unique designs to effectively present your education or research topic.
• When you have a fully editable PPT theme, you will easily add videos, images, and your brand logo.
• You can edit and customize anything in the layout without losing quality in minutes. There is no need to have any design skills to edit and customize them.
• These editable PowerPoint presentation templates will help you save hours of manual work and confusion.

Top Points to Keep in Mind While Preparing a PowerPoint for Teaching

Characteristics that your students like about education PowerPoint slides are:

• Graphs, charts, and maps can increase the understanding of content.
• Bulleted lists that let them focus on the top ideas.
• Animations and slide transitions are the best visual aids.
• Cliparts and creative layouts.
• Present your ideas in short phrases rather than lengthy paragraphs.
• Spoken words with images are better than pictures with text.

Note: Cliparts are the perfect choice to get your audience’s attention in seconds. It is helpful in education PowerPoint presentations for small children and students. However, try to avoid Cliparts if your presentation is for technical students or medical students.

Characteristics that your students don’t like about education PowerPoint slides are:

• Too many ideas on a single slide.
• Templates with too many colors.
• Irrelevant images and WordArts decrease understanding and learning compared to presentation layouts with no picture or animation.

Find the Best Education PowerPoint Presentation Slides for Teaching

PowerPoint presentations have a great power to share your ideas comprehensively, especially for educational purposes. Therefore, picking the suitable PowerPoint presentation template that fits well will help you significantly convey your presentation.

Moreover, choosing the appropriate theme or design is the base part of the entire PPT presentation.

There may be several PPTs available in the free source, but always remember that they may not assure you the quality and features needed for a powerful PowerPoint template.

Therefore, it will be wise to pick a premium PPT template designed by professionals . Selecting an ideal template for creating an attention-grabbing educational presentation is crucial if you wish to make your presentation’s tone professional. Thus, say goodbye to typical, boring PowerPoint templates that ruin your presentation.

Explore the top highlights of our exclusive educational PowerPoint presentation template below:

• 100% Fully editable PowerPoint slides & design elements.
• 2 Aspect ratio (4:3 & 16:9).
• One-time purchase (Free download for life).
• Unlimited downloads (Come back anytime to download the files again).
• Lifetime free updates (We update by adding more slides regularly).
• Lifetime free customer care support.

There you can view the best-in-quality education or research topic presentation themes designed by our expert graphic designers.

You can find a selection of creative, unique PPT themes here at FlySlides , in addition to education PowerPoint templates or research presentation PPT slides. All our premium PowerPoint templates are fully customizable and come with unlimited download and update options.

Besides our PPT templates, we also have a tremendous selection of fully customizable Keynote presentation templates and Google Slides themes . So it’s up to you to select your preference. With FlySlides, you can quickly create your education presentations on PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.

You can also refer to:

• Tips to Develop a Powerful Business Presentation .
• 10 Proven Tips to Make a Great Sales Presentation .

What’s more, Look into our library and take a look at our templates. They’re available in as many presentations as you want and skyrocket your success as a PowerPoint presenter. Why waste your precious time? Just explore our top selection of PowerPoint presentation layouts for education and find the best templates for your next presentation .

Written by FlySlides Editorial Team

FlySlides is one of the leading and high-quality Free and Premium PowerPoint, Google Slides & Keynotes Templates providers on the internet.

FlySlides is one of the leading and high-quality premium PowerPoint, Google Slides & Keynotes Templates provider on the internet

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter, and receive updates, free templates, and amazing special offers

Follow Us On Social Media

Follow us for instant notification and updates

Recent Blog Posts

Recently published blog posts

How to Create Virtual Presentations That Wow Your Audience

How to Create a Visual Brand Identity That People Love?

10 Tips on How to Make a Perfect Sales Presentation

12 Essential Tips to Create a Powerful Business Presentation

13 Important Tips for Finding the Perfect PowerPoint Presentation Template

Recent templates.

Check out some of the latest presentation templates

Timeline Bundle Infographic Diagrams Keynote Template

Unsorted Timelines Infographic Diagrams Keynote Template

Timeline Bundle Infographic Diagrams Google Slides Template (Theme)

Unsorted Timelines Infographic Diagrams Google Slides Template (Theme)

Timeline Bundle Infographic Diagrams PowerPoint (PPT) Template

Unsorted Timelines Infographic Diagrams PowerPoint (PPT) Template

Read more interesting posts.

• Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
• Instructional Guide

Teaching with PowerPoint

When effectively planned and used, PowerPoint (or similar tools, like Google Slides) can enhance instruction. People are divided on the effectiveness of this ubiquitous presentation program—some say that PowerPoint is wonderful while others bemoan its pervasiveness. No matter which side you take, PowerPoint does offer effective ways to enhance instruction when used and designed appropriately.

PowerPoint can be an effective tool to present material in the classroom and encourage student learning. You can use PowerPoint to project visuals that would otherwise be difficult to bring to class. For example, in an anthropology class, a single PowerPoint presentation could project images of an anthropological dig from a remote area, questions asking students about the topic, a chart of related statistics, and a mini quiz about what was just discussed that provides students with information that is visual, challenging, and engaging.

PowerPoint can be an effective tool to present material in the classroom and encourage student learning.

This section is organized in three major segments: Part I will help faculty identify and use basic but important design elements, Part II will cover ways to enhance teaching and learning with PowerPoint, and Part III will list ways to engage students with PowerPoint.

PART I: Designing the PowerPoint Presentation

Accessibility.

• Student accessibility—students with visual or hearing impairments may not be able to fully access a PowerPoint presentation, especially those with graphics, images, and sound.
• Use an accessible layout. Built-in slide template layouts were designed to be accessible: “the reading order is the same for people with vision and for people who use assistive technology such as screen readers” (University of Washington, n.d.). If you want to alter the layout of a theme, use the Slide Master; this will ensure your slides will retain accessibility.
• Use unique and specific slide titles so students can access the material they need.
• Consider how you display hyperlinks. Since screen readers read what is on the page, you may want to consider creating a hyperlink using a descriptive title instead of displaying the URL.
• All visuals and tables should include alt text. Alt text should describe the visual or table in detail so that students with visual impairments can “read” the images with their screen readers. Avoid using too many decorative visuals.
• All video and audio content should be captioned for students with hearing impairments. Transcripts can also be useful as an additional resource, but captioning ensures students can follow along with what is on the screen in real-time.
• Simplify your tables. If you use tables on your slides, ensure they are not overly complex and do not include blank cells. Screen readers may have difficulty providing information about the table if there are too many columns and rows, and they may “think” the table is complete if they come to a blank cell.
• Set a reading order for text on your slides. The order that text appears on the slide may not be the reading order of the text. Check that your reading order is correct by using the Selection Pane (organized bottom-up).
• Use Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker to identify potential accessibility issues in your completed PowerPoint. Use the feedback to improve your PowerPoint’s accessibility. You could also send your file to the Disability Resource Center to have them assess its accessibility (send it far in advance of when you will need to use it).
• Save your PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file to distribute to students with visual impairments.

Preparing for the presentation

• Consider time and effort in preparing a PowerPoint presentation; give yourself plenty of lead time for design and development.
• PowerPoint is especially useful when providing course material online. Consider student technology compatibility with PowerPoint material put on the web; ensure images and graphics have been compressed for access by computers using dial-up connection.

PowerPoint is especially useful when providing course material online.

• Be aware of copyright law when displaying course materials, and properly cite source material. This is especially important when using visuals obtained from the internet or other sources. This also models proper citation for your students.
• Think about message interpretation for PowerPoint use online: will students be able to understand material in a PowerPoint presentation outside of the classroom? Will you need to provide notes and/or other material to help students understand complex information, data, or graphics?
• If you will be using your own laptop, make sure the classroom is equipped with the proper cables, drivers, and other means to display your presentation the way you have intended.

Slide content

• Avoid text-dense slides. It’s better to have more slides than trying to place too much text on one slide. Use brief points instead of long sentences or paragraphs and outline key points rather than transcribing your lecture. Use PowerPoint to cue and guide the presentation.
• Use the Notes feature to add content to your presentation that the audience will not see. You can access the Notes section for each slide by sliding the bottom of the slide window up to reveal the notes section or by clicking “View” and choosing “Notes Page” from the Presentation Views options.
• Relate PowerPoint material to course objectives to reinforce their purpose for students.

Number of slides

• As a rule of thumb, plan to show one slide per minute to account for discussion and time and for students to absorb the material.
• Reduce redundant or text-heavy sentences or bullets to ensure a more professional appearance.
• Incorporate active learning throughout the presentation to hold students’ interest and reinforce learning.

Emphasizing content

• Use italics, bold, and color for emphasizing content.
• Use of a light background (white, beige, yellow) with dark typeface or a dark background (blue, purple, brown) with a light typeface is easy to read in a large room.
• Avoid using too many colors or shifting colors too many times within the presentation, which can be distracting to students.
• Avoid using underlines for emphasis; underlining typically signifies hypertext in digital media.

Use of a light background with dark typeface or a dark background with a light typeface is easy to read in a large room.

• Limit the number of typeface styles to no more than two per slide. Try to keep typeface consistent throughout your presentation so it does not become a distraction.
• Avoid overly ornate or specialty fonts that may be harder for students to read. Stick to basic fonts so as not to distract students from the content.
• Ensure the typeface is large enough to read from anywhere in the room: titles and headings should be no less than 36-40-point font. The subtext should be no less than 32-point font.

Clip art and graphics

• Use clip art and graphics sparingly. Research shows that it’s best to use graphics only when they support the content. Irrelevant graphics and images have been proven to hinder student learning.
• Photographs can be used to add realism. Again, only use photographs that are relevant to the content and serve a pedagogical purpose. Images for decorative purposes are distracting.
• Size and place graphics appropriately on the slide—consider wrapping text around a graphic.
• Use two-dimensional pie and bar graphs rather than 3D styles which can interfere with the intended message.

Use clip art and graphics sparingly. Research shows that it’s best to use graphics only when they support the content.

Animation and sound

• Add motion, sound, or music only when necessary. When in doubt, do without.
• Avoid distracting animations and transitions. Excessive movement within or between slides can interfere with the message and students find them distracting. Avoid them or use only simple screen transitions.

Final check

• Check for spelling, correct word usage, flow of material, and overall appearance of the presentation.
• Colleagues can be helpful to check your presentation for accuracy and appeal. Note: Errors are more obvious when they are projected.
• Schedule at least one practice session to check for timing and flow.
• PowerPoint’s Slide Sorter View is especially helpful to check slides for proper sequencing as well as information gaps and redundancy. You can also use the preview pane on the left of the screen when you are editing the PowerPoint in “Normal” view.
• Prepare for plan “B” in case you have trouble with the technology in the classroom: how will you provide material located on your flash drive or computer? Have an alternate method of instruction ready (printing a copy of your PowerPoint with notes is one idea).

PowerPoint’s Slide Sorter View is especially helpful to check slides for proper sequencing and information gaps and redundancy.

PowerPoint Handouts

PowerPoint provides multiple options for print-based handouts that can be distributed at various points in the class.

Before class: students might like having materials available to help them prepare and formulate questions before the class period.

During class: you could distribute a handout with three slides and lines for notes to encourage students to take notes on the details of your lecture so they have notes alongside the slide material (and aren’t just taking notes on the slide content).

After class: some instructors wait to make the presentation available after the class period so that students concentrate on the presentation rather than reading ahead on the handout.

Never: Some instructors do not distribute the PowerPoint to students so that students don’t rely on access to the presentation and neglect to pay attention in class as a result.

• PowerPoint slides can be printed in the form of handouts—with one, two, three, four, six, or nine slides on a page—that can be given to students for reference during and after the presentation. The three-slides-per-page handout includes lined space to assist in note-taking.
• Notes Pages. Detailed notes can be printed and used during the presentation, or if they are notes intended for students, they can be distributed before the presentation.
• Outline View. PowerPoint presentations can be printed as an outline, which provides all the text from each slide. Outlines offer a welcome alternative to slide handouts and can be modified from the original presentation to provide more or less information than the projected presentation.

The Presentation

Alley, Schreiber, Ramsdell, and Muffo (2006) suggest that PowerPoint slide headline design “affects audience retention,” and they conclude that “succinct sentence headlines are more effective” in information recall than headlines of short phrases or single words (p. 233). In other words, create slide titles with as much information as is used for newspapers and journals to help students better understand the content of the slide.

• PowerPoint should provide key words, concepts, and images to enhance your presentation (but PowerPoint should not replace you as the presenter).
• Avoid reading from the slide—reading the material can be perceived as though you don’t know the material. If you must read the material, provide it in a handout instead of a projected PowerPoint slide.
• Avoid moving a laser pointer across the slide rapidly. If using a laser pointer, use one with a dot large enough to be seen from all areas of the room and move it slowly and intentionally.

Avoid reading from the slide—reading the material can be perceived as though you don’t know the material.

• Use a blank screen to allow students to reflect on what has just been discussed or to gain their attention (Press B for a black screen or W for a white screen while delivering your slide show; press these keys again to return to the live presentation). This pause can also be used for a break period or when transitioning to new content.
• Stand to one side of the screen and face the audience while presenting. Using Presenter View will display your slide notes to you on the computer monitor while projecting only the slides to students on the projector screen.
• Leave classroom lights on and turn off lights directly over the projection screen if possible. A completely dark or dim classroom will impede notetaking (and may encourage nap-taking).
• Learn to use PowerPoint efficiently and have a back-up plan in case of technical failure.
• Give yourself enough time to finish the presentation. Trying to rush through slides can give the impression of an unorganized presentation and may be difficult for students to follow or learn.

PART II: Enhancing Teaching and Learning with PowerPoint

Class preparation.

PowerPoint can be used to prepare lectures and presentations by helping instructors refine their material to salient points and content. Class lectures can be typed in outline format, which can then be refined as slides. Lecture notes can be printed as notes pages  (notes pages: Printed pages that display author notes beneath the slide that the notes accompany.) and could also be given as handouts to accompany the presentation.

Multimodal Learning

Using PowerPoint can help you present information in multiple ways (a multimodal approach) through the projection of color, images, and video for the visual mode; sound and music for the auditory mode; text and writing prompts for the reading/writing mode; and interactive slides that ask students to do something, e.g. a group or class activity in which students practice concepts, for the kinesthetic mode (see Part III: Engaging Students with PowerPoint for more details). Providing information in multiple modalities helps improve comprehension and recall for all students.

Providing information in multiple modalities helps improve comprehension and recall for all students.

Type-on Live Slides

PowerPoint allows users to type directly during the slide show, which provides another form of interaction. These write-on slides can be used to project students’ comments and ideas for the entire class to see. When the presentation is over, the new material can be saved to the original file and posted electronically. This feature requires advanced preparation in the PowerPoint file while creating your presentation. For instructions on how to set up your type-on slide text box, visit this tutorial from AddictiveTips .  

Write or Highlight on Slides

PowerPoint also allows users to use tools to highlight or write directly onto a presentation while it is live. When you are presenting your PowerPoint, move your cursor over the slide to reveal tools in the lower-left corner. One of the tools is a pen icon. Click this icon to choose either a laser pointer, pen, or highlighter. You can use your cursor for these options, or you can use the stylus for your smart podium computer monitor or touch-screen laptop monitor (if applicable).  

Just-In-Time Course Material

You can make your PowerPoint slides, outline, and/or notes pages available online 24/7 through Blackboard, OneDrive, other websites. Students can review the material before class, bring printouts to class, and better prepare themselves for listening rather than taking a lot of notes during the class period. They can also come to class prepared with questions about the material so you can address their comprehension of the concepts.

PART III: Engaging Students with PowerPoint

The following techniques can be incorporated into PowerPoint presentations to increase interactivity and engagement between students and between students and the instructor. Each technique can be projected as a separate PowerPoint slide.

Running Slide Show as Students Arrive in the Classroom

This technique provides visual interest and can include a series of questions for students to answer as they sit waiting for class to begin. These questions could be on future texts or quizzes.

• Opening Question : project an opening question, e.g. “Take a moment to reflect on ___.”
• Think of what you know about ___.
• Turn to a partner and share your knowledge about ___.
• Share with the class what you have discussed with your partner.
• Focused Listing helps with recall of pertinent information, e.g. “list as many characteristics of ___, or write down as many words related to ___ as you can think of.”
• Brainstorming stretches the mind and promotes deep thinking and recall of prior knowledge, e.g. “What do you know about ___? Start with your clearest thoughts and then move on to those what are kind of ‘out there.’”
• Questions : ask students if they have any questions roughly every 15 minutes. This technique provides time for students to reflect and is also a good time for a scheduled break or for the instructor to interact with students.
• Note Check : ask students to “take a few minutes to compare notes with a partner,” or “…summarize the most important information,” or “…identify and clarify any sticking points,” etc.
• Questions and Answer Pairs : have students “take a minute to come with one question then see if you can stump your partner!”
• The Two-Minute Paper allows the instructor to check the class progress, e.g. “summarize the most important points of today’s lecture.” Have students submit the paper at the end of class.
• “If You Could Ask One Last Question—What Would It Be?” This technique allows for students to think more deeply about the topic and apply what they have learned in a question format.
• A Classroom Opinion Poll provides a sense of where students stand on certain topics, e.g. “do you believe in ___,” or “what are your thoughts on ___?”
• Muddiest Point allows anonymous feedback to inform the instructor if changes and or additions need to be made to the class, e.g. “What parts of today’s material still confuse you?”
• Most Useful Point can tell the instructor where the course is on track, e.g. “What is the most useful point in today’s material, and how can you illustrate its use in a practical setting?”

Positive Features of PowerPoint

• PowerPoint saves time and energy—once the presentation has been created, it is easy to update or modify for other courses.
• PowerPoint is portable and can be shared easily with students and colleagues.
• PowerPoint supports multimedia, such as video, audio, images, and

PowerPoint supports multimedia, such as video, audio, images, and animation.

Potential Drawbacks of PowerPoint

• PowerPoint could reduce the opportunity for classroom interaction by being the primary method of information dissemination or designed without built-in opportunities for interaction.
• PowerPoint could lead to information overload, especially with the inclusion of long sentences and paragraphs or lecture-heavy presentations with little opportunity for practical application or active learning.
• PowerPoint could “drive” the instruction and minimize the opportunity for spontaneity and creative teaching unless the instructor incorporates the potential for ingenuity into the presentation. 

As with any technology, the way PowerPoint is used will determine its pedagogical effectiveness. By strategically using the points described above, PowerPoint can be used to enhance instruction and engage students.

Alley, M., Schreiber, M., Ramsdell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006). How the design of headlines in presentation slides affects audience retention. Technical Communication, 53 (2), 225-234. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43090718

University of Washington, Accessible Technology. (n.d.). Creating accessible presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://www.washington.edu/accessibility/documents/powerpoint/  

Selected Resources

Brill, F. (2016). PowerPoint for teachers: Creating interactive lessons. LinkedIn Learning . Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/PowerPoint-tutorials/PowerPoint-Teachers-Create-Interactive-Lessons/472427-2.html

Huston, S. (2011). Active learning with PowerPoint [PDF file]. DE Oracle @ UMUC . Retrieved from http://contentdm.umuc.edu/digital/api/collection/p16240coll5/id/78/download

Microsoft Office Support. (n.d.). Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities. Retrieved from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/make-your-powerpoint-presentations-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-ae3b2b3ef25

Tufte, E. R. (2006). The cognitive style of PowerPoint: Pitching out corrupts within. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press LLC.

University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Medicine. (n.d.). Active Learning with a PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://www.unmc.edu/com/_documents/active-learning-ppt.pdf

University of Washington, Department of English. (n.d.). Teaching with PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://english.washington.edu/teaching/teaching-powerpoint

Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching. (n.d.). Making better PowerPoint presentations. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/making-better-powerpoint-presentations/

Suggested citation

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2020). Teaching with PowerPoint. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide

Phone: 815-753-0595 Email: [email protected]

Connect with us on

Facebook page Twitter page YouTube page Instagram page LinkedIn page

• [email protected]

Teaching with PowerPoint Presentations

Introduction

PowerPoint presentations are used in many different fields due to their ability to organize and structure information, create a consistent format, and provide the audience with visuals. Educators often use this type of presentation in their classrooms in order to guide the class through a lecture. The effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations is often debated, but most agree that when created in the right way, these presentations have many benefits for students of all ages. The amount of information on each slide, the type of transition between slides, the color of the background, and the number of slides are all factors to consider when teaching with PowerPoint Presentations, and there are many resources out there that will help guide you when you begin creating your own presentation.

Nowadays, technology is being used in the classroom more often than not as a tool to aid educators in teaching their students course content. PowerPoint presentations are often utilized by educators during lectures, which is why there are many resources available online to provide them with the best strategies to create and present these presentations in their classes.

Lesson Plans

• The 4 Best PowerPoint Lesson Plans for Middle School : Applied Educational Systems has put together four of the best lesson plan ideas to teach middle schoolers how to use PowerPoint. Each of the lesson plans (An Introduction to Microsoft PowerPoint, the Basics of Building a PowerPoint Presentation, More Features in Powerpoint, and the Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Presentations) includes a brief introduction and an activity for students to practice the skills that they have learned. By the end of these lessons, students will be able to create a new presentation, practice working with text and images, make their presentations interesting, and apply the principles of effective presentations to their own.
• PowerPoint Lesson Plan for Elementary Students : Perkins provides a class project which requires students to create “All About Me” PowerPoints while learning how to add text, pictures, sound effects, videos, and other features to their presentations. Directions call for students to be split into groups to put together multiple slides that will eventually be combined for a whole class presentation. Topics for each slide include students’ names, families, pets, favorite foods, favorite colors, favorite subjects, etc. This lesson plan gives educators a fun way to have younger students learn how to create PowerPoint presentations for their own use or future educational purposes.
• How Can I Use PowerPoint More Effectively? : In this article, David Forrest discusses strategies educators can utilize to make their PowerPoints more effective in the classroom. Forrest first recommends deciding on the role of your PowerPoint, which could be a lecture outline, note-taking aid (fill-in-the blank slides), visual aid, timed quizzes, or others. He also talks about the appearance of each slide because less is more in this situation, as the last thing any educator wants is for their students to become distracted from content by their presentation. Lastly, the author goes over how educators should prepare for technological failure or anything else going wrong during their PowerPoint presentation. This piece is a good one for educators to read before creating their own presentations!
• PowerPoint in the Classroom : NCBI provides a few different articles on whether PowerPoints are necessary or pointless in the classroom. Ultimately, despite the fact that some of the authors of these articles see PowerPoint presentations as unnecessary, their points of view give insight on what not to do when creating your own presentation, such as adding too much information per slide. Taking all of the arguments given in the articles into consideration will help you decide the best way to begin using PowerPoint presentations in your classroom.
• PowerPoint in Education : This brief article goes over the ways in which you can present your PowerPoint presentation most effectively in order to help students retain the most information. There are proper ways to use various technologies in the classroom, and in the case of PowerPoints, this author believes that the “intelligent use” of Powerpoint presentations is when the information presented is in the form of complicated graphs or figures and alphanumeric information. However, in cases where students are expected to retain certain information and concepts, traditional presentations would be best.

Informational Sites

• NIU – Teaching with PowerPoint : NIU runs through the ways to design effective PowerPoint presentations and the best practices when using this online software. First, the author describes how educators should design their presentation, including how to prepare for the presentation, slide content, the number of slides, emphasis on content, clip art, and a final check of the PowerPoint. Next, the use of PowerPoint handouts and tips for the actual presentation itself are detailed. Lastly, NIU explains how to enhance teaching and learning with PowerPoint and suggests ways to engage students with the presentation.
• Making Better PowerPoint Presentations : Vanderbilt University has put together a page on Baddeley and Hitch’s model of working memory (which relates to how students retain information received through different sensory domains), student preferences for PowerPoint (characteristics they like or don’t like and when students learn more), and resources for making better PowerPoint presentations.
• UW – Teaching with Powerpoint : UW provides educators with information on when and how to use a PowerPoint, which ultimately depends upon each individual’s teaching style, and the options for using PowerPoints (illustrated lectures, instructions, paper proposals, discussion prompts, test or quiz answers, grammar exercises, and student projects). At the end of the piece, a few additional resources, including a video, online tutorial, and essay, are given to help educators learn how to teach with PowerPoints in the best way.

PowerPoint presentations have many different purposes, but in the classroom, their main purpose is to help direct the lesson or lecture, while also giving students the opportunity to follow along and better understand the material. Presentations can also be a great resource for students to study off of before an assessment or use as a note-taking aid during class. Overall, the resources provided above will be useful when you are putting together PowerPoint presentations for your curriculum material. Take all of these tops into consideration, but remember to make it your own!

Additional Resources

• The Impact of Using PowerPoint Presentations on Students’ Learning and Motivation in Secondary Schools : ScienceDirect published an informational article on the impact of using PowerPoint presentations on students’ learning and motivation in secondary schools. In this article, the results of a study which investigated the effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations in teaching English and whether students prefer this learning process over traditional teaching styles are provided. The results support the notion that PowerPoint presentations can be used as an effective tool in the classroom. Taking a look at this piece may cause you to consider using these presentations in your classroom!

Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter!

• Academy 4SC
• Educators 4SC
• Leaders 4SC
• Students 4SC
• Research 4SC

Accountability

Blog > Interactive PowerPoint presentations in class

Interactive PowerPoint presentations in class

03.08.2023   •  #powerpoint #tips.

Presentations can be a great way to make your lessons exciting and informative and to informative and to better communicate information to your students. Many students do not feel engaged and integrated enough with normal presentations. To increase the attention span and arouse enthusiasm, interactive elements such as quizzes, word clouds or feedback rounds can help, to significantly increase learning success.

Common problems that arise during presentations in class

Presentations are a central element of the learning process, but they often involve challenges that need to be overcome. We have highlighted four common problems that often accompany presentations in class:

1. Lack of interaction

Standard PowerPoint presentations offer limited opportunities for audience interaction and engagement. They lack features to gather feedback or answer questions in real time and respond to requests.

2. Student passivity

Students are often forced into a passive role when the focus is only on the slides and the presenter simply delivers them in a heavy-handed manner.

3. Time managementt

Creating good presentations can take a lot of time and can be a difficult task for some.

4. Information Overload

Too much information at once, without a break can overwhelm and scare away younger students in particular. It's hard to focus on what's important and grasp the key messages.

4 ideas for interactive presentations in classes

Interactive presentations demonstrably increase learning success and retention. This is also confirmed by a study of the Keele University . The results here show very clearly to what extent involving the audience increases attention as well as knowledge transfer. It was found that the grades of the participants improved by 3.7%, as well as and the failure rate was reduced by 4.4% over the whole school year. were reduced.

1. Interactive classroom engagement

Students can ask questions anonymously and provide interactive feedback. This encourages active participation in the classroom and creates an open learning environment. Teachers could respond spontaneously to questions or interesting discussion points and customize lessons.

Here are some ways to better engage students in the classroom:

• Voting on the desired teaching material : Teachers can include an interactive survey where students choose from a variety of topics they would like to learn more about in class. This allows students to help shape the lesson and contribute their interests.
• Surveys in which subject areas the students need more support : Teachers can start a survey to identify areas where students are having difficulty or need more explanation. This can help to tailor the lessons to the needs of the students.
• Anonymous questions about ambiguities in specific subject areas : For example, students can use SlideLizard to anonymously ask questions about topics they didn't fully understand. These questions can then be discussed in class to clarify misunderstandings and deepen understanding.

2. Brainstorming and unleashing creativity

Interactive slides enable teachers and students to collaboratively brainstorming sessions into the presentation, and to create a presentation. The feature allows ideas to be collected and structured on virtual pinboards. and structure them. The result is an interactive collaboration that unleashes creativity and promotes the exchange of ideas. encourages.

Here are some ideas on how to incorporate brainstorming in the classroom:

• Brainstorming for possible solutions : When addressing complex problems or challenges, teachers can ask students to brainstorm different solutions together on an interactive slide. This encourages teamwork and creative thinking.
• Collection of ideas for projects : Teachers can use an interactive slide where students can collect creative ideas for upcoming projects. These ideas can then be discussed and developed together.
• Solutions for social challenges : Students can brainstorm and discuss ideas for addressing real-world social problems such as poverty, inequality, or pollution.

3. Learning with quizzes

Interactive quizzes are a highlight of PowerPoint presentations. Teachers can check what students have already learned in a playful way and track the learning success. The students in turn experience a motivating sense of achievement when they answer the quiz questions correctly. This makes the learning process not only entertaining, but also effective.

Here are some concrete ideas for how teachers can use quizzes in a meaningful way in the classroom:

• Short knowledge tests during the presentation : Teachers can include a short quiz after each section of a presentation to ensure that students understand the key concepts before moving on to the next section.
• Preparation for exams : Teachers can create more comprehensive quizzes that cover the entire subject matter and help students prepare for upcoming exams.
• Continuous knowledge checks : Teachers can create regular, short quizzes to ensure that knowledge learned builds and deepens consistently over time.

4. Flexibility in teaching through discussions

Additional slides can also be used or set aside to be be flexible to the needs of the students. Teachers can react spontaneously to respond spontaneously to questions or interesting discussion points and individually.

Here are some ways teachers can use discussions to engage students more fully in the classroom:

• Small group discussions : Teachers can divide students into small groups and have them discuss on different slides. Each group can then present their findings or conclusions.
• Feedback and reflexion : After a presentation or lecture, teachers can ask questions on a slide that encourage students to reflect on what they have heard. These questions can then be discussed together.
• Visualize discussions as a word cloud : The students' contributions and thoughts from a discussion can be visualized on a slide as a word cloud. Frequently mentioned words are displayed larger, which draws the focus to dominant topics or trends. This provides a visual summary of the discussion and encourages analysis of the most important aspects.

Tips: Create interactive presentations

One tool that can help you create interactive presentations is SlideLizard. SlideLizard offers a wide range of interactive features, such as word clouds, polls, quizzes or feedback rounds for your teaching. You can integrate the interactive slides directly into your PowerPoint presentation and the results of polls or word clouds during the lesson are automatically visualized in real time. Learn more about interactive teaching with SlideLizard here.

Using interactive PowerPoint presentations with SlideLizard allows teachers to take teaching to a new level and overcome these problems. By combining word clouds, quizzes, interactive feedback sessions, and brainstorming sessions, SlideLizard creates an inspiring learning environment where students can actively participate in the classroom and unlock their potential. Let's use this creative and innovative approach to unleash the potential of visual connection and take teaching in schools to a new level. Learning can be so much fun!

Related articles

About the author.

Annika Fachberger

Annika is dedicated to graphics and videos. At SlideLizard she supports the design team with her creative ideas.

Get 1 Month for free!

Do you want to make your presentations more interactive.

With SlideLizard you can engage your audience with live polls, questions and feedback . Directly within your PowerPoint Presentation. Learn more

Top blog articles More posts

Create puzzle in PowerPoint + free template

How to create a custom Theme design in PowerPoint

Get started with Live Polls, Q&A and slides

for your PowerPoint Presentations

The big SlideLizard presentation glossary

Impromptu speech.

A speech that is given without any preparation, notes, or cards, is called an impromptu speech. It is often delivered at private events (e.g., weddings or birthdays) or for training presentation skills.

Body language

Body language is communication through movements, hand gestures and body posture.

.pps file extension

A .pps file is a slide show. They are similiar to .ppt files but they open as a slide show if you double-klick them. They later got replaced by .ppsx files.

Corporate Events

A corporate event is an event organised by a company and intended for employees, stakeholders, customers, a charity event or public. The audience depends on the goal of the event.

Be the first to know!

The latest SlideLizard news, articles, and resources, sent straight to your inbox.

- or follow us on -

We use cookies to personalize content and analyze traffic to our website. You can choose to accept only cookies that are necessary for the website to function or to also allow tracking cookies. For more information, please see our privacy policy .

Cookie Settings

Necessary cookies are required for the proper functioning of the website. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information about the number of visitors, etc.

Center for Teaching & Learning

Using slides in classroom teaching.

Numerous articles have been written about the pros and cons of using PowerPoint, KeyNote, or other slide presentation tools in the classroom. Slides have become a standard tool for professors and depending on how they’re used, they can clarify and complement or detract from an instructor’s lecture. For better or worse, slides have become a lecturing standard. Below, we offer some tips for keeping your lectures interesting and share some links to resources and commentary.

Eight Tips for Design and Delivery:

Keep slides light on text. Slides shouldn’t be the used as your lecture notes. If you pack them with text, they’ll probably not be read. If you don’t intend for your students to read the slides, then use an image instead or a simple concept on the slide, allowing your narrative to deliver definition and context . Use handouts for dense amounts of information.

Don’t read your slides out loud . Research as shown that not only are people are unable to effectively listen and read at the same time, particularly when new terms and concepts are being introduced, MRI tests show that the 2 activities use the same parts of the brain and they directly compete with each other, creating frustration rather than learning. If a slide has some text on it (remember not to use much), allow sufficient quiet time for people to read the content. Talk about it, but don’t read it .

Don’t aim for comprehensiveness. This may seem paradoxical to effective teaching, but consider exercising communicative discipline with both your slides and spoken lecture. If you try to shoehorn in exhaustive amounts of information, you might only overload your students and bury the basics that you most want them to understand.

Present images with (or without) your text. The Picture Superiority Effect is a well researched phenomenon in which pictures are more likely to be remembered than words. Therefore, pictures and diagrams are best understood either in isolation or with spoken information only. (“ Cognitive Load theory ” by John Sweller)

Avoid using transitions and animations. Some people feel these techniques will “jazz up” a presentation, but remember that there are many people for whom these effects are a visual distraction that impedes their ability to stay focused on the message. A simple fade is the exception.

Create legible slides. Use big enough fonts in contrasting colors. Appropriate font size varies based on the audience size and scale of the room. Here are some guidelines from Think Outside the Slide .

Black out the screen when it’s not relevant. There may be times in your lecture that you want more focus on listening (or you need to stray from what’s on the slide). Slides can go stale if they’re up too long, especially when they aren’t on topic anymore. To temporarily blacken the screen, press the “b” key (for black). To bring it back, press “b” again.

Know your lecture as though you didn’t have slides. In other words, try not to rely on the slides as your lecture blueprint. If you are prepared to give the lecture without it, you’ll be more relaxed, less tempted to read from slides, and your lecture will flow.

Resources and Tutorials

• 10 Tips to Make Your Slides More Effective
• Making Better PowerPoint Presentations from Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching
• Garr Reynolds, an expert in the field of presentation, provides numerous tips on slide design and delivery at on his website . His blog, Presentation Zen , is another resource. And his talk to employees at Google is interesting, as well.
• “ Absolute Powerpoint ” Ian Parker, 2001. The New Yorker
• Teaching Naked—When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom , Jeffrey Young, 2009. The Chronicle of Higher Education
• “ PowerPoint is Evil ,” by Edward Tufte, Wired Magazine

PowerPoint could lead us to believe that information is all there is. According to [the late Clifford Nass, who was a Professor of Communication at Stanford University,] PowerPoint empowers the provider of simple content... ...but it risks squeezing out the provider of process—that is to say, the rhetorician, the storyteller, the poet, the person whose thoughts cannot be arranged in the shape of an AutoContent slide.

Email Newsletter

Receive free lesson plans, printables, and worksheets by email:

PowerPoint In the Classroom

What's All the Hype?

Seen as the industry standard for delivering interactive multimedia presentations, Microsoft PowerPoint, almost a decade old now, is beginning to pop-up in classrooms of all levels across the nation.

PowerPoint is a wonderful tool for learning in both a student and teacher-directed situation. It can add a new dimension to learning allowing teachers to explain abstract concepts, while accommodating all learning styles. Used properly, PowerPoint can be one of the most powerful tools for disseminating information ever known. Employed inappropriately, PowerPoint could potentially confuse students and make learning a difficult process.

Set the scene : Early 90's, Corporate America. A top-level executive begins to assess his/her underlings not only on their ideas, but also on their Arrangement of graphs and funny sounds that are integrated into their PowerPoint presentations. The executive pays special attention to colors, sounds, and movies being presented, all the while letting the content escape.

Set the scene: The New Millennium, Digital America. The once top level exec.- now middle manager, looks back and wonders where the innovation went in the organization.

Another victim of triple "P" ( PowerPoint Paralysis )! Triple "P" can be defined as the over zealous concentration on the utilization of PowerPoint, while concurrently disregarding the content being exhibited.

Our staff agrees that triple "P" is not uncommon in the business-world. Our goal is not to allow this practice manifest itself in the realm of education. As skilled-educators, before we employ this tool in our classrooms we must realize our susceptibility to triple "P."

What's Good About PowerPoint?

1. PowerPoint is fun to watch and fun to make.

2. Used correctly, PowerPoint can accommodate all learners' needs.

3. It has a spell-check function! Something our black boards and overheads lack.

4. It motivates students when used in moderation.

5. It motivates staff.

6. PowerPoint allows you to reflect on your lesson and correct any needed changes. Finally, you can create the perfect lesson!

7. Imagine to be able to print out what you did in class for students that were absent. Better yet, turn the accountability on to students and post your presentations on-line.

8. PowerPoint is not hard to learn. Our technology staff rates it a "B+" for ease of use. It should take about one hour to learn the basics.

What's Bad About PowerPoint?

1. Content can sometimes take a back seat to flash. Watch-out for triple "P."

2. Computers crash, networks go down, viruses can plague computers! Always have a back-up plan!

3. Overuse can bore learners and diminish PowerPoint's effectiveness.

4. Classrooms need large monitors or projectors to display presentations. Make sure your technology plan furnishes this. With simple TV-out cards or VGA-TV converters, this can be easily accomplished.

5. A successful presentation can take several hours to develop.

What No One Tells You About PowerPoint

1. You don't need to waste your money on a book to learn PowerPoint. The program comes with a complete tutorial. You can access this by clicking on the help portion of the tool bar. The web also has an overwhelming amount of well-written Articles. TeAch-nology.com has highlighted our favorite sites in the "Learn PowerPoint" section of this tutorial. This is accessible by clicking on "Learn PowerPoint" to the left.

2. There are plenty of sites on the web that allow you to access many types of different media (pictures, sounds, movies, etc.) for free. Try www.lycos.com , www.av.com, images.google.com .

3. Microsoft has made available a free PowerPoint viewer that allows you to show presentations on any computer made in the last five years. You can find download an area by visiting www.microsoft.com and type "PowerPoint Viewer" into their search engine.

4. PowerPoint makes it easy to convert any presentation into a web page. You just have to save your presentation as HTML.

5. Most schools purchase lesser-known presentation software for their staff and students due to cost. If you look into it Microsoft actually gives academic institutions that buy multiple copies of PowerPoint a reduced price. When buying 25 or more copies, PowerPoint could actually cost your organization the same if not less than other presentation packages.

Learn PowerPoint

Below you will find a number of sites that can help you learn the basic use of PowerPoint. Be sure to thoroughly test your presentation before using them with your classes. Good Luck!

Free Resources For Learning PowerPoint:

• Electric Teacher - A 5 part tutorial on the practical use of PowerPoint.
• Microsoft's Offical PowerPoint Site
• PowerPoint in the Classroom - Probably the best resource on the web for teachers.
• The PowerPoint Ezine - An excellent ezine that covers a wide range of the use of PowerPoint. The author examines PowerPoints application and the people using it on a regular basis.

Feeling limited as to the number of backgrounds and sound effects you can add to your PowerPoint Presentations?

The Bottom Line

When it comes to enhancing learning, black boards are good, overheads are better, but PowerPoint is the best. PowerPoint is a great tool for learning, but watch out for triple "P!"

Once you start your voyage, don't forget to look back and ask yourself: "Is this making me a better teacher?" If the answer is no, see if someone else in your building can use your equipment. Technology is a lot of things, but it shouldn't take the place of well-polished traditional methods of teaching and learning. It is meant to enhance teaching and learning.

Popular Areas: Disruptive Students | Differentiate Instruction | Substitute Teaching | Writing a Lesson Plan

About Us | K-12 Teacher Newsletter | Help | Privacy | Site Map

Global SharePoint Diary

The king of SharePoint and Microsoft Power Platform.

Quick 5 benefits of PowerPoint presentation in Education

Benefits of PowerPoint Presentation in Education: When it comes to teaching, every educator has their own methods. Some may thrive in a lecture setting, while others prefer an interactive environment where students can participate and ask questions. With many schools switching from traditional lectures to PowerPoint presentations, you might wonder which is best for your class. Which style of teaching is more beneficial for your students?

That answer will differ depending on your teaching style, the subject matter of your course, and how much interaction you want from your students. Both methods have pros and cons, but it largely depends on the class you’re teaching. If you’re still unsure which one is better for you and your students, keep reading to learn more about the benefits of PowerPoint presentations in education over traditional lecturing.

Table of Contents

Why use PowerPoint presentations?

PowerPoint presentations have become a staple of business meetings, but they can also be helpful in the classroom. For example, if your students are taking an English literature course and are reading a novel or poetry collection, using a PowerPoint presentation can make it easier to get through the material.

Students can focus on the author’s words while you move the PowerPoint slides to help them understand them. Unlike a traditional lecture, where one person speaks and everyone else listens, PowerPoint presentations allow for more interactive learning.

Students have the chance to respond to the material and learn from their peers, making the class more of a collaborative experience. PowerPoint presentations are also a great way to get students involved and engaged in the material. They can ask questions about the content and interact with one another during the presentation.

Even though you’re at the front of the classroom, PowerPoint can help you get the class involved. If you want to incorporate more visual aids into your course, PowerPoint presentations are a great way to do so. Some studies have shown that humans remember what they’ve seen more than what they’ve heard. Therefore, using PowerPoint presentations in the classroom could improve students’ retention and memory.

The benefits of using PowerPoint presentations in class

Using PowerPoint presentations in class has many benefits for educators and students. Primarily, it can help you save time. Instead of spending a large chunk of your class time lecturing, you can condense your information into a PowerPoint presentation, allowing you to move on to other concepts quickly.

It is also easy to share your PowerPoint presentations with your students outside of class, especially using cloud-based apps. You can also use your presentations to organize your thoughts and keep track of your course outline at a glance. PowerPoint presentations are a great way to incorporate visuals into your lessons, making concepts easier to grasp for students who learn better visually. Students can also use their laptops or computers to view your PowerPoint presentation, making it easy for them to follow along without having to be directly at your computer.

Please don’t give up if you’re struggling to stay focused in class because you find technology distractive. You can engage CustomWritings to help you learn the ropes. As a custom presentation writing service, it has specialized in helping struggling students catch up with the rest by providing high-quality projects, PPTs, speeches, and essays are written from scratch. They can handle PowerPoint presentations of all kinds and levels. Visit their website for inquiries and orders, and you won’t be disappointed.  

Benefits of PowerPoint Presentation in Education for Learners, Educators, and Schools

These days, when a student walks into a classroom, their expectations are high. They want to be engaged and feel like their time is well spent. They want to learn and get their money’s worth. The best way to do this is by using a PowerPoint presentation to engage them in the learning process.

A PowerPoint presentation is going to allow you to bring in visuals. This, in turn, will help you deliver a more interactive, hands-on lesson that will engage and excite your students. The best way to do this is by collaborating with your students and getting them to bring their creativity into the lesson. PowerPoints have also helped institutions lower operational costs. While the initial cost of acquiring the system, i.e., laptops, projectors, etc., can be high, schools save in the end through less printing, chalkboard paintings, etc. These are just a few advantages of PowerPoint presentations in education.

The importance of PowerPoint presentations for students in college

When students have an opportunity to contribute to the classroom in a meaningful way, they are more likely to feel empowered, invested, and engaged in the material. To make this happen, you will have to open the floor and allow your students to collaborate.

This is where a PowerPoint presentation can shine. It can help your students get hands-on with the material, allowing them to explore different ideas, take risks, and become critical thinkers. The best way to do this is by creating a collaborative workspace that will allow your students to partner up, explore their ideas, and contribute to the lesson in a meaningful way. Additionally, since most learners are addicted to technology, it is easier to grab their attention with PowerPoint presentations.

The Drawbacks of Using PowerPoint Presentations in Class

Although you can use PowerPoint presentations to save time and get your students more engaged in the material, there are a few drawbacks to keep in mind. If you don’t create a clear path for your students to follow, they may get lost. Make sure each slide has a clear, concise message. This can prevent students from getting distracted. Your students also need to know when they should be paying attention to you and when they should be viewing the PowerPoint presentation. This can be hard to manage and may cause students to miss important information.

The Drawbacks of Traditional Lectures for Students

Educators who prefer traditional teaching methods may wonder, “How does PowerPoint help students learn?” If you opt for the traditional lecture setting over a PowerPoint presentation, remember that this is not the most interactive teaching method.

If your students feel like they are sitting in darkness, they may feel disengaged and uninterested in the content, leaving them behind on tests and exams. Another drawback to traditional lectures is that you can’t quickly go back and review the information if a student misses it or needs a refresher. If you make notes on a projector or whiteboard, they are difficult to review after the fact.

Conclusion: Benefits of PowerPoint presentation in Education

Choosing the right style of teaching for your students can be difficult. Luckily, there are pros and cons to both the traditional lecture setting and PowerPoint presentations. When deciding which one is best for your classroom, consider your teaching style, the subject matter of your class, and the amount of interaction you want students to have.

See Also: Top 7 business challenges in SharePoint Online

You may also like this article, SharePoint Challenges: Top 7 business challenges in SharePoint Online

NEWOR MEDIA: Maximize Your Website’s Earnings With AI

About Post Author

I am your SharePoint and Power Platform doctor and guide. Sharing knowledge with my fellow colleagues, friends, and the tech community makes me utmost happy in my job.

See author's posts

Share this:

Do you have a better solution or question on this topic please leave a comment cancel reply.

Prove your humanity

Remember Me

Register | Lost your password?

A password will be e-mailed to you.

Log in | Lost your password?

Username or E-mail:

Log in | Register

Discover more from Global SharePoint Diary

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

7 Ways Elementary Students Can Benefit From PowerPoint

Teaching elementary students is an important job you can do in many different ways. Parents and teachers often brainstorm the best ways to teach children in school; one popular method is using PowerPoint. So, what are some ways that PowerPoint can aid young students?

Elementary students benefit from PowerPoint in these 7 ways:

• PowerPoint videos are a learning aid.
• You can help children learn with PowerPoint images.
• Powerpoint allows students and teachers to collaborate.
• Students can review lessons on PowerPoint at home.
• Teachers can use PowerPoint to organize their information 
• PowerPoint provides benefits to children with disabilities
• PowerPoint aids students’ creativity.

We all want the best for our kids, and PowerPoint can make learning easier and help your child progress. Teachers can also use PowerPoint to enrich their students’ experience and make classroom learning fun. Please read on to discover some of the best ways that students can benefit from PowerPoint.

Table of Contents

1. PowerPoint Videos Are a Learning Aid

One of the best parts about PowerPoint is how you can put more than one thing on a page. Video is one of the most popular items for elementary students to put on a PowerPoint presentation. 

Kids love videos, and teaching with them has numerous benefits for elementary students. It is a widespread opinion that children can learn more when videos are a part of the curriculum. With the digital age upon us, kids are often more receptive to video learning experiences than the old-fashioned teaching methods . 

You can use videos combined with other PowerPoint tools to help develop an understanding of a topic. You can use them for numerous subjects when you are teaching elementary students. Some of the most popular topics to teach with video on PowerPoint include: 

• Learning a foreign language. 
• Science lessons. 

Another important and valuable aspect of using videos in your PowerPoint presentations is the following:

Suppose you only have an hour to teach a class a science experiment or show them how something grows over time. In that case, you can incorporate a video into your lesson that can use time-lapse or skip ahead so that your students can see the final result of something in much less time. 

Children can also benefit from learning from videos by presenting lessons in a PowerPoint presentation. A video recording means they can access it whenever they want and save the information rather than scrambling to take notes. 

Frankly, it is hard to take notes when listening to someone’s lecture, let alone elementary students. Having videos included in the lessons gives them a chance to pay attention and engage without the pressure of not being able to access them later. 

Students Learn by Seeing Real-Life Situations Unfold 

When you incorporate a video into your social studies lesson, you can add a video that relates to the instance you are trying to explain. Suppose you want to show the importance of communication at home. Including a video that demonstrates positive interaction in a household can be beneficial. 

However, using videos in your PowerPoint presentation can help students benefit by giving them another tool that allows them to learn and understand a subject. It also gives teachers a chance to relax and gather their thoughts which can help them provide better education to their class because they are rested and ready to continue teaching their students after a short break. 

2. You Can Help Children Learn With PowerPoint Images

Images aren’t just useful for math classes. You can use photographs in just about any lesson under the sun. Some of the most common courses for elementary students that you can incorporate pictures with your lessons include: 

• Social Studies.

So give this approach a try next time you teach your students various subjects and watch them learn and grow. You’ll see smiles on their faces and hopefully increased engagement when you spruce up your lessons with images that will capture their attention and make learning a little more fun again. 

3. PowerPoint Allows Students and Teachers To Collaborate.

In life, we must always work together with other people. Collaboration is essential to our society, whether at home, at work, or with strangers in an emergency. So it is not surprising that one of the most important things you can teach students at any age, starting with elementary students, is how to collaborate. 

PowerPoint is an excellent method for teaching students how to collaborate with classmates and teachers. 

One of the best qualities of PowerPoint is that you can add to it at any time and share the presentation with others so they can, too. This ability to share with others is an excellent tool for elementary school teachers to use that they can share with their students to contribute to the lesson with their classmates while they are learning. 

Here is a video from Envato Tuts+ on how you can collaborate on PowerPoints: 

Collaboration between teachers and their students can make the lessons more dynamic. Teachers know a lot, but students can sometimes add something the instructor wouldn’t have imagined.

This collaboration is a great way to give your children some independence and make them feel like they are adding something to the conversation. PowerPoint allows children to add their contributions using technology to see how they can make a difference in class.

Collaborating with other students and teachers also allows children to have fun. Add some excitement to your lessons by giving children an opportunity to discuss with each other what they think should be included in their studies or letting them choose an image or video. 

This use of team-building gives students a chance to be creative and have a good time when they are learning. 

When students lack proper engagement with their teachers and fellow students, it can lead to feelings of isolation, which is not conducive to mental wellbeing. If students feel excluded from the learning experience, they will often feel low self-esteem and lose interest in their studies. 

When you allow children to collaborate with you, the teacher, and the other kids, you give your elementary students a better chance of having a positive view of themselves. 

4. Students Can Review Lessons on PowerPoint at Home

We all remember the dreaded word from various stages of our education: homework. But in all seriousness, homework is a critical aspect of teaching and learning. While elementary students should not get overwhelmed by homework, it is a good idea to have some assignments each night to keep the information fresh in their heads. 

• This ability to personalize lessons. Powerpoint allows teachers to help design a curriculum not just for the classroom but for the home as well. You can make homework fun by adding images and videos to help improve your students’ retention of the information.  
• The student can share difficult lessons with their parents. This transparency helps the parents better understand what their child is doing each day and allows them to work with their child at home to help improve their learning and recognize any areas of weakness more easily. 
• Parents can also contribute through Powerpoint . PowerPoint allows parents to discuss issues with the teacher to optimize their child’s educational experience. 

5. Teachers Can Use PowerPoint To Organize Their Information

One of the most appealing things about PowerPoint is that it allows the educator to design a visually appealing and comprehensive curriculum. It also encourages discussion as you can add numerous tools to help your students think about what they see and ask follow-up questions about the slides. 

There are many ways that teachers can organize their lessons on PowerPoint. It is really up to the instructor and their classroom on what they think is best. However, one of the ways that most people learn better, as discussed earlier, is through visual learning tools. 

Some of the very best ways that you can incorporate visual tools into your lessons to help organize your curriculum and give your students the best chance at learning and retention include: 

• Graphs and charts.
• Fill-in-the-blanks questions.
• Images that allow the student to relate to the subject at hand.

Although using Powerpoint as an educational tool can be extremely helpful, you also need to be sure that you are using it in a way that will benefit your students. If you make things too complicated or do not have a good sense of organization, you may want to avoid using PowerPoint.

 A PowerPoint presentation that is neatly organized and follows a deliberate structure is a great way to show your students how to arrange something for their benefit.

Teachers can use PowerPoint to teach their students some helpful organization techniques they can use in the classroom and in their home lives. You can give them examples of some best practices for remembering things and encourage them to practice this daily. 

Some of the ways that you can teach organization through PowerPoint include: 

• Using checklists that students can mark when they have completed a task.
• Add a calendar to your PowerPoint slides. 
• Replacing old slides with new ones when the information is outdated.

6. PowerPoint Provides Benefits to Children With Disabilities

The best part about using PowerPoint in classrooms is that it can reach more students than other traditional learning methods. Not everyone learns the same way, and PowerPoint is an effective way to combine multiple mediums so that students can learn at their own unique pace and in their style. 

There are numerous conditions that students have that can benefit from using PowerPoint. Some of these are:

• Hearing impairment.
• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Furthermore,  it doesn’t just benefit students with autism. There are numerous disabilities ranging from mild to severe that affect children. Many of these children with disabilities learn better when they use PowerPoint.

It is most likely beneficial for children with disabilities to learn with PowerPoint because they have so many different learning styles at their disposal. Whether they are looking at an image or video or reading the words, there are more ways to learn than with a traditional lecture. 

PowerPoint is an effective way to capture elementary students’ attention by letting them interact. You can use numerous tools with PowerPoint to capture the attention of your students with learning disabilities, such as: 

• Ask Them Questions. You can ask them questions on the PowerPoint screen. Asking them questions helps with hard-of-hearing students, but it also captures the attention of students who have ADD or ADHD and who might have trouble focusing. Breaking up your lesson can help these students pay attention better.   
• Use Images and Videos. You can capture students’ attention better when you use pictures and videos. Videos are suitable for any student to learn, but they can be even more beneficial to students with autism and other disabilities. You can recreate experiences for these children so they can see what it’s like to attend a demonstration in a crowded area without having to experience that firsthand.

7. Powerpoint Aids Student’s Creativity

You can have your students do many different PowerPoint activities to help build their imagination and tap into their creative side. Whether you want them to get experience with their pencil skills or posting videos or photos, there are many exciting and varying ways that you can help your elementary students be creative while using PowerPoint. 

Some of the best ways that you can do this include:

• Have them practice sketching their designs.
• Have them experiment with shapes and colors.
• Please encourage them to learn how to post their favorite photos or videos.

Creativity is just another one of the many benefits that your students will get from using PowerPoint. 

Whether they are learning with you in the classroom or practicing creating a slideshow at home with their parents, you can make your students test the limits of their imagination using this tool. Parents, students, and their teachers can work together to let their elementary students have fun learning on PowerPoint. 

Final Thoughts

In this modern era, we must equip students with useful computer skills , and being proefficent with PowerPoint ties in well with this overall goal.

As outlined in this article, PowerPoint is a hugely beneficial learning tool that makes participation engaging and creative. All good teachers should try to incorporate PowerPoint and equivalent digital tools in to lessons and activities.

• Microsoft Support: What is PowerPoint?
• Northern Illinois University: Teaching with PowerPoint
• Institute of Educational Studies: TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus
• Science: Lectures Aren’t Just Boring, They’re Ineffective, Too. Study Finds
• ADDitude: Learning on Steroids
• Edutopia: The Benefits of Video-Mediated Instruction
• Edutopia: Using Video Content to Amplify Learning
• The Tech Edvocate: How to Use Videos to Support Science Experiences
• European Investment Bank: Learning Through Looking
• Stanford Graduate School of Education Youcubed: Visual Math Improves Math Performance
• YouTube: How to Create Animated Interactive Math Graphs and Lessons in PowerPoint
• National Education Association: Benefits of Collaboration
• YouTube: How to Collaborate as a Team on PowerPoint
• US News: Should Kids Get Homework?
• National Library of Medicine: The Role of Collaboration in the Cognitive Development of Young Children: a Systematic Review
• Northwestern University: Why and When to Use PowerPoint in Online Courses
• Texas Tech University: How Can I Use PowerPoint More Effectively?
• Understood.org: How to Teach Your Grade Schooler Organization Skills
• PBS: Creativity and Play: Fostering Creativity
• Business Insider: How to Draw in Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Custom Designs on Slides Through the Desktop App and Online

Related posts:

• How To Deal With Students Who Won’t Stop Talking (20 Top Tips)
• Can Elementary Teachers Wear Jeans?
• What Elementary Teachers Should (And Should NOT) Wear
• Are Elementary Teachers Allowed To Wear Open-Toed Shoes?
• Should Elementary Teachers Give Homework? (The Ultimate Guide) 

Thanks for reading the article - we hope that your teaching query has been answered with helpful information and insightful advice. Feel free to share this article with friends and let’s help the Teacher How community grow!

Recent Posts

TeacherHow.com Expands Educational Reach with Acquisition of MontessoriOnMars.com

Teacherhow.com, a leading online website committed to empowering those concerned with education, proudly announces the acquisition of MontessoriOnMars.com, an inspirational platform dedicated to the...

How Do Kindergarten Teachers Stay Calm?

Kindergarten teachers spend many hours of the day with twenty or so very young children. Children who are just starting to learn social and self-management skills through unaccustomed boundaries set...

• Our Mission

How a Simple Presentation Framework Helps Students Learn

Explaining concepts to their peers helps students shore up their content knowledge and improve their communication skills.

A few years ago, my colleague and I were awarded a Hawai‘i Innovation Fund Grant. The joy of being awarded the grant was met with dread and despair when we were informed that we would have to deliver a 15-minute presentation on our grant write-up to a room full of educational leaders. If that wasn’t intimidating enough, my colleague informed me that he was not going to be in Hawai‘i at the time of the presentation. I had “one shot,” just a 15-minute presentation to encapsulate all of the 17 pages of the grant I had cowritten, but how?

I worked hard to construct and deliver a presentation that was concise yet explicit. I was clear on the big picture of what the grant was composed of and provided a visual of it in practice. I made sure the audience understood the “why” behind the grant. I showed how it worked, the concrete elements of it, and how they made it successful. I finished with a scaffold that would help others know how to initiate it within their context, giving them the freedom to make it authentically their own.

I received good feedback from the presentation, and more important, what was shared positively impacted student learning in other classrooms across the state.

A Simple Framework for Presentations

That first presentation took me over a month to prepare, but afterward I noticed that my prep time for presentations shrank exponentially from a few months to a few (uninterrupted) days. Interestingly enough, as a by-product of creating the original presentation, I created an abstract framework that I have used for every professional learning presentation I have delivered since then. The “What, Why, How, and How-To” framework goes as follows:

• What? What can the audience easily connect to and know as a bridge to the unknown for the rest of the experience?
• Why? Why should they care to listen to (and learn from) the rest of the presentation? What’s in it for them to shift from passive listeners to actively engaged? The audience needs to know why you believe in this so much that you are compelled to share it.
• How? What are the key elements that make it unique? How is it effective in doing what it does? What are the intricacies of how it works?
• How-to? How could they start doing this on their own? How could this knowledge serve as a foundational springboard? Connect it to “why.”

Benefits for Students

One of the best parts of presentations is that they help the presenter to improve their communication skills. The presenter is learning how to give a presentation by doing it. To prepare a presentation, the presenter must know the intricate elements of what they are presenting and the rationale for their importance. In the presentation delivery, the presenter must be articulate and meticulous to ensure that everyone in the audience is able (and willing) to process the information provided.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that preparing and delivering presentations could provide a valuable learning opportunity for my students.

I recall teaching mathematical concepts whereby students would immediately apply knowledge learned to accomplish the task in silence and without any deeper questioning. Only after I asked them to provide presentations on these concepts did they regularly ask me, “Why is this important, again?” or “What makes this so special?” My students’ mathematical literacy grew through preparing presentations with the “What, Why, How, and How-To” framework, which supported them in their ability to demonstrate content knowledge through mathematical rigor (balancing conceptual understanding, skills and procedural fluency, and real-world application).

• The “what” served as the mathematical concept.
• The “why” demonstrated the real-world application of the concept.
• “The “how” demonstrated conceptual understanding of the concept.
• The “how-to” demonstrated skills and procedures of the concept. 

In addition to content knowledge, the sequential competencies of clarity, cohesiveness, and captivation ensured that the presenter could successfully share the information with their audience. When combined, these framed a rubric that supported students in optimizing their presentation deliveries. The competencies are as follows:

1. Content knowledge. The presenter must display a deep understanding of what they are delivering in order to share the “what, why, how, and how-to” of the topic.

2. Clarity. The presenter must be clear with precise, academic language. As the content they deliver may be new to the audience, any lack of clarity will alienate the audience. Providing multiple modes of representation greatly addresses a variety of processing needs of a diverse audience.

3. Cohesiveness. When making clear connections, the presenter bridges gaps between each discrete component in how they all work together as integral elements of the topic. Any gaps too large may make the elements look disjointed or, worse, the audience feel lost.

4. Captivation. The presenter must captivate the audience through any combination of audience engagement or storytelling . They make the presentation flow with the energy of a song , and in the end, they leave the audience with a delicate balance of feeling fulfilled and inspired to learn more.

Anyone can build an effective presentation with the “What, Why, How, and How-To” framework, along with competencies of content knowledge, clarity, cohesiveness, and captivation. The better we teach and coach others on how to create and deliver presentations, the more we learn from these individuals through their work.

In my class, one multilingual learner responded to the prompt “What are the non-math (life lessons) you have found valuable from this class?” with “I learn what is learning and teaching... I truly understood how teaching is actually learning when I had presentation. I found a bit of desire to being a teacher. I hope you also learned something from this class.” I always learn from my students when they present.

10 Ways to Apply PowerPoint in Education

Updated: Nov 27, 2022

While at school and college, students are learning to incorporate various tools into the education process for better results. However, while some devices seem to be already deeply integrated into education, others are still falling behind just because teachers and students still don't understand how to apply them.

One of the handiest tools that still requires attention is PowerPoint. Lots of schools and other educational facilities are using it rarely to create presentations, but they still don't realize that there is much more to it.

If we dig deeper, we can find plenty of practical ways to apply this tool in education. All you need is a bit of creativity, and this universal and beneficial tool will help you gain the best result!

How to make the most efficient use of PowerPoint in the classroom? Below, we have gathered some of the best tips!

For Students

Self-study sessions.

Everyone knows that a considerable part of students' activities (especially when they are already at college) depends on self-learning. In their spare time, young people make notes, search for additional materials, and now, there is another excellent tool for your self-study sessions!

There are plenty of helpful PowerPoint presentations online that can help youngsters learn better.

Visual Interpretations

Facing a complex topic, many students spend days and nights trying to grasp the main idea. That's when they are missing out on the most significant benefit of using PowerPoint as a tool for education! Building visual interpretations of phenomena, facts, events, and other things, one creates associations that help memorize the terms better!

Moreover, never underestimate the power of visualization. Know that any complicated information on your most researched essay may be presented via PowerPoint. If you feel anxious about crafting the presentation itself, note that there is always a way to ask for professional help.

Creative Writing and Poetry

The homework assigned during the course of different creative subjects often lacks visualization. However, with the help of PowerPoint, students can disclose more of their creative potential and turn a regular assignment into the real piece of art. This will increase engagement in the classroom and also teach students valuable tech skills. Also, you can visit sites like Studycrumb for more practical advice on writing a variety of content

Creating a PowerPoint presentation on a historical event or another academic topic, students generally memorize the given material better as they need to draw the key points and facts from it. Thus, making group or individual slideshows can help gain more in-depth knowledge.

Test Preparation

In many cases, visualizing the educational material helps students memorize it faster than they would do if they just read it in the textbook. This fact makes PowerPoint a truly universal tool for covering the material. Thus, creating quick visual notes can be extremely handy during exam preparation.

For Teachers

Interactive classes.

PowerPoint is perfect for making your lessons more interactive! This tool allows incorporating different types of fun activities that will contribute to faster and better learning in the classroom!

One of the easiest ways to start using PowerPoint in the classroom is to prepare fun, interactive quizzes with its help. It will be fun for the whole class because instead of the piece of paper and a pen, students can interact with each other and watch a neat visual presentation meanwhile.

Instructions for Lab Sessions

As a rule, during any laboratory session, a teacher needs to provide the students with detailed guidelines for further assignments. Doing so with the help of a slideshow is easy and convenient.

First of all, this automates the learning process and, most importantly, when all the instructions are displayed on the monitor for the whole class to see, this minimizes the number of mistakes to be made by students.

Charts and Graphs

Statistical data is always a great way to support a specific statement or fact, so this is something teachers are dealing with all the time. Providing this data in a visual form helps learners perceive and memorize the material better. Thus, using a presentation for sharing graphs and charts is a great idea!

Educational Games

Speaking of younger learners, they also can benefit if teachers start using PowerPoint for educational purposes. It is not a secret that youngsters perceive information the best in the form of games, and this tool allows teachers to prepare fun, interactive, and educational lessons with ease!

Final Words

PowerPoint has been around for a while. However, it seems like we are just getting started discovering its full potential.

This smart tool for creating presentations can actually come in handy in numerous ways, be you at home, workplace, or school!

Wrapping up, let's look at some of the biggest pros of integrating PowerPoint into the educational program:

● It motivates students when used right;

● It allows adding more creativity and interactivity into the classroom;

● It is fun, so students should enjoy both watching and making such presentations;

● With the right approach, it can help schools accommodate all learners' needs.

These are just some of the most significant pros of using PowerPoint! Thus, it is fair to say that this tool should be integrated into every modern learning program for creativity, engagement, and performance boost!

Recent Posts

Advanced chart types actually possible in PowerPoint & Excel

Unlock productivity with the Slide Master in PowerPoint

10 legendary games created by Excel geniuses

Disclosure: MyeLearningWorld is reader-supported. We may receive a commission if you purchase through our links.

eLearning Software

7 Advantages of Using PowerPoint for eLearning & Online Education

Last Updated: 02/12/2024

By Scott Winstead

• Share on Facebook
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Pinterest

There’s hardly any tool that fits an average eLearning professional’s objectives better than good old PowerPoint. In fact, a recent survey found that 69% of instructional designers use PowerPoint at least once a month as they create their online courses and modules. Personally, I regularly use PowerPoint to craft engaging and interactive learning experiences that go beyond traditional slide decks. It’s the gold standard for the industry.

In this article, I’ll share 7 important benefits of using Microsoft PowerPoint for eLearning applications.

1. Simple yet sophisticated

One of the things I love about PowerPoint is its remarkable balance of simplicity and power. It’s a tool that’s intuitive enough for beginners to pick up quickly, yet powerful enough to satisfy the creative and technical demands of advanced users.

PowerPoint’s extensive suite of features, effects, and animations is truly second to none, offering a ton of customization options that can transform a basic set of slides into an engaging narrative journey.

This kind of versatility is especially beneficial in eLearning, where the engagement of learners is a top priority.

It’s been quite a while since some caustic observer coined the “death by PowerPoint” expression. Picture a corporate meeting with yet another team lead or business trainer rolling out boring facts in an interminable series of tedious slides…turns out, it doesn’t have to be that way.

We are no longer condemned to click-and-read PowerPoint presentations that can definitely kill the fun of eLearning or business initiatives.

In order to create engaging interactive online courses, you just need to learn how to use the advanced options of the product.

2. Scalable functionality

Whether you’re creating a brief tutorial or an extensive training module, PowerPoint can accommodate your project with ease. It’s designed to grow with your content, allowing for everything from simple slide sequences to complex interactive courses with branching scenarios.

PowerPoint is a highly flexible solution that also works seamlessly with dozens of third-party tools.

Many of them are free, like VEED ( review ) which lets you add audio to PowerPoint presentations .

Gantt chart fans may consider Office Timeline , one of the best PowerPoint add-ins , that allows you to add beautiful timelines and charts to your presentation right in the interface.

These are just a couple of examples; a full list would be huge and, at that, far from exhaustive.

New plugins are conceived every few months to facilitate or enrich rendered material.

3. Easy to convert, easy to share

You can easily convert PowerPoint presentations into any popular format (video, HTML5 to embed on your website, Word document, PDF). And it’s easy to share a PowerPoint presentation online .

Why not turn your deck into a video file?

A couple clicks – and you go live on YouTube.

You could use third-party add-ons like Movavi or Wondershare, or convert PowerPoint content right from the software (from version 2010 onwards).

If you are looking for a more scalable format than PPT, try HTML5 or Flash. There is a host of free and paid converters available on the web. Find one with the appropriate quality, convert your slides, upload to a slide sharing/web hosting service, get a code generated, and there you go.

Save-as-PDF might be a good option as well. You can’t go wrong with this lightweight and universal format recognized by any modern device. Watch out for quality disruptions, though. Some of the visual bells and whistles, not to mention animations and transitions, will surely get lost. In some cases, like extended text editing needs or greater compatibility, you may want to reduce your content to a text document. Just export the slides into Microsoft Word, and possibly elaborate the bullets into a full-fledged article.

4. Reliable and always up-to-date

After all these years, PowerPoint continues to evolve, consistently staying current with new features and functionalities that enhance its utility and user experience. Microsoft’s commitment to regular updates means that PowerPoint is a tool that grows with the times, integrating cutting-edge trends and user feedback into its development cycle.

For us in the eLearning field, this means we’re always equipped with the latest in presentation technology, from AI-powered design suggestions to real-time collaboration features. The addition of new templates, accessibility options, and integration with other Microsoft 365 apps ensures that PowerPoint remains a forward-thinking tool for creating educational content.

5. The cornerstone of eLearning

Educators and business users alike will find all the necessary tools to create a full-fledged course in PowerPoint.

Many content authoring and eLearning solutions build on the PPT platform to deliver extended functionality like quizzes, scoring, analytics, interactive elements, and many others, but the core remains unaltered.

Be that as it may, all authoring tools replicate PPT functionality, in whole or in part, or even lack some features by contrast. Strictly speaking, you can construct your own eLearning suite from PowerPoint bundled with standalone free tools.

6. Ample template library

A PPT template is a pattern of a slide or batch of slides that you can save as a .potx file. PowerPoint templates include theme colors, fonts, effects, layouts, background styles, etc.

Users have an opportunity to create custom templates, store, reuse and share them with fellow presenters.

There is a vast library of free built-in templates. Pick a template that seems a good fit for your presentation or eLearning course, add your content (keeping best practices in mind), and deliver to the public!

7. Easy access to guidelines and instructions

Need to perform a specific task? Would you like to consult external resources?

There’s a bunch of information and free resources available on the web. You don’t have to waste time on in-depth research: just type in “PowerPoint guide” in Google, and receive an overwhelming amount of data.

PowerPoint boasts a vibrant user community comprised of amateurs and professionals from all walks of life. Office.com, bloggers and presentation gurus are there to answer your questions and give recommendations at no cost.

At the end of the day, we all love good content, and the more skilled PPT users out there, the merrier.

Tips and tricks

Here are some best practices that are worth following when you conceive a quality presentation or eLearning course.

• Design a “look” for the course. Use tools within the software to create shapes, gradients and more, to make your course feel unique and branded. Explore “Shapes”  for creating your eLearning design template and backgrounds. You can choose to fill shapes with textures, change transparency to create overlays, use them as menu bars, and so on.
• Ensure easy navigation . It’s no secret PowerPoint allows learners to advance whenever they click the screen. That’s the hallmark of a classic presentation! Disabling this feature may actually do a lot of good, since you get more options for interactivity and custom navigation corresponding to your narrative or course logic.
• Employ Slide Masters . Feel like giving your course a professional look and making it easier for learners to follow? Set up Slide Masters to ensure a consistent layout. You can also re-use layouts and forget about matching up colors or re-shaping positions every time you generate a new slide. Configure your Slide Masters from the very beginning, before you start handcrafting the eLearning course. It’s a no-brainer, yet it pays off well in the future.
• Interactivity is key. As we mentioned before, PowerPoint provides a wealth of animations and effects. This can be pretty much anything: quiz questions, text appearing on click, embedded objects, etc. Configure a desired object to animate when the learner clicks the slide. Make it fun and make it memorable when you add interactivity to your eLearning experiences!
• Leave some space unfilled. Your presentation wants a whiff of fresh air. Don’t overcrowd the Powerpoint slides with too much text. This may seem like common knowledge, but it’s worth reiterating. If there is excessive content on the slide, chances are the learner will fail to process it and, ultimately, lose the key point. Stick to the message. A presentation is no monograph, it’s an interactive hassle-free way to transfer ideas.
• Use custom PowerPoint themes. Despite what we said above about the blessing of ready-made templates, anyone familiar with PowerPoint or any Windows-based content will tell apart standard themes the instant they see them. This might give someone the feeling you didn’t go the extra mile to deliver a genuinely spectacular course. Make yourself stand out from the crowd and go beyond just changing theme colors. Get some professional designer help, if needed, to provide highly engaging and visually attractive content.

A Final Word on eLearning PowerPoint Usage

Like it or not, PowerPoint is here to stay. If you are short on time and resources, it may be the only eLearning development software you have available.

Considering that almost every authoring solution or learning management system can be traced back to PowerPoint and its powerful functionality, it’s safe to assume PowerPoint will remain the key power broker in eLearning for years to come.

Have any questions about how to use PowerPoint for eLearning and online education? Share your thoughts by commenting below.

eLearning Trends: How mLearning, AI, and New Assessment Strategies are Shaping Education

How to make elearning videos accessible for all, leave a comment cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Cell Biol Educ
• v.3(3); Fall 2004

PowerPoint in the Classroom

Note from the editors.

Points of View (POV) addresses issues faced within life science education. Cell Biology Education has launched the POV feature to present two or more opinions published in tandem on a common topic. We consider POVs to be “Op-Ed” pieces designed to stimulate thought and dialog on significant educational issues. Each author has the opportunity to revise a POV after reading drafts of the other POVs. In this issue, we ask the question, “Is PowerPoint the best instructional medium to use in your class?” Everyone seems to have an opinion on Microsoft, but the intellectual merits of using PowerPoint (or similar software) is a growing question as states and institutions put more and more money into information technology and distance learning. Four POVs are presented: 1) David Keefe and James Willett provide their case why PowerPoint is an ideal teaching software. Keefe is an educational researcher at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. Willett is a professor at George Mason University in the Departments of Microbial and Molecular Bioscience; as well as Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. 2) Kim McDonald highlights the causes of PowerPointlessness, a term which indicates the frequent use of PowerPoint as a crutch rather than a tool. She is a Bioscience Educator at the Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. 3) Diana Voss asks readers if PowerPoint is really necessary to present the material effectively or not. Voss is a Instructional Computing Support Specialist at SUNY Stony Brook. 4) Cynthia Lanius takes a light-hearted approach to ask whether PowerPoint is a technological improvement or just a change of pace for teacher and student presentations. Lanius is a Technology Integration Specialist in the Sinton (Texas) Independent School District. The authors span the range of teaching experiences and settings from which they bring different points of view to the debate. Readers are encouraged to participate in the online discussion forum hosted by CBE at www.cellbioed.org/discussion/public/main.cfm and/or contact the authors directly.

• Cell Biol Educ. 2004 Fall; 3(3): 155–161.

PowerPoint in the Classroom; Is It Really Necessary?

Instructional Computing SUNY Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 11794-3800

PowerPoint in the Classroom, Is it Really Necessary?

Have you ever asked your students how they feel when their professors bring up a PowerPoint presentation in class? For the past 3 yr, I have taught “Effective Presentation” workshops for students at SUNY at Stony Brook. During the workshops, I ask the students, “Do your professors use PowerPoint?” Based on their responses, it appears that a majority of teachers use PowerPoint. When I ask, “Does PowerPoint improve your ability to learn?”, they feel the same way about the use of this tool in their classroom as I do.

Students feel ignored in lecture halls when the instructor is focusing on the presentation and not paying attention to the class. Part of the problem is limited technology. If the faculty member does not have a remote mouse, he or she may not be able to leave the podium because of the need to advance to the next slide. This inability to move inhibits the teacher from being able to walk freely across the room and see when the students have questions. However, part of the problem is also the fact that faculty tends to focus on the technology and ignore the audience.

The students and I both agree that PowerPoint should not be used simply to demonstrate that an instructor is using technology in his or her classroom. Students' comments reveal that instructors too often focus on the technical aspects of the presentation rather than on the information being presented. Students get frustrated by PowerPoint presentations that are full of graphics and words flying across the screen while lacking substantive content.

The next time you attend a PowerPoint presentation, instead of watching the presentation, watch the audience. If the presenter is using animation (words flying onto the screen, for example), do you see the audience's heads moving to follow the words? Perhaps the presenter is using the appear feature in which the letters appear one at a time. What is the point of that? To keep your audience on edge? When used infrequently, this can be an effective tool, but at times, I have found myself wanting to leave a presentation because I was tired of waiting for the information to appear on the screen.

The students explained that they are insulted when the instructor does not recognize that they can read what is on the screen and proceeds to read the slides to the class. Reading PowerPoint slides verbatim is not limited to college classrooms; I have witnessed the same presentation style at many conferences. The presenter turns his or her back to the audience or stares at a monitor and never looks at the audience. Poor presentation skills? Uncomfortable with the topic? Perhaps, but I also think this is poor use of the technology. When being read to, I find myself thinking, “Yes, I can read that, but what is your point? Why am I here listening to you? If you are not adding any additional information to your slide show, then why not just e-mail it to me and I'll go to another session?”

When I teach presentation workshops to my students, I always discuss “Death By PowerPoint.” The students laugh at this phrase, but they also quickly recognize the reference. How many times have you attended a presentation in which the presenter has 80 slides to show in an hour and each slide contains one line of information? Is there a prize for “largest” slide show of which I am unaware?

Recently, I attended a presentation in which the slides contained so much information that I couldn't read anything on them. The text was very small, and the color scheme was very difficult to read ( Figure 1A ). In fact, when I looked at the slides, my head hurt. When using PowerPoint, it is important to consider the design of the presentation. What is the best color scheme? Is the font big enough? If I project this on a screen, will the last row of audience members be able to see everything they need to see? Are the images appropriate for the information I want to convey ( Figure 1B )?

Do's and Don'ts of PowerPoint Slide Creation

Recently, I was asked to speak with a group of fourth graders about my job and how I became involved with technology. I created a PowerPoint presentation in which I used images to tell my story; it included several pictures, such as a picture of my parents and a picture of me when I was in fourth grade. Without PowerPoint, I would have had to pass out the old photographs and hope that, when returned, they were not covered with fingerprints. PowerPoint can be a useful tool when it is used to display images that students normally would not be able to see or when instructors use it as an outline to keep them focused on their lectures and also give the students an idea of what to expect.

While writing this Point of View, I found this Web site, http://training.ifas.ufl.edu/deft/produce/pptart.htm , which contains suggestions for using PowerPoint. If you are curious to discover ways in which PowerPoint can be an effective learning tool in the classroom, I suggest you visit that Web site. The next time you are preparing a lecture, ask yourself, “Will PowerPoint help me communicate better with my class, or will it be a distracter for me and my students? PowerPoint is a tool; whether or not it is useful is up to you.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the editors of Cell Biology Education for providing me with this forum. I also wish to thank Dr. Wendy Katkin for recommending that I participate in the forum.

A Case for PowerPoint as a Faculty Authoring System

David d. keefe.

* Center for Technology in Learning SRI International Menlo Park, CA 94025

James D. Willett

† Department of Microbial and Molecular Bioscience College of Arts and Sciences and Bioinformatics and Computational Biology School of Computational Sciences George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030

jwillett@gmu.edu

The three most compelling arguments for the use of PowerPoint in the classroom are its suitability as a powerful and easily learned authoring system for course material; its ubiquitous availability to students, courtesy of the free Microsoft PowerPoint viewer; and its capability of coexisting with an overall course management environment (in our case, WebCT). In a course in molecular bioscience, PowerPoint also provides a means of mapping and directing the course of a classroom discussion on a topic, rather than just a means of presenting the materials.

Our context for presenting these arguments is 5 years of experience in a collaboration to produce distributed learning material ( Dede, 1996 ; Dede et al., 2002 ) in graduate education programs for use by students who are usually practicing professionals in the biological or computing sciences and technologies. The current course, Biochemical Systematics, is an e-Learning course that, although presented in a traditional classroom setting, is offered in the context of a Web environment, giving the student and professor integrated access to all of the relevant resources on the Web and both synchronous (chat) and asynchronous (bulletin board) capabilities for individual or small group communication during study hours.

When Does PowerPoint Come into Play?

PowerPoint has evolved over the past 10 years to the point where it has many desirable features as a course-authoring system. PowerPoint was the second most popular tool for creating computer-based training applications, cited by 48 percent of 3,500 training professionals in a 2003 study conducted by Bersin & Associates. ( http://www.interlake.net/download/Is_PowerPoint_an_E-Learning_Tool.pdf ). Although PowerPoint presentations can be converted to HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), we have found it more useful to store the actual PowerPoint presentations on the course Web site. This preserves all of the entrance/exit effects, including timed sequences as well as automatic updating capabilities. Availability of the free Microsoft PowerPoint viewer enables users to interact with the study material at home, without requiring the student to own the Microsoft Office software.

The PowerPoint “Master Slide” can serve as a template, providing consistent graphic appearance and text for all of the slides in the presentation. However the Master Slide can also contain any other object accepted by PowerPoint, including action settings that hyperlink to other slides, PowerPoint presentations, or (via URL [uniform resource locator]) any Web resource. Anything set onto the Master Slide becomes available on all of the slides in the presentation. Thus embedding a link to the class discussion forum in the Master Slide means that students can seamlessly bring up the discussion forum while they are reviewing the class material and raise questions or share observations with other class members and faculty. The material presented in class can be highly interactive, through the use of dynamic links to supporting information, which the professor can access during class discussions and students can access during follow-up study.

By definition, all textbooks are outdated compared to research literature. Therefore, faculty often supplement textbook information with more recent information, images, and movies. Faculty can embed video segments, charts, photographic images, and tables in PowerPoint slides; these can also be linked to source documents so that the slide is automatically updated whenever the source documents change. This is particularly useful when presenting the results of research experiments that will evolve as the course progresses.

PowerPoint is used by the professor in the Biochemical Systematics course primarily as a means of moving directly from class discussion on a particular point within the context of the subject of the moment to the relevant databases or visual materials that enhance access to an understanding of these materials. Figure 1 is an excerpt from a presentation on The Citric Acid Cycle, showing links to relevant databases. Access to electronic journals in the molecular biosciences at George Mason University makes it easy for the instructor to focus on current research articles pertinent to the class subject under discussion as a core element of the lecture. Thus, PowerPoint serves more as a means of mapping and directing the flow of a classroom discussion on a topic than as a means of presenting the materials themselves. As molecular bioscience becomes ever more complex in both its depth and breadth, discussions of current studies of the cellular and subcellular processes that provide and drive cellular function become more revealing of the molecular structures and mechanisms involved. In so doing, molecular representations, pathway presentations, gene regulatory networks, and signaling cascades are described and represented graphically to enable a better view of the process and facilitate understanding of the phenomenon involved.

Screen image from lecture on The Citric Acid Cycle ( http://www.america-tomorrow.com/gmu/cac.ppt ). Links to supporting material are shown in underscored gold color

Students are expected to work in small group projects and to develop a PowerPoint presentation on their project for presentation to the class. The PowerPoint presentations used by the instructors serve as models for student projects in terms of providing guides on how to organize material. Observing how the professor makes use of the material conveys an understanding of how to connect the student project to the wealth of relevant information available on the Internet. The instructional model is an example of situated learning, a modern master-apprentice technique where the instructor models the behaviors expected of the student ( Brown et al., 1989 ; Lave and Wenger, 1991 ).

The students produce an electronic portfolio at the completion of their projects, which includes the PowerPoint presentations. The presentations aid in faculty assessment of the student projects and give the students a useful vehicle for reporting on their graduate work in conference presentations or providing feedback to their employers.

• Brown J.S., Collins A., Duguide S. Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educ. Res. 1989; 18 (1):32–42. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dede C. Emerging technologies and distributed learning. Am. J. Distance Educ. 1996; 10 (2):4–36. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dede C., Whitehouse P., Brown-L'Bay T. Designing and studying learning experiences that use multiple interactive media to bridge distance and time. In: Vrasidas C., Whitehouse C., Glass G., editors. In: Current Perspectives on Applied Information Technologies. (Volume 1: Distance Education) Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing; 2002. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lave J., Wenger E. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press; 1991. [ Google Scholar ]

PowerPoint, Not Your Grandmother's Presentations, but Is it Evil?

Cynthia lanius.

Sinton Independent School District Sinton, TX 78387

When I was in 10th grade, my school got its first overhead projector. My teacher, Mrs. Bankston, loved that new projector; she sat right beside it and taught to it all day long. Before that, she'd written all the theorems and proofs on the chalkboard. The overhead projector was basically the same as the chalkboard, except that now, she wrote on the overhead's glass plate with black paste pens. I'm not sure whether Mrs. Bankston was, as a presenter, any more effective when she moved from the blackboard to the overhead projector. I also don't remember us being wowed by the technology; it was still the teacher droning on about something in which we weren't particularly interested. However, I know she was a lot happier with the new toy.

For student presentations (we called them “oral reports” back then), I don't remember ever using the overhead projector. Oral reports consisted of students standing before the room reading from typewritten pages. Passing around a World Book Encyclopedia with a picture was as multimedia as oral reports got. I remember giving lots of these reports, but I can't remember hearing a single one. Eventually, students started making transparencies to accompany their presentations when fancy copiers became available.

Overhead projector technology improved a lot over the years. Textbook companies started providing colorful slides, some with overlays to help demonstrate change. By the time I was teaching geometry, the slides even simulated animation with brads and arrows. I used the overhead projector a lot in my teaching, primarily because I could communicate with the students much better by facing them than by facing the chalkboard with my back to the class. But basically, my presentations were the same whether I wrote on the board or presented with transparencies.

Now, we have another presentation technology that is becoming very popular in schools, which I will refer to as “PowerPoint,” since that is by far the most common presentation software used. PowerPoint adds color, images, sound, animation, and hyperlinks to other documents, including Web documents. The increased use of PowerPoint has been very similar to that of overhead projector technology during my education. At first, teachers produced all their own slides; then, textbook companies began providing professionally created PowerPoint presentations to accompany their texts.

Just like the overhead projector before it, PowerPoint won't turn a bad presentation into a good one, and it won't convert an ineffective presenter into an effective one. Every K-12 teacher who teaches with PowerPoint or lets students use PowerPoint ought to be required to read “Powerpoint Is Evil: Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely” (2003) by Edward Tufte. We've all endured some really bad presentations that “fancy, smancy” PowerPoint didn't save. I love Tufte's point, “If your words or images are not on point, making them dance in color won't make them relevant. Audience boredom is usually a content failure, not a decoration failure.” I've seen some presentations in which the PowerPoint overkill detracted from good content instead of supporting and enhancing it.

Tufte makes a strong case against having students just write in bullets—what he calls the “PowerPoint Cognitive Style”—to which I say a hearty amen. Students should write oral reports in complete sentences, and they should present reports in complete sentences. I've heard students giving PowerPoint presentations in which they actually read the titles and bullets. Sometimes we literally have to hide the bullet points to force the students to talk in complete sentences rather than in clauses. But, obviously, what is really evil is not PowerPoint but its misuse, which Tufte has described so cleverly.

I think this PowerPoint Point of View is coming at a very appropriate time. Many more teachers are acquiring data projectors in their classroom, making PowerPoint available to them on a full-time basis (see attached 10th-grade geometry sample file). For example, in 2003, my school district (Sinton ISD; http://www.sintonisd.net/ ) received a Technology Applications Readiness Grants for Empowering Texas (TARGET) grant, which is putting laptops and liquid-crystal display (LCD) projectors in teachers' classrooms. All across the nation, millions of dollars are being spent on technology. A Houston teacher told me a couple of years back, “All our students are getting laptops and now we are desperate to figure out something for them to do on them.” In our TARGET program, we stress the opposite; let the curriculum, not the technology, drive the instruction.

For example, below are selected items from the ninth-grade “English Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills,” the state-mandated curriculum.

(7) Reading/comprehension. The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to:

•  (F) identify main ideas and their supporting details;
•  (G) summarize texts;
•  (H) draw inferences such as conclusions, generalizations, and predictions and support them from text;

Creating a title and bullet points on a PowerPoint slide helps students identify main ideas and their supporting details. Let me emphasize again that bullet points should not replace complete sentences, but they can help students structure their thinking.

K-12 students tend to enjoy working with PowerPoint; they like adding images, sound, and animation to illustrate their text. We can use their enjoyment to motivate skill developments that they find less enjoyable. Motivation is a key factor in K-12 education. The bitter-pill model (“Do this, it's good for you!”) doesn't work very well, especially with reluctant learners. PowerPoint may be the spoonful-of-sugar-makes-the-medicine-go-down model, though I'm not sure I like that as a teaching philosophy. I wish all students absolutely loved finding main ideas and summarizing texts, but they don't.

PowerPoint is by no means the only software that could support these skills and is probably not the best. Inspiration ® , for example, is a tool designed to develop ideas and organize thinking and to support critical thinking, comprehension, and writing in all curriculum areas. But PowerPoint is here to stay; it's Microsoft after all, and in many school systems, there isn't enough money for specialized software.

I've seen horrific K-12 student presentations in PowerPoint, and I've seen great ones. Yesterday, I saw a beautifully moving presentation on the 1940s Jewish resistance movement ( Figure 1 ). I hope this will become the rule, rather than the exception.

Screen shot from students' presentation in Alice Berecka's German II class; the Jewish resistance to Nazi extermination of humans. Image courtesy of the author

• Tufte E. PowerPoint Is Evil: Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely. Wired Magazine. 2003, September http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html (accessed 29 April 2004) [ Google Scholar ]

Examining PowerPointlessness

Kim mcdonald.

Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. Durham, NC 27705

Introduction

We would all agree that software applications are more appropriately used in the classroom as tools rather than as toys. Certainly, this philosophy is why policy makers have invested billions of dollars incorporating technology into the classroom in the past 20 years ( Trotter, 1998 ). PowerPoint is one of the most widely used software applications ( Keller, 2003 ). Teachers and students alike use the tool in a variety of ways. I'll readily agree that there are situations in which projecting a PowerPoint presentation to teach a particular concept is an appropriate use of technology in the classroom. The strength of PowerPoint is its ability to allow an instructor to import graphics, audio, quotes, and music or to link to simulations or Web pages. It is a product that optimizes a student's visual learning experience and allows instructors to incorporate multimedia in a manner that is far less cumbersome than are ways that are available without access to such an application. However, it is the rampant misuse rather than the use of this tool that has sparked debate among educators since the presentation software started to gain popularity in the educational setting in 1998 ( Keller, 2003 ).

Beyond PowerPointlessness

What exactly do I mean by the misuse of PowerPoint? “PowerPointlessness,” a term first coined by Jamie McKenzie in 2000, is defined as “any fancy transitions, sounds, and other effects that have no discernible purpose, use, or benefit” ( McFedries, 2001 ). Focusing on graphics, animations, or sound effects more than course content, classroom discussion, or effective communication is a pitfall into which many educators and students fall when giving a PowerPoint presentation. The excessive bells and whistles of the program do not provide information, but instead, distractions that misdirect an audience's attention from the purpose of the presentation. Visual aids are important for all audiences, especially young students. However, if a presentation is more “visual” and less than an “aid” in helping an audience understand material, then it is simply inappropriate to use such technology to communicate ideas. Presenters may be seduced into spending more time on the appearance of the slides than on the organization of their thoughts or the sequence in which ideas should be presented. Thus, users may give a talk containing superficial, incomplete, or incoherent ideas that are masked by bold colors, fancy fonts, or abundant animations.

Communication Skills, Creativity, and Critical Thinking

Many teachers seemingly have the false impression that forcing students to use PowerPoint in their own presentations will spawn excellent communication skills. The crucial point is that the skills learned to design a PowerPoint presentation are different from those learned to meet effective communication demands. In his New York Times article, Thompson (2003) provides a disastrous example that illustrates this common pitfall.

In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board at NASA released Volume 1 of its report on why the space shuttle crashed. As expected, the ship's foam insulation was the main cause of the disaster. But the board also fingered another unusual culprit: PowerPoint, Microsoft's well-known “slideware” program. NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a confusing PowerPoint slide---so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. “It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,” the board sternly noted.

Whether the presenter puts so many words on a slide that the information is not discernible, mundanely reads the bulleted slides as though the audience is illiterate, or does not bother to engage the audience through eye contact and discussion, the result is the same: ineffective communication, and thus, a purposeless presentation.

Some proponents of the software argue that the tool facilitates creativity in both the teaching and learning experience. I find very little creativity in the templates offered by the AutoContent wizard that is embraced by users. PowerPoint critics will go so far as to say that the default bulleted format of the text promotes narrow-minded thinking and oversimplifies concepts that are perhaps far more complex than a list of ideas ( McFedries, 2001 ). Certainly, the subjects that our students study and the connections and nuances among topics within their presentations are not always best presented in bulleted format.

Another pitfall in using this software application is the potential for it to eliminate a student's need to think critically about the information being presented. Processing information is an important step in the learning process, but it is often removed when PowerPoint is misused. Instead of choosing key concepts and taking notes that reflect the relationships among the topics being presented, students become transcribers who copy the contents of the instructor's text-packed slides. Having students copy notes from a PowerPoint slide doesn't seem like an appropriate use of time or resources to some instructors, who then choose to post their slides online, readily making them available to the students. Although this approach may seem like a better solution, students often become inattentive and disengaged during a lecture in which they “already have the notes.”

Perhaps the most comprehensive description of the misuse of PowerPoint is that it is often used as a crutch. Presently, PowerPoint is the most popular presentation software application among teachers and students. Is it the best method for presenting information? You decide. Keep in mind that PowerPoint is not the only application with which instructors can integrate technology into the classroom. Computer models, simulations, and visualizations of a concept are more authentic uses of technology and may prove to be more effective teaching tools as well. If PowerPoint is a tool that teachers choose to use, they may consider this article a warning label. PowerPoint should be used as a presentation enhancement, not a replacement for effective communication. To truly engage audiences in presentations, instructors must move beyond PowerPointlessness.

• Keller J. Killing me Microsoftly with PowerPoint. 2003 Chicago Tribune, January 5. [ Google Scholar ]
• McFedries P. The word spy. 2001 < http://www.wordspy.com/ > (accessed 6 May, 2003) [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson C. PowerPoint makes you dumb. 2003 New York Times, December 14. [ Google Scholar ]
• Trotter A. Question of effectiveness. Education Week. 1998; 18 (5):6. [ Google Scholar ]

Got any suggestions?

We want to hear from you! Send us a message and help improve Slidesgo

Top searches

Trending searches

8 templates

memorial day

12 templates

ocean theme

44 templates

environmental science

36 templates

art portfolio

82 templates

49 templates

Cultural Diversity in the Classroom

It seems that you like this template, cultural diversity in the classroom presentation, premium google slides theme and powerpoint template.

Cultural diversity in the classroom can be a powerful tool for learning and growth. With this Google Slides and PowerPoint template, you can easily create a presentation that focuses on cultural diversity, highlighting the importance of inclusion and understanding. The design features a bright, welcoming color palette and graphics that represent the diversity of cultures in a classroom. Use the ready-made text and slides to make a captivating presentation in no time!

Features of this template

• 100% editable and easy to modify
• 35 different slides to impress your audience
• Contains easy-to-edit graphics such as graphs, maps, tables, timelines and mockups
• Includes 500+ icons and Flaticon’s extension for customizing your slides
• Designed to be used in Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint
• 16:9 widescreen format suitable for all types of screens
• Includes information about fonts, colors, and credits of the resources used

What are the benefits of having a Premium account?

What Premium plans do you have?

What can I do to have unlimited downloads?

Don’t want to attribute Slidesgo?

Gain access to over 24800 templates & presentations with premium from 1.67€/month.

Are you already Premium? Log in

Related posts on our blog

How to Add, Duplicate, Move, Delete or Hide Slides in Google Slides

How to Change Layouts in PowerPoint

How to Change the Slide Size in Google Slides

Related presentations.

Premium template

Unlock this template and gain unlimited access