nex·us
A means of connection; a link or tie

(www.thefreedictionary.com)

The notion of connection is intrinsic to every aspect of humanity. So vital, in fact, that our very lives depend upon it as every breath, every thought and every action is preceded by millions of synapses connecting, transmitting and communicating important information.

This network of thought-and-action-determining connections don't stop inside the confines of skin and bone. In a mysterious way they link up to a greater network where, in some instances, our thought-processes are absorbed into the minds of others, while, in other instances, we take on the thoughts of others and somehow allow it to shape our own internal matrix.

This is the wonder of communication and learning.

With the advent of the internet, we've been provided with what could almost be described as a visual representation of the "human internet" - that macro-network where the ebb and flow of thought and action in society at large shapes the individual's downloads and uploads, learnings and expressions.

From an educator's perspective, that, of course, changes everything. Learners no longer have to rely on teachers to be their only source of "information downloads" , but can now access a world which offers thoughts, ideas and perspectives far beyond their own or even that of their teachers.
The role of the teacher is then to provide learners with opportunities to partake in this macro-network - to guide their "uploads and downloads" in ways that would best benefit their futures.

This blog investigates websites, applications and internet functions that can serve as powerful "connection-points", or tools for transfomative learning in the classroom.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Power down

(image courtesy of Google images, 2010 (C) )

We've all been there before:
It's a hot afternoon and everyone is limping and writhing at their desks in agony, waiting for class to end. Yet, just as Mrs Brown is about to land her figurative plane, she decides to circle once more...but, this time with a twirling slide. Because see, Mrs Brown really did believe in the power of PowerPoint. Oh, she was a firm believer. It's no longer the plain old dissolving or fading or even zooming-in slides, no, by now it is TWIRLING. And as the dazzling slide makes its way across the slightly skew projector image again, she continues with the click of a button and a "Oops, that went too far, how do I get back?"

To be quite frank, most of us, unfortunately, have seen more of the bad side of PowerPoint than the good side of it: ugly slides, annoying sound effects, unreadable font colours, unhearable video clips, boring bullet points - the list goes on. Surely there must be a reason why every teacher and lecturer has, in the last decade, so drastically succumbed to its power. I decided to give PowerPoint the benefit of the doubt, so I set out on a journey to find out what PowerPoint is truly capable of.

So after reading, viewing and exploring online, I have discovered that PowerPoint is after all more than just a way of teachers trying show their students that they too can be "tech-savvy". I have come to realise that PowerPoint presentations isn't only a way of digitalising paper hand-outs onto a projector screen. In fact, there are some very handy pedagogical applications for this software - when and if - it is used wisely.

McDonald (2004) states that the strength of PowerPoint is its ability to allow learning managers to import graphics, audio, quotes, and music or to link to simulations or Web pages. "It optimises 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" (Mcdonald, 2004).

PowerPoint can be, and needs to be used, in more ways than just a teacher-to-class scenario. Its real value can often come to life when learners are required to create PowerPoints. For instance, a grade 7 English class could be asked produce a PowerPoint based on a narrative text they've read. In this they could be required to use a collation of pictures they found on the web, to display the story-line as they understood it. The same could be done with a Senior school class, but they might be required to depict a contemporary rendition of a classic text like Shakespear's Hamlet.

Through this process it is important to scaffold student learning, especially when dealing with software like PowerPoint. Lanius (2004) so aptly states, "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." She then quotes Edward Tufte (2003) as saying, “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” (Lanius, 2004). Therefore, both teachers and learners need to be aware of the emphasis of content rather than getting caught up in the visual paraphernalia. Explicit links in the classroom to Marzano's Dimensions of Learning, or the Big Six framework will assist with this understanding.



Click here to find a handy link to a pdf file, explaining all the do's and don't's of PowerPoints.

References

Lanius, C. (2004). Not your grandmother's presentations, but is it evil? Cell Biol Educ 3(3): 158-160. Retrieved online, August 24th, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC520839/

McDonald, K. (2004). Examining powerpointlessness. Cell Biol Educ 3(3): 160-161. Retrieved online, August 24th, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC520839/
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1 comment:

  1. HannahAugust 29, 2010 at 4:31 AM

    Jacques, I love it. So true about the scenario you introduced at the start...haha. The use of references were great and really added to your post. Great job!

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