Category: edci337

How We Learn – Community Contributions

Hi Chloe,
You mentioned a few different ideas in you blog post this week that stuck out to me as being both relatable and reflective (seemingly for both you and me!). Like you, I remember using PowerPoint in middle school, or even high school, and playing around with the animations, word art, graphs, etc. that could jazz up my presentation to make them more exciting. While I remember having fun trying all of these features out, I, like you, don’t have a memory of being taught any sort of strategies to make the most of these presentations. It wasn’t until my first time in university that I really became aware that there were any guidelines/suggestions surrounding this topic at all!

Your quote about having PowerPoint be a resource as opposed to being the resource really forced me to think. In terms of speaking to a presentation topic, this a a fabulous point to bring up. I am absolutely guilty of using my slides as a crutch, expecting the info and visuals on them to support me through my presentation.

As far as your blog itself goes, I loved the additional photo you added – it definitely screams “Death by PowerPoint” to me. Both visuals supported the written content, without distracting from it. I also appreciate that you referenced and included hyperlinks to the sources you used.

How We Learn

Thanks to a past class I took, I have become acutely aware of the negative effects a bad PowerPoint presentation can have on it’s audience – My peers and I were certainly subject to “death by PowerPoint” (Phillips, 2014). The kickers in these particular presentations were: too many (or disorganized) elements and words, strange choice of fonts, scattered presentations, and even slides with no title or indication of the content being presented. For me, this resulted in struggling to pay attention, difficulty absorbing and remembering the information being presented, and ultimately contributed to me not enjoying the class. Essentially, all of the truths that David Phillips joked about in his TEDx.

Even with this awareness, there are still elements mentioned in the above video and the 6 dos and don’ts article that I identified as doing myself.

Font: I’m such a sucker for a serif font. Garamond is my go-to, as I find it the most aesthetically pleasing, even though a sans-serif choice would be easier to read.

Slide busyness: While I am conscious of limiting words and charts to only what is necessary, I love an on-theme slide style. Usually pulling from SlidesGo, I gravitate towards fun themes that fit my presentation topic, which could result in graphics/colours overboard.

Storytelling: With a focus to fit in all the info, I have often failed to incorporate the more engaging part of presentations, like storytelling.

After identifying these trouble areas in my own slides, these are points that I
am conscious of in this week’s hands-on activity and will keep in mind going forward when putting together presentations.


References

Miller, A. (2019, June 13). 6 dos and don’ts for next-level slides, from a TED presentation expert. Ideas.Ted.Com – Explore Ideas Worth Spreadinghttps://ideas.ted.com/6-dos-and-donts-for-next-level-slides-from-a-ted-presentation-expert/

Phillips, David JP. (2014, April 14). How to avoid death by PowerPoint [Mp4]. TED Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwpi1Lm6dFo