Comparing the use and non-use of PowerPoint in lectures as it affects student verbal behavior and participation

 

Scott Orme

 

 

Project Summary

As part of UW-Stoutıs technology advantage instructors have been asked to use increasingly more technology to enhance their teaching. One of the most common and first additions to teaching has been the use of presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint. Having a class formatted with presentation software greatly enhances structure, sequencing and studentsı abilities to take notes. Conversely, it may also make a course more regimented, reduce dialogue, and keep the instructor from engaging in valuable interactions with students. The primary goal for this project was instructor focused. By eliminating PowerPoint, would teaching be improved?

Research questions:

    1. Does using PowerPoint inhibit verbal participation of students?
    2. Does it reduce the instructorıs seeking of input from students?
    3. Does this impact learning?**

 

 

Course Context

 

This SOTL project was implemented in a graduate level course on theories and techniques of behavior modification. Students are supposed to leave the class knowledgeable in methods for implementing programs for children with severe emotional and behavioral disturbances in the schools. It was taught using PowerPoint for several semesters. All modules were pre-programmed and students generally came to class with the notes pre-printed. The instructor felt that an environment of passive watching and note taking was created. The intervention was to discontinue use of PowerPoint, and to lecture without pre-printed notes for the students. The instructor still had the PowerPoint notes to cover content, but the sequencing was more dependent on questions that were asked. For this class, the intervention took place at the mid-point of the semester for several lecture sessions.

 

Key Learning Activity

The key learning activity for this class was to presumable see an increase in student dialogue and more active engagement with students by the instructor. The assumption (not a hypothesis that was tested for this project) was that increased active participation in the lectures would increase salience of the material, therefore increasing knowledge and potential use of the techniques and methods in the future. In short, by turning off the ³TV² it was hoped that other more stimulating activities would take place.

 

 

** To be addressed in future sections of the course**
Key Findings

a.    Does using PowerPoint inhibit verbal participation of students?
The removal of the presentation format produced an immediate increase in both the number of students engaging in active discussion, and in the number of overall student questions and comments in the class. Not only were students asking questions pertinent to the topic, but many were injecting life and work experiences that fleshed out the topic of the day. These ³authentic² experiences surely solidified the learning points in the class.

b.   Does it reduce the instructorıs seeking of input from students?
Although self-monitoring is difficult in the ³heat of the action,² the instructor made substantially more eye contact with students, allowed more input from them and called on them at a much higher rate than was done when slides were presented on the identical subject matter. No quantitative data were collected, but this is planned for a future section of the course.

c.    Does this impact learning?
It is believed that using presentation software must certainly impact/inhibit interactions in the classroom with corollary inhibition of authentic learning experiences. An adequate method for assessing the impact was not developed for this section of the class, but it is being developed and follow-ups to this summary will be forthcoming.

 

Evidence of Student Learning

Not yet assessed. It certainly impacted instructor teaching and learning.