PowerPoint Deep

A letter sent to NPR and read on Morning Edition today spoke about that craze in academia (no, not Ward Churchill!) and business...PowerPoint!

Who hasn't attended a PowerPoint lecture? Where the speaker reads the slides out loud? I confess, I use 'em in my large undergraduate class, but I wonder about it all the time. I wonder if I am being only "PowerPoint deep" in talking about the common school movement, or Socrates's legacy, to the future teachers I teach.

And when I went for a job interview a few years ago, my host was surprised at first when I said that I had no technology needs for my two job talks. I was worried though...maybe I should have had a few bullets, some snazzy graphics, perhaps even some sound!

Last semester, a professor here gave a SRO talk in a teaching tips series on "how to avoid PowerPoint coma" in your classes. And I say, before you use PowerPoint, read The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint by Edward Tufte!