Presentations that Promote Learning

Thorsen (2009) provides a list of 23 rules that students can follow when creating a presentation. These are intended to give basic guidelines so that the presentation enhances the topic and does not distract from it. As I read through these guidelines I thought about which ones I can relate to as a learner, which ones I violate as a teacher and which rules I have seen most frequently violated as a learner.

Mayer (as cited in Thorsen, 2009) lists seven design principles. The modality principle states that students learn best from animation and then narration and not animation that is followed by on-screen text. Many presentations given at seminars or by students are loaded with text that I could read for myself. I have found that I learn best when the presenter expounds upon what is on the presentation screen and says things that are not present on the slide. I find that I tend to zone out when there is too much information on the screen because I assume the presenter is going to read it all to me.

Related to this is Thorsen's (2009) seventh rule about using graphics and menus to make the presentation interactive and not only text based. Many PowerPoint presentations contain only text. I often wonder why these are PowerPoints as a simple pdf document would accomplish the same goal. The slides contain very little use of color, animations, diagrams, illustrations or other multimedia.

On of my favorite rules to violate when I am making a presentation is rule 16, which refers to flashing words. I agree with the author that this is probably the least effective way to highlight information, but these animations are too difficult to resist. I will renew my attempts to resist them. I do like the idea of using color and location better.

As a learner, the best presentations as the ones where there is variety (not only text but illustrations, graphic organizers, video clips, etc.) and where the presentation does not distract from the concept. There is a fine line between a boring presentation and a distracting one and the best presentations have a healthy balance.

Thorsen, C. (2009). Tech tactics: Technology for teachers. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.