I definitely agree with the sentiment of Edward Tufte’s article “PowerPoint is Evil”. Every teacher and professor I’ve ever had has bemoaned the existence of PowerPoint and my high-school Geopolitics teacher even threatened (jokingly) to fail anyone in the class who used PowerPoint in their end-of-the-year presentation. I understand that it’s a useful tool for supporting a presentation, but it’s really, really boring to look at while someone else is standing at the front of the room giving a lecture or presentation. I also understand that it’s easy to use; third graders can make excellent PowerPoints and I must admit that, however hypocritical it is, I generally use them too. They’ve become a sort of crutch for a lot of people, especially those who don’t know any other alternatives.
Another issue with PowerPoint, I think, is that most people don’t seem to understand how to use it. It’s not meant to have a word-by-word script of what you’re presenting! I have a lot of professors who don’t seem to know that and it makes the class so incredibly boring that I wonder what the point is of even showing up. A PowerPoint is supposed to have your main talking points, if that. It’s not a complete script.
I did a (very boring) PowerPoint on the wives of Henry VIII
I really wanted to show just how boring PowerPoint can be.
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