Monday, July 9, 2012

PowerPoint on Auto

Got sucked into the link trail on PowerPoint discussions: "Learning to Love PowerPoint," "PowerPoint Is Evil," "The Power of PowerPoint: Is it in the User or the Program?" PowerPoint clearly has made its mark on U.S. culture! I haven't been subjected to endless slides, which induce boredom and suck the room dry of credible questions, so I remain open to the powers that it has: keeping the speaker on track, creating focus, defining/setting an agenda, presenting ideas visually. Like any tool, it's only as good as the content created by the maker; bad PowerPoints are like bad podcasts! David Byrne, a musician and artist, wrote "Learning to Love PowerPoint," and captured the essence of what any tool can be in the right hands: a creative adventure. He reminds me that an enlightened teacher is not going to define the right way and wrong way to use a medium. Tech tools, in the hands and minds of some, will yield the most astonishing results. I know my limitations; but, I don't know the limitations of others. And, within the classroom, all I want to know is the potential and unexpected discoveries and mishaps students have when exploring something new. As Byrne shows, PowerPoint can be far more than a bullet-point slide; it can be art!

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