SLIDES FOR

STUDENTS
The Effective Use of
Powerpoint in Education

GARY D. FISK
SLIDES FOR
STUDENTS
The Effective Use of
Powerpoint in Education

GARY D. FISK

Blue Ridge | Cumming | Dahlonega | Gainesville | Oconee

Copyright © 2019 by Gary D. Fisk

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part
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Published by:
University of North Georgia Press
Dahlonega, Georgia

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Book design by Corey Parson.

ISBN: 978-1-940771-43-4

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For more information, please visit: http://ung.edu/university-press
Or e-mail: ungpress@ung.edu
 Contents
0 Introduction vii

1 Presentation Software 1

2 Powerpointlessness 14

3 Educational Effectiveness and Student Perceptions 32

4 Avoiding Death by Powerpoint 53

5 Design for Emotion I 67

6 Design for Emotion II 84

7 Design for Sensation 100

8 Design for Perception I 117

9 Design for Perception II 135

10 Design for Attention 156

11 Design for Cognition I 170

12 Design for Cognition II 190

13 Design for Behavior 213

14 Technology Choices 232

15 Tips and Tricks for Slide Presentations 247

16 A Classroom Presentation Example 264

17 The Bright Future of Powerpoint in Education 292

A Appendix A 307

B Appendix B 310

C Appendix C 314
 0
Introduction

The creative spark that motivated this book was the observation
that powerpoint presentations sometimes fail to produce a
positive impact on student learning. There seems to be a strange,
somewhat curious disconnect between an amazing technology
and a mediocre or poor student learning experience. Discussions
with other college faculty reinforced the idea that powerpoint
presentations often fall short of expectations in the classroom.
The initial curiosity about this disconnection became a personal
journey to learn more about presentation technology and how it
was used—or misused—in the classroom. My overall conclusion is
that powerpoint presentations are often used in ineffective ways.
This is not entirely the fault of the technology. Rather, the main
problem lies in how humans use the technology. If we want to
unleash the full potential of powerpoint presentations, we must
viii | Slides for Students

do a better job of creating presentations that fit the educational

needs of our students.
My exploration of the use of powerpoint in education
suggested a need for definitive guidelines that would inform
educators about the best practices for its use. Many educators
have written specific studies of powerpoint in the classroom, but
clear-cut recommendations based on this evidence were missing.
The present book addresses this need by synthesizing information
across psychological research areas, such as sensation, cognition,
and behavior. Other evidence comes from classroom-based
studies conducted by educational professionals across a wide
range of academic disciplines. A third body of evidence was the
recommendations made by professional designers who aim to
improve the quality of powerpoint presentations. The present
book was synthesized from these widely varied sources into
recommendations that should help education professionals
connect with their students and get better learning outcomes from
their powerpoint presentations.
This book is not meant to be a software manual or a how-
to guide for using a particular software application. Many such
books are available for Microsoft’s PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote
software applications. Instead, this book’s emphasis is on the
design of educational presentations. The ideas behind these
design concepts focus on general principles of human learning
rather than a specific technology, so these ideas should work well
for any particular kind of presentation software. Another feature
that sets this book apart is the emphasis on an evidenced-based,
scientific approach. This evidence focus leads to a substantively
different way of designing presentations, one that provides a true
 Introduction | ix

educational benefit rather than emphasizing the construction of

pretty slides.
A small but important challenge in the writing of this book was
how to handle the term “PowerPoint.” At first, it seemed best to
avoid using this term because it represents a proprietary product
that is trademarked by the Microsoft Corporation. On the other
hand, my attempts to write about presentations without using the
term “PowerPoint” resulted in awkward writing. The heart of the
issue is that the term “PowerPoint” has taken on multiple meanings
and, therefore, can be used in more than one manner. Hubert
Knoblauch, a sociologist who studies PowerPoint as a cultural
phenomenon, suggests an elegant way to delicately treat this
ambiguous term (Knoblauch, 2012, p. 3). He uses “PowerPoint”
(note the capitalization) to refer specifically to the Microsoft Office
software application. This capitalization is appropriate given that
Microsoft’s PowerPoint software is a proper noun. In contrast, the
term “powerpoint” (all lower case) is used to describe a modern
presentation style that is characterized by some form of multimedia
supplement to the speaker’s voice. This broad use of the term can
refer generically to many modern presentations, regardless of
the technology that was used. This book will follow Knoblauch’s
suggested usage of these terms to make this important distinction
between a specific software product (PowerPoint) and the more
general uses of multimedia to support presentations (powerpoint).
The writing of this book was a large and somewhat audacious
project that was supported by many people. In particular, I thank
Ellen Cotter, my wife, for her support of this project and her
great proofreading skills. This book would not have been possible
without her. From my department, I thank Jamie MacLennan for
x | Slides for Students

giving feedback on the manuscript and Chuck Huffman for his

support of this scholarly activity. More broadly, I would like to
thank the faculty of Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW)
for their encouragement and enthusiasm. These GSW colleagues
reinforced my initial impressions that powerpoint presentations
can be problematic and are worthy of greater scientific attention.
My colleagues also suggested numerous ideas that have been
incorporated into this book. The Interlibrary Loan librarians at
GSW were instrumental for obtaining the numerous articles that
formed the basis of this book. Their support is greatly appreciated.
I thank Stephen Snyder, Director of University Relations at GSW,
for taking high-quality pictures of the powerpoint displays in the
classroom. Finally, I would like to thank the University of North
Georgia Press for believing in the vision of this book and the
potential benefit that it might have for educational professionals. I
thank the editors and peer-reviewers for their work, which greatly
strengthened the book.