The Pros and Cons of PowerPoint in the Classroom

I love using PowerPoint, as it keeps me on track and keeps students engaged since bright colors and pictures are often more interesting than I am. However, I do have two battles that I find myself constantly fighting when I use it and those are the following: limiting my reliance on a PPT presentation for a particular class period as technology failure is all too common and second, communicating to students the purpose of a PPT. I feel that it’s a very useful tool, particularly in a Spanish classroom where I can use pictures to guide conversation and make students laugh. I also have presentations that I’ve designed as games where groups of students are in competition and those games are zero-prep activities for me! This is, of course, assuming that technology doesn’t fail me on the days I am so relying on it. That has all too frequently been a problem in my experience and on occasion has deterred me from using it at all for certain classes. I’ve had situations were I’ve created a brilliant presentation for class, one that I really need for class to flow smoothly, and I get into the classroom only to find out that the projector won’t work or something is disconnected and I can’t get anybody to fix it. It can be a nightmare. Regarding my second issue, I’ve found that PPT is really the only way to go when you’re lecturing because it helps students to organize the concept being discussed in a visual way and many students need and appreciate that. However, something I’ve found as I use it for lecture is that students seem to have two problems. First, they think they MUST write down every single on my PowerPoint. Then, what’s worse is they think that’s ALL they need to write! Never mind the fact that I’m talking alongside the presentation and that the words coming out of my mouth might be valuable as well… It drives me crazy. That being the case, I need to be better in the future about making my expectations of students clear and making sure that they know that the information on a PowerPoint, rather than being a detailed study guide, is to serve as an outline that without my commentary is meaningless. As long as that expectation is clearly understood by students and the projector seems to be working, I love PowerPoint!