In praise of PowerPoint

Very good article, Philip. In common with all of Microsoft Office, Powerpoint suffers from 'familiarity breeding contempt'. In fact, it always amazes me at the power and functionality of these ubiquitous productivity tools in the hands of people who really understand their capabilities (for example you can create some really good 3-D rendered images using powerpoint if you know how). Of course, all of these tools do have their limitations (Excel, in particular, uses calculation short-cuts that introduce inaccuracies that render it useless in many advanced scientific or engineering applications - but it wasn't really designed for that). To flip-flop and hark back to my undergraduate days (where I think I was probably one of the last generations to be taught by some real 'chalk and talk' lecturers), the great advantage of 'chalk and talk' was pace. Traditionally deliver lectures were generally, in my experience, delivered at an appropriate pace whereas, with powerpoint, it is easier to cram slides full of information and rattle through concepts in a lecturer without giving time to embed some initial understanding. This, of course, backs up Philip's point that it is the bad workman that blames the tools. People who approach the planning of presentations by just clicking on powerpoint and putting stuff on slides are probably not going to deliver the best presentations, because they aren't actually planning at all.

POWERPOINT rules - OK? I love it! I use it! The students learn from it! The bottom line ... creativity rules!