A straightforward lecture delivered directly from a powerpoint is not automatically a bad thing. I think students sometimes over-estimate their ability to learn from reading slides and incorrectly assume that simply reading a powerpoint is equivalent to attending a class, even one where the slides are simply read aloud (which, yes, the OP alludes to in a different context). This seems silly, but actually hearing the words may help you understand and more importantly-- remember. I can't tell you how many times where my recollection of some important concept came back to me in a verbal manner, sometimes in the teacher's voice with the same inflection and cadence. (For a simple example from high school, alluded to in the slate piece: "the tangent is the opposite over adjacent." After hearing the teacher say that half a dozen times, I can't think "tangent is adjacent over opposite" without feeling is wrong.)
Obviously, if 100% of a class period is spent simply reciting bullet points from a slideshow, that may indicate a problem in the design of the course. But it's not unreasonable for some percentage of time to be devoted to lecture, however unoriginal the visual aides for the lecture might be. When I was in school, professors diligently copied notes from their own notebook onto the blackboard or overhead projector. It wasn't a huge difference really.
And yes there's a difference between students giving presentations and teachers giving presentations. Students see the presentation as the goal, the work that's going to get graded, something they have to do. Professors give lectures routinely as part of a lengthy course of instruction. Those are totally different scenarios and it doesn't make you a hypocrite to use slides while advising students to avoid them.
> A straightforward lecture delivered directly from a powerpoint is not automatically a bad thing.
It might not be bad in itself and if you do it right it can be as good or better than a presentation without the material that is read aloud. But at the same time you are wasting the potential of a presentation that is solely meant to help the attendee/listener along and to drive home the important points or even to just use it as a rhetoric device.
As an extreme example, look at this presentation: http://youtu.be/taaEzHI9xyY [1]. Most of the time his slides do not even contain a summary of what he talks about but just the headline or the punchline. And I find his style very refreshing.
If you really want to have stuff that you want your listeners to be able to work through at home, something which contains all important aspects, then just publish lecture notes online.[2]
[1] He begins his talk with some more conversational stuff but later on (skip to 18:30) he also features more technical stuff, and there his presentation is more interesting for our discussion.
[2] I see myself making this point the third time in the discussion of the article and I'm somewhat surprised that it's not completely obvious.
I'm betting you have a higher score on the auditory dimension than the general population.
Others may have a different 'centre of gravity' in their preferred sensory modes. Teachers should try to cater for all as far as possible (the sensory modes are not mutually exclusive)
A straightforward lecture delivered directly from a powerpoint is not automatically a bad thing. I think students sometimes over-estimate their ability to learn from reading slides and incorrectly assume that simply reading a powerpoint is equivalent to attending a class, even one where the slides are simply read aloud (which, yes, the OP alludes to in a different context). This seems silly, but actually hearing the words may help you understand and more importantly-- remember. I can't tell you how many times where my recollection of some important concept came back to me in a verbal manner, sometimes in the teacher's voice with the same inflection and cadence. (For a simple example from high school, alluded to in the slate piece: "the tangent is the opposite over adjacent." After hearing the teacher say that half a dozen times, I can't think "tangent is adjacent over opposite" without feeling is wrong.)
Obviously, if 100% of a class period is spent simply reciting bullet points from a slideshow, that may indicate a problem in the design of the course. But it's not unreasonable for some percentage of time to be devoted to lecture, however unoriginal the visual aides for the lecture might be. When I was in school, professors diligently copied notes from their own notebook onto the blackboard or overhead projector. It wasn't a huge difference really.
And yes there's a difference between students giving presentations and teachers giving presentations. Students see the presentation as the goal, the work that's going to get graded, something they have to do. Professors give lectures routinely as part of a lengthy course of instruction. Those are totally different scenarios and it doesn't make you a hypocrite to use slides while advising students to avoid them.