Fighting “Powerpoint-Death” by Science, Prezi or…?!

Image via Wikipedia

Recently Kevin Clauson [@kevinclauson] made another great presentation, called the “Science behind Engaging Students in Class”. The presentation focuses on the use of “clickers” or an audience response system (ARS) to engage the audience (here mainly students in a class). It is an expanded version of “How to Fight Lecturalgia“.

First Kevin asks the audience questions about their knowledge/use of ARS -using the ARS system, of course-. Next he goes more deeply into the need to engage the audience (attention span, boredom) and then he addresses the successes and pitfalls of ARS.

Each statement has a scientific underpinning, and a reference to it.

For instance, one conclusion is that use of ARS improves performance with analytical type exam questions, but not with memorization exam questions.

Kevin stresses that ARS  it is just another tool, albeit a powerful one.

Of course you have to avoid the usual presentation-killer aspects of PowerPoint, like including too many slides, bullets and data, as so wonderfully illustrated by the famous “Dead by Powerpoint” presentation. I included it below, in case you’ve never seen it.

It also contains recommendations how to  improve your PowerPoint.

This following video elaborates on the same theme. It is called “Life after Death by PowerPoint”. Not an appropriate name, because it only magnifies Powerpoints killer-points. You might enjoy it though (if you can put up with the canned laugh).

Below is another presentation about the science of presentations. And although I noticed little science in it, I did find the CEO-presentation interesting because it discusses the use of live tweeting (and blogging) to give “contagious talks” (you know Twitter going “viral”).

Some people think that you should burn your powerpoints and use Prezi instead, like @Berci of ScienceRoll (see his post here).

But I disagree. Although I believe that in Berci’s hands, Prezi will work fine, it usually evokes instant nausea when I watch it: Prezi is an online zooming presentation editor. It often resembles a PowerPoint presentation with too much animation and often too much text as well.

But whether Prezi is a powerpoint-killer depends on the aim of your presentation and how you execute it.

I agree with Sharon Guan of the “Instructional Design and Development Blog” that Prezi can be very useful if you need to present a large illustration of multiple concepts that are interconnected, for audiences of the video game generation and for marketing of a simple message. I also think that it you have to invest some time to learn to handle it. You must have designer qualities too (if you like to do more than zoom in and out to letters)

For instance this Prezi-presentation a student made about Webicina (an e-company of @Berci) is o.k.*, but imo NOT better than a simple powerpoint presentation. Most Prezi-presentations fall in this category.

http://prezi.com/qpb4zww8eiv9/webicina/

Below is a Prezi presentation, which very original design fits its purpose. “Playing to learn” ((from the website: Teaching College Math) starts with an overview of  something that looks like a large goose bord. Next the presentation zooms in to “the start” and each square is followed, some with text, others with (video of games), till you arrive at the finish. It is difficult to describe, so please take a look yourself.

http://prezi.com/rj_b-gw3u8xl/playing-to-learn/

Thus, which platform is preferable, depends your aims and audience. But whether your presentation is effective depends on your message, your translation and your performance as well.

ARS may be one way to improve the effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations and may increase the fun.

For more evidence on what works and what not (and when) see the guest column “Evidence-based Presentation Design” at the blog Evidence Based Management.

Yes, the evidence-based approach  is also applicable to presentations and teaching. As Kevin says in his lasts slides:

In Healthcare, if you didn’t document it, then you didn’t do it.

In Education, if you didn’t assess it, you might as well not have done it.

(One to remember)

* Just randomly chosen, the last Prezi I saw.

Related Articles

• Prezi for Libraries and Instruction | Information Tyrannosaur (andyburkhardt.com)
• Should You Burn Your PowerPoints? (scienceroll.com)
• In defense of PowerPoint (scottberkun.com)
• PowerPoint Magic – Seth Godin (flatchat.wordpress.com)
• Prezi For The Win? Ten Top Tips To Make a Good One (thewikiman.org)
• Study makes a powerful point on PowerPoint [Graham Jones] (ecademy.com)
• A long time ago, before death by PowerPoint (presentationzen.com)
• Bullets are dead. Long live PowerPoint (zdnet.com)
• A Prezi about Webicina (scienceroll.com)
• Guest Posting: Why I am switching from PowerPoint to Prezi (Part 1) (exec-comms.com)