Creating Effective

PowerPoints
(For Teaching)

ARGIE RAY A. BUTALID

Presentation Overview

• Teaching vs. research presentations

• Interactivity and engagement
• Learning principles for using PPT
• Basic principles of rhetoric and design
• Discussion
Introductions

Please let us know:

• Your Name
• Your Department
• Courses you typically teach
• The size of your classes
Freewrite

The title of this talk is “Creating ‘Effective’ PowerPoints.” In a short

freewrite, please consider:
• How do you intend your students to use your PowerPoints?
• How do your students actually use your PowerPoints?
• How have you used PowerPoint in your past courses?
• Do you feel this use was effective?
Teaching Students vs. Research
Presentations
• Research PowerPoints – present results of research or scholarship,
aid for attendees, no quizzes/tests.
• Audience: high motivation/interest of attendees; attendees there of their own
free will; no long-term learning/retaining of information necessary
• Teaching PowerPoints –Goal is to facilitate student learning of
content/knowledge/skill area. Can be used with lecture, discussion,
groupwork, etc.
• Audience: Captive audience; retaining/long-term learning necessary
• How does this change how we think about PowerPoint in the
classroom?
PowerPoints for Teaching

• Using PowerPoint a both teaching tools and study guides changes

the nature and amount of information presented.
• Use “notes” to keep PowerPoints clean and uncluttered
• PowerPoints as teaching aids to facilitate discussion, class time
management, and groupwork
• PowerPoints have a psychological component—students feel that
PowerPoint's are important and are more likely to take notes
Student Engagement

• One of the challenges of PowerPoint as an instructional delivery

system is that it can be a very passive learning environment.
• What strategies have you used to make your PowerPoints more
engaging and encourage active learning?
• How does this differ for small vs. large classes?
Student Engagement

Small Classes Large Classes

• Class discussions with • Use of clickers, twitter feed, or
questions embedded in other technology can aid in
PowerPoint material engagement
• Group work (even short, 5 • Short discussions among
minute discussions in pairs) students with 3-4 groups
breaks up lecture portions reporting back (or all groups
• The “think  pair  share” reporting to forum/twitter feed)
strategy works (demonstrate a • Good delivery helps (more
point, have them freewrite, later on this)!
have them pair, and discuss)
Writing and Design:
Which slide do you
prefer?
 #1 WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW
FOR A SCIENTIFIC/IMRAD ARTICLE

• When you are writing a scientific article, there are a number of sections to
consider. First is the LITERATURE REVIEW (or Lit Review,
Background and Significance, etc.)
• The Literature Review allows you to do the following things:
• You need to establish your credibility as a researcher by demonstrating that you
know the important literature (don’t cite all of the literature, just the most relevant
and/or noteworthy)
• You can demonstrate how your research fills a gap in the existing body of research
• Rhetorical Strategies for writing a literature review include:
• You can discuss approaches to studying the topic before, and why your approach is
appropriate and builds upon previous research (or novel and new)
• You need to lead the reader through your arguments, so by the time they finish
reading your lit review, your study seems like a natural next step
• Keep your writing focused only on the most important works—otherwise, your
literature review will get out of control and be unfocused and lengthy
• A lit review is, in many ways, like a “story of research” on your topic
 #2 Writing a Literature Review
for a Scientific/IMRAD Article
• When you are writing a scientific article, there are a number of sections to
consider. First is the LITERATURE REVIEW (or Lit Review,
Background and Significance, etc.)
• The Literature Review allows you to do the following things:
• You need to establish your credibility as a researcher by demonstrating that you
know the important literature (don’t cite all of the literature, just the most relevant
and/or noteworthy)
• You can demonstrate how your research fills a gap in the existing body of research
• Rhetorical Strategies for writing a literature review include:
• You can discuss approaches to studying the topic before, and why your approach is
appropriate and builds upon previous research (or novel and new)
• You need to lead the reader through your arguments, so by the time they finish
reading your lit review, your study seems like a natural next step
• Keep your writing focused only on the most important works—otherwise, your
literature review will get out of control and be unfocused and lengthy
• A lit review is, in many ways, like a “story of research” on your topic
 #3 Writing Literature Reviews
• Literature Reviews should:
• Building the author’s credibility through citation
• Demonstrating a “gap” in the existing research that your work fills
• Rhetorical strategies for writing include:
• Justifying of method/approach using previous literature
• Building the argument that your work leads from existing literature and fills a
gap
• Keeping focused on the “story” of the research

Lit Review Methods Results Discussion

Writing a Good PowerPoint

• Use Bullet points to increase scannability and readability

• Avoid too large blocks of text; create concise language (my
favorite method for learning concise language is here:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/635/01/)
• Keep one idea to one slide rather than trying to cram (or add
more slides for dense information)
• Use parallel language (using the same verb tense at the
beginning of each point, like in this slide)
• Provide clear references for source material used (this helps
students see the connections)
 Designing a Good Powerpoint
• Keep information straightforward
• Include graphics and visuals, like “smart art” graphics, but don’t go
overboard
• Consider other multimedia elements, such as embedded short video clips,
audio, etc.
• Break up large portions of lecture with activities, freewrites, checks for
understanding, short group work, discussions, etc.
Tricks and Tips:
Smart Art in PPT

“Smart Art” allows for

visualization of lists,
relationships, cycles,
and more.

Found under “Smart

Art.” Very useful
displaying information
and relationships
 Tricks and Tips:
Embedding Pictures & Video
• Microsoft’s Instructions for Embedding
Photos/Clip Art:
• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-he
lp/insert-a-picture-or-clip-art-HA010079409.asp
x
• Microsoft’s Instructions for Embedding
Video:
• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-he
lp/insert-video-into-your-presentation-RZ10267
3174.aspx
• If you want to embed a Youtube video, the
easiest way to do so is to either link to it or
download it and embed directly. I prefer to
link to the videos.
• Note that some versions of PPT (such as
Office 2011 for Mac, the version I’m
running, do not allow you to insert videos
 Tricks and Tips:
Basic Design Principles
Think about what is most effective in terms of
conveying information to your student audience.
• Limit the use of flashy colors and silly clip art
(unless it serves an educational purpose)
• Keep fonts readable, consistent, and effective
• Limit the use of large blocks of text on a single slide
• Consider the design principles of contrast, alignment,
repetition, and proximity

Pointless clip art?

Or, does this Rooster serve an
educational purpose?
Tricks and Tips:
Basic Design Principles, cont.

• Alignment = Everything should look

well placed, everything is connected
with an “invisible line” (e.g. bullet
points on top of each other)

• Contrast = Difference, make elements

that need to be different different
(through font choice, formatting,
offsetting text, etc.)
Tips and Tricks: Basic Design
Principles, cont.

• Repetition = Repetition is about unity, consistency, and creating

cohesiveness (three slides with the same design and similar
content)
• Proximity = where things are placed in relationship to one
another; where does your eye move? What is the path it takes?
• *Information taken from Williams (2008) Non-Designer’s
Design Book
 Organizing PowerPoints
• Find a partner or small group and consider
the following questions:
• How do you organize the content of
Powerpoint presentations for your courses?
• What typically comes first, second, third, etc?
• What kinds of content is included in your
Powerpoint?
• How do you break up long presentations of
information/lectures?
Organization of a PowerPoint

• Slide 1: Title
• Slide 2: Overview - Provide students with a
roadmap of where you are gong
• For longer PowerPoints, provide SIGNPOSTS
(slides that say, this is where we’ve been and here’s
where we are going next)
• Use notes area to supplement material-dense
slides
• Use text formatting and graphics to draw
attention
Organization with Emphasis on
Student Engagement (5o min class)

Introduction/Overview of what we will cover (1-2 min)

Short freewrite + class discussion on what students already

know/prior experience (5-10 min)

Presentation of material (10-20 min). Includes 2-3 open-

ended questions for students to break up presentation.

Groupwork on material to help solidify concepts (15 min) and

final discussion or freewrite (5 min)
Delivery of a PowerPoint
• Part of an effective PowerPoint is how its delivered/presented in a
classroom
• Students prefer faculty who are engaged and interested in the
material (through enthusiasm in voice, engagement with subject,
interesting stories)
• Students also want to see clear connections to future careers and
real life (this is a good activity to do with students at the
beginning or end of a class session)
• I find it helpful to talk about my own experiences, successes, and
struggles in relationship to material and ask students to share
theirs (if applicable)
• I also find it helpful to include humor to keep students interested
and engaged.
Question: What are your best tips for keeping things interesting in
presenting a PowerPoint presentation in a class?
Online Delivery of PPT

• Powerpoint does allow you to record a slide show, which

can be useful for flipped classes, online courses, or polar
vortex snow days.
• You need a microphone (or use your computer’s built in mic)
for recording.
• You can find the tools to record under Slide Show
Presenter Tools
Alternatives to PowerPoint

• Prezi (www.prezi.com)
• Haiku Deck (iPad/web app) -
• Softmaker Presentations
(Android App) – Allows you to
edit and open PPTS on
Android.