Everyone has heard the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Turns out, it's true. Written language has evolved over the years from cave drawings and paintings. Indeed, text is nothing more than a series of very simple pictures. For this reason, the brain takes considerably longer to decode strings of text (i.e. bulleted sentences) than it does single words or short statements. In other words, pictures are faster at conveying information than words – at least when we're talking about concepts and ideas (detailed data is difficult to convey via words or pictures – which is why scientific papers turn to tables and charts).
Here are two steps you can take to use less text.
1. Whittle your titles. Take the time to reduce slide titles down to their core meaning. This will remove clutter and superfluous information that can confuse and distract your students. Use short, concise titles to get the main point across. Then fill in the gaps while lecturing. This allows the student to understand the context which aids in better retention of the details you provide.
Oftentimes, I find a lot of redundancy in slide titles throughout a lecture. For instance, "Using Peer Mentors to Drive Students Toward Deeper Learning and Productive Reflective Writing" could become "Peer Mentors Improve Learning."
"What Do Professional Learning Communities Have to Do With Factoring A Trinomial?" could become "Math and Society" or "The Role of Math in Society."
"A History of the Culture of Tea in Britain" might be simplified as "British Tea Culture."
2. Remove bulleted text. Bullets on a slide often serve only as lecture notes to prompt the professor and are not necessary for the students. Sure, they need to know the information, but you're going to explain the important concepts during the lecture. If you need those notes while you're presenting, cut and paste them into the Presenter Notes in your slideware. You can then print off the slides as lecture notes or use Presenter Mode while in class. Remember, guns don't kill people, bullets kill people.
Yesterday, Apple released the iPad, "A Magical and Revolutionary Product at an Unbelievable Price." It was an instant hit, selling an estimated 600,000 - 700,000 in the first day.
As a true Apple fan, I spent a few hours playing with the iPad, on the day of its release, wondering what it could mean for the future of presentations in the classroom. Let me tell you that I am very excited.
Some people have criticized it as nothing more than a large iPod Touch. Frankly, they're not far off, and that is precisely why I am so excited. The iPhone/iPod Touch interface is very intuitive and natural to use. Because there is no mouse – you just use your finger – the learning curve is flattened out.
So why not just use an iPod Touch? There are two things that make the iPad different. First, it has more power. The iPad is more responsive and capable of running programs that require a lot of processing power. Second, the iPad has a 9" screen, and it is beautiful. It really becomes a window to another world.
Ok, so it's a fancy new gadget. So what? I'm glad you asked, because there's no point in getting excited over something new unless it has real, practical value. While I believe the iPad will make a huge impact in the education system, it probably don't have to go out and grab one just yet. Start saving your pennies, finish this semester, and put together a proposal for your school's IT department to convince them to get you one for the next school year. In the meantime, here are some things to start thinking about.
Students
The iPad will be the perfect student companion. While the on-screen keyboard will take getting used to, third party products can turn the iPad into a very useable digital notebook. Combine the Pogo Sketch Stylus with an app such as Mental Note and a student can type, draw, sketch, or write their notes on the iPad while recording audio from the lecture.
Textbooks
Apple provides a free app called iBookstore for the iPad which allows you to search and download electronic books much like on Amazon's Kindle. However, instead of grayscale text, you get beautifully formatted, multimedia enhanced, full color books. Major textbook publishers have already announced plans to release their titles on the iPad. No more 20 pound backpacks for 80 pound 6th graders!
Teachers
With it's iPod app for music and video, as well as the built in YouTube app, the iPad could be the single device to organize all of the multimedia content a teacher could want. Record a podcast for the kids to listen to at the beginning of class, download the most recent NOVA Science video podcast, watch a chemistry experiment blow up on YouTube, or play classical music during free reading time. Have a full screen seating chart with pictures and tap on each student that is absent. At a starting price of $499, it wouldn't be surprising to see iPads replace the full desktop in each classroom. And at 1.5 lbs, most teachers wouldn't hesitate to bring work home with them.
Presentations
While I comment on all aspects of education, this site is really about creating great presentations in the classroom, and the iPad will be a fabulous tool in that regard. Beyond the multimedia options I have already mentioned, Apple has released a version of Keynote designed specifically for the iPad. In addition, you can purchase a VGA connector to use the iPad with a projector. The device will change to a presenter display and show the presentation on the screen. While Microsoft has no plans to create a version of Office for the iPad, Keynote will open PowerPoint documents that have been e-mailed to the device.
New to the touch version of Keynote are on screen presenter tools. With a simple swipe from the left of the screen you can pull up all of the slides in the presentation and jump forward or back. Watch the first minute of this video of a hands-on demo to see it in action.
(Update: As you can see in the video, the demo shows an on screen drawing feature which allows you to annotate your slides much like on a white board or as sports commentators do. This feature is not functional on release versions of the iPad.)
Creating presentations on the iPad is a breeze and a delight. You can move objects just by touching them and add smooth transitions with ease. Typing isn't too difficult, but that doesn't matter because you use very little text anyway. Photos can be imported from your iPhoto library or saved to the device via e-mail.
To learn more about iPad, visit Apple's website and watch these Guided Tours.
Every year, each college at BYU selects an Honored Alumni to return and speak to current students and faculty. Last fall I was privileged to work with Dr. Steven Baugh in preparing his presentation as Honored Alumnus of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Dr. Baugh is director of the CITES department of the McKay School of Education, and has taught math for a number of years. His interest with mathematics began with his father, who was also an accomplished mathematician and high school teacher.
Working with Dr. Baugh was easy from the beginning, not only for his humility and willingness to accept suggestions, but also for what he provided me with as an outline. Unlike most presenters, Steven had not not yet created a set of slides. Instead he had simply typed up an outline of the things he wished to discuss. This made it very easy for us brainstorm the most effective presentation and create slides that best illustrated his message.
I have included a selection of slides as well as an animated version for you to view below.
Dr. Medina's Brain Rules are fascinating. Not in the same way that Brian Greene's eloquent description of The Elegant Universe is fascinating. No, it is much simpler than that. In fact, Brain Rules are fascinating because they are simple. While they are based on years of complicated scientific research and their implications are far reaching, Dr. Medina's rules to survive at home, work, and school are so simple that it is fascinating that we didn't think of them earlier.
In a similar way, it is nearly laughable to me that PowerPoint slides are still designed in a complicated and counter-intuitive manner. Due largely to the misused hierarchical organization techniques that are the foundation of Microsoft's templates, professors, lecturers, and students continue to fill their slides with line after line of boring, bulleted text.
Fortunately, the steps to improving lecture slides are as straight forward and obvious as are Brain Rules. In fact, there are two design changes that can be used on any slide deck to instantly improve it's effectiveness.
In upcoming posts, I will explore each of these in more detail and give practical examples of how they can make an impact. For now, see how you can apply them to your lecture slides.
In a recent lecture I attended, I heard the professor say the following as he advanced to the next slide in his PowerPoint, "So what this slide talks about is..."I thought nothing of it for a moment. I've heard people make the same comment many times in lectures, pitches, etc. As I looked at the slide, I thought if this slide could speak it would sound like a lot like a socially-inept scientist with an agile mind and free tongue! In other words: utterly incomprehensible. I sat patiently and hoped that the professor would translate the slide into English.
If you have to explain what a slide 'says' then something is wrong with the way it is designed.
Slides do not talk. You do. Slides cannot teach, they can only help you teach.
Design your slides to follow what you would naturally say and to help illustrate complex or abstract ideas. Don't use slides as your lecture notes. Take advantage of (but don't overuse) slide transitions and animations to show the main idea and then progressively reveal the details as you talk about them.
After a short TED Talk 'fast', I've started devouring these amazing talks again, and this 5 minute appetizer was sensational.
William Kamkwaba is a young African man who harnessed the power of wind to help feed his family and transform his small village. In this short presentation he shares his inspirational story.
What fascinates me is that William was able to give an engaging and motivational talk without having so much as a high school education. Most people who are inexperienced presenters tend to use the same crutches: default PowerPoint themes, bullet points, notes, few pictures. But not William. Notice the simplicity of his slides. Many of them are full-bleed photographs. He doesn't use bullet points and he speaks in a natural, conversational tone. Most importantly, his message comes from the heart. Building windmills, and engineering in general, is something that he loves.
William shows that you do not need to be a trained and experienced public speaker to present well. If you are a teacher or university professor, there are a few simple things that you can do to improve your presentations or lectures.
As I've worked with teachers to redesign their lecture slides and presentations, I've come to the realization that, a lot of the time, slides aren't necessary. At least, not for every point that you want to make. This idea was validated when I watched a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson at the Apple Higher Education Leadership Summit.
In his traditional conversational style, he gave an entertaining speech on the role of Information Systems in the university. He discussed the concept of creativity and how many people believe they just aren't creative. Then, he told a story about a rare season of rain in Death Valley and the flowerful spring that followed and referenced the one and only slide from his talk, which contained a photograph of Death Valley covered in wild flowers. He explained that, just as life was dormant in "Death" Valley, everyone is creative whether they have discovered their creative ability or not.
I was floored. What a way to emphasize a point. Moreover, what an incredible talk that utilized only one slide at the opportune moment.
