PowerPoint Handouts Not Effective
A while back, Mike Pulsifer pointed me to an article on Ars Technica: Study: class podcasts can lead to better grades.
The article, and the research done by State University of New York, focus on whether using podcasts as an extra study resource for students can improve grades. I am a huge fan of podcasts. Over the past couple of years I have learned an immense amount by listening to podcasts – from language, to photography, to brain science, and design. On iTunes U anyone can access lectures from some of the best universities in the country by downloading and listening to podcasts of each lecture. This is a great way to acquire knowledge or to get further study for a class you’re currently taking.
What I found even more interesting about this study was the method of teaching and study that wasn’t as effective: handing out printed copies of the lecture slides to students. As the author of the article notes, passing out PowerPoint handouts has become “all the rage” in many lecture halls, within or outside the academic world. In fact, two of my previous science courses are designed around PowerPoint handouts – every slide of every lecture for the entire semester is included in a “Lecture Guide” that the students purchase at the beginning of the semester (sometimes in lieu of a textbook).
What’s the problem with this?
PowerPoint slides are NOT notes. They should not function as notes. Not for the teacher and especially not for the student. Retention increases when exposure to information occurs across multiple modalities – listening to a lecture, reading a textbook, discussing a subject in a study group, etc. (You may be familiar with the idea of being a visual vs. kinisthetic vs. auditory learner.)
A printout of common lecture slides is not much different than the lecture – except that you probably aren’t having them read to you by a Ph.D.
But repitition increases recall, right?
Yes, that is true, but do not forget that certain modalities of learning are less effective than others. As Dr. John Medina points out, “the brain sees words as tiny pictures. Reading creates a bottleneck.” (Brain Rules, pg. 234)
This is just one more reason to do away with text on those lecture slides, replace them with images, and maybe even replace the handouts with a link to the podcast version of your next lecture.
June 16th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Nathan,
Awesome post. I’ve never been a fan of handing out your slides, ESPECIALLY before the presentation. It’s like handing out the script to your movie as the audience enters the theater. Notebooks were created for taking notes, not printed slides. Not to mention, having the slides in hand won’t help retention, as you point out. Either they’re listening to you (the presenter) or they’re not.
Brain Rules is a fantastic book, btw. Nice to see the reference.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:37 am
But wait! If the teacher doesn’t give me all of the slides, then I will have to go to class and hear the lecture!!
June 17th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Love this post. One of our AP teachers has been using pod casts for his lectures that he loads onto his web site. His kids report that they are so helpful. They load them on to their MP3 player and listen at their convenience. He gets a super high pass rate on the AP tests, and so many students clammoring for his class. I’m going to figure it out for my lanugage students.
June 17th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Haha. Very true, Drome, that’s the point!
I do know quite a few people who would actually prefer to just look at the slides on their own and never attend class, because they don’t need to, but this deals with a much deeper problem in the way education works.
Thanks for your comment.