I love movies. I can’t say that I’m a movie buff – I haven’t even seen the Godfather yet – but I am fascinated by what goes on behind the scenes of movie making. While watching The Oscars this past January, I was intrigued by a segment on sound – sound effects, sound mixing, musical score, etc. It was shocking for me to realize how much work goes into a part of the movie that is frequently taken for granted.

Ben Turpin & Charlie Chaplin

Movies are primarily a visual medium. In fact, film survived for many years as silent features without any sound at all (another testament to the dominance of the visual centers of our brain). Later, a piano accompanied the movie, then soundtracks, and eventually synchronized dialogue in the late 1920s. Music and sound were essential to communicating the atmosphere of a scene and influencing the emotions of the audience.

Presentations have an inverse relationship to movies. The lecture is primarily an oral medium of communication. Slides should serve as a “visual soundtrack” to the presenter.

A teacher who is prepared should be able to give a lecture without relying on slides, just as old silent movies were able to stand on their own. Indeed, a gifted teacher doesn’t rely on notes or any sort of script, but teaches according to the preparation of the student. Of course, in today’s academic world, preselected principles must be taught within a given timeframe, so how can the idea of a visual-track aid in preparing lecture slides?

Visual Cues – Composers use musical cues to prepare the audience for what is happening on the screen – a sharp, dissonant forte from the strings when Jaws attacks from the water; a light legato during a romantic scene; or a triumphant crescendo during the climax of the movie. Your slides can be visual cues for your students to help them know what is coming next. You might show a fullscreen image of body builders before detailing actin and myosin, the molecular components of muscle fibers, for example. Or use an image of a juicy, charbroiled cheeseburger when you discuss the principle of caloric intake in your nutrition course. Also, changing the design theme is one way to signal when you are moving on to the next chapter.

Emotion – The music in a movie greatly enhances how the audience feels about the characters and story. Choosing images that evoke emotion – a crying baby or laughing teenager, for instance – can aid in your students’ retention. According to Dr. Medina in Brain Rules, “Emotionally charged events persist much longer in our memories and are recalled with greater accuracy than neutral memories.” This is one reason bullet points are so ineffective – nobody cares about lists! Instead of listing the masterpieces you’ll discuss in Art History, begin with a clip from The DaVinci Code which introduces the paintings and the meaning behind them. Give students a reason to care!

Template – The slide design you choose for individual slides can say a lot about the content. A Title Slide has centered text in a large font, suggesting this is the beginning of a new, important topic. Differentiating itself as a subtopic, another slide may have a smaller title at the top with space for text or images below it. You shouldn’t always use the built in templates, but keep title slides consistent with each other by using the same font size and text placement.

Transitions – Just as musical scores offer both subtle and dramatic effects, the transitions you choose can help your students know when you’re moving on to another topic. Simple transitions such as Dissolve or Fade are barely noticeable and help the students stay focused on the content. More elaborate slide transitions, such as Doorway, Grid, or other 3D effects make it clear to your students that something is changing. While these transitions can be distracting and should be used very sparingly, they can help emphasize to your students that you are ending one discussion and moving onto a new topic.

I could go on and on with the analogy of using a visual soundtrack to prepare your slides. I’m sure future posts will carry on with these ideas. Think of your slides as a simple visual complement to your teaching. Get creative. This will aid your students in keeping pace with the lecture and in recognizing the context of the material.

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.

Some people just shouldn’t be teachers. Then there is Marta Adair.

Professor Adair is a biology professor, chair of science education, and Director for Education in the Bean Life Science Museum at BYU. She truly understands what it means to be a teacher and what her role is in the classroom. I witnessed something in her Intro to Biology class that illustrates what a wonderful teacher she is.

She began a discussion on the topic of carbon dioxide emissions and global warming, a controversial subject wherever it takes place. A couple of students raised some questions that Professor Adair answered as best she could. Another student, however, raised his hand to share a few additional comments on the matter. It turns out that he had spent around 300 hours researching energy, carbon emissions, and nuclear power as a member of a debate team a year ago. His comments sparked additional questions from his peers. Realizing she was unprepared to answer such questions, she half-jokingly said – as many professors do – “Why don’t you just come up here and answer these questions?” to the student who knew a little more about the subject. Then a somewhat astonishing thing happened. The student stood from his seat, and Marta Adair took his place.

For the next 20–30 minutes, the class discussed the topics answering each others questions with help from two teachers assistants, the student now at the front of the room, and a few interjected comments from Professor Adair seated among the students.

As I sat there observing these interactions I was amazed at how naturally the conversation moved from one relevant topic to the next. The students, mostly freshman and sophomores, asked intelligent questions and offered information they found helpful. I could sense a curiosity that was fueled by the open and candid atmosphere. There was an organic and harmonious progression of thought. Minds were enlightened, misconceptions corrected, consciousness raised.

This experience contrasts those I have had on countless occasions in classrooms where the professor incessantly lectures on a pre-established set of “learning objectives”.

Marta doesn’t have a set agenda for her class, a list of topics that she must cover during the semester, or an established list of facts that her students must memorized. Yet, never before in my time as a student have I had such a desire to investigate, inquire, learn, and share what I know about a subject.

I once heard, in a meeting full of educators, that the Latin root educare means “to lead out.” Why, then, does the general approach to teaching seem so very opposite to that image? Instead, I see teachers who effectively push or pull their students into a narrow and specific group of concepts that have (questionably) been determined to be more important than any other, forcing them to memorize facts without understanding their meaning. How restrictive and boring!

Attempts to understand the broader picture and explore connecting facts are most often received with a look of contempt and the instruction to not “worry about that,” usually because “it won’t be on the test.” How narrow minded and empty of purpose!

The atmosphere in Professor Adair’s class is very different. She encourages her students to ask questions and rejoices when a student connects personal experiences with the topics discussed in class. Real, practical learning takes place and it is exciting!

I am reminded of the call by Jay H. Lehr regarding conference presenters:

“Let there be an end to incredibly boring [teachers]! They are not sophisticated, erudite, [experts] speaking above our intellectual capability; they are arrogant, thoughtless individuals who insult our very presence by their lack of concern for our desire to benefit from a [class] which we chose to attend.”

Sir Ken Robinson, a passionate educator himself, illustrates the great flaw in the ubiquitous prescription of content.

“It is education that is meant to take us into [a] future that we can’t grasp. Children starting school [in 2006] will be retiring in 2065. Nobody has a clue [...] what the world will look like in five years’ time. And yet we’re meant to be educating them for it.”

In a world that progresses as fast as ours, how can we be sure that the content we prescribe for the younger generations will be relevant in an unpredictable future?

Marta Adair is a leader. She cares for her students. Evidence to this fact can be found in the 60 students who she mentors, the effort she puts into the education program at the museum, and her family life. For me, her concern for the education of her students was manifest the moment she humbly became the student and allowed a student to become the teacher.