The
Duarte reading suggested sketching visuals before creating visual aids for a
presentation. This is a technique I’ve never tried before, but I don’t feel as
though it would help me. Oftentimes, I don’t know what visuals I want to use to
go along with my information. I would prefer to stick with a trial-and-error
method of picking images, however. By this, I mean that I would prefer to find
an image that fits my idea. If I try to draw an image, I’m afraid I won’t find
one that would fit my ideal. For some presentations, I’d be more than willing
to take photos to fit my ideal, but for my Big Idea presentation, this won’t be
an option.
From
the Reynolds readings, I didn’t learn any information I wasn’t already familiar
with from previous classes I’ve taken. However, the most unique pieces of
information from this reading were the parts about pie charts. I’ve never been
advised to not use pie charts in a presentation, so this was relatively new
information. I’d been advised, just as the reading said, to only use a few “pieces
of pie,” but I’ve never been warned against using them totally. While I see
where the reading was coming from, I feel that some information is actually
lost if a pie chart is not used. I think pie charts really show the
relationship between ideas, and putting this information in a different type of
chart/bar would not have the same effect.
In
one of my classes last semester, my professor did not use PowerPoints
effectively. Rather than use it as a visual aid, my professor would put
paragraphs upon paragraphs on the board and would rarely use photos to support
her points. While it was clear that this professor was knowledgeable in her
subject area, as she was always able to expand on the slides, it was
frustrating that she would put whole paragraphs on her PowerPoints because it
made them so congested. Because of this, it was hard to pay attention.
In
another one of my classes last semester, my professor was much better at using
PowerPoints effectively. In his class, he put key words and phrases on the
PowerPoints and expanded on them. It was easier to focus on what he was saying
and he talked about each point individually, which made it really easy to
follow his lectures.
I am not good at sketching or drawing so it is hard for me to accept the technique that Duarte mentions. Pie charts are a wonderful to include in a presentation. Really any type of organized graph is good to add to a presentation, because it attracts the audience. It seeems like a lot of us in the class have sat through a terrible presentation in a lecture class. All of these power points invlove powerpoints full of words and paragraphs. They are not benefitcal to the class as a whole, and make it hard for the class to retain information. I also find it helpful for teachers to put key words on the power points because it sends the students in the right direction when they study.
ReplyDeleteCarrie,
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the Reynolds reading, I noticed I had already learned most of the information from previous classes as well. I also had a professor like yours that would have power points with insane amounts of bullet points. I could barely understand what he was saying while trying to take down all the bullet points. I definitely think it's more effective to go the simple route and have a few words as possible on each slides and multiple visual aids.