Stephen's Untold Stories

I must admit that I have found myself using PowerPoint less and less these days. I doubt it will ever completely go away, but many people still don’t use it properly.

Last week an article appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald entitled Researcher points finger at PowerPoint generated quite a stir. The article highlighted findings by researchers from the University of New South Wales, including John Sweller who developed the Cognitive Load Theory back in the ’80s. One of the findings mentioned in the article: it is more difficult to process information if it is coming at you both verbally and in written form at the same time. Since people can not read and listen well at the same time, the reporter suggested, then this may mean “the death of the PowerPoint presentation.” The assumption being (apparently) that a presentation made with the aid of slideware such as PowerPoint or Keynote necessarily includes lines of text projected on a screen that mirror the spoken word of the presenter.

The article generated so much attention due in part to this quote by Professor Sweller:

“The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster. It should be ditched.”

— John Sweller

Read the rest here.