

I Prefer My Professor’s Illegible Handwriting To Your PowerPoint Presentation - Mystitat
http://blog.carolynworks.com/?p=297

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phren0logy
In my experience:

A lecturer who is speaking and writing on a chalkboard (or equivalent) usually
knows the lecture well and is writing to emphasize and explain key points.

A lecturer who is using PowerPoint often does not know the lecture well, and
is trying to hide behind the slides or use them as notes to remember what to
say.

Both may be experts about the domain they are discussing, but much more often
the chalkboard presenter knows the _lecture being given._

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dantheman
The best lectures I've seen have powerpoint & chalkboard, sometimes with an
overhead projector. Each have their purpose.

1\. For displaying text, graphics, animations, etc a powerpoint presentation
is great.

2\. The chalk board is great for pulling out important equations that will be
used throughout the lecture (not lost on slide changes) and to interactively
work through a problem. You can draw something out and then ask students what
to do next and then execute.

3\. Overhead slides are great to manipulations on complex forms. For instance
showing how a parser works on a piece of text you can use a pen to mark up the
text. Or to show how different actions can effect a system. For instance if we
increase the interest rate, the line moves like this etc. This allows you to
answer questions in real-time in a visual way.

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jimbokun
I see some professors use pen tablet input on computer slides during a
lecture. This is similar to what you describe for overhead slides. In
practice, they also seem to use it for the things you describe for the
chalkboard.

My favorite video lectures are Gilbert Strang teaching Linear Algebra with
nothing but a piece of chalk and a whole lot of chalkboards (the kind that
slide up and down, revealing other chalkboards underneath). I can't think of
any way those lectures could be improved by any sort of technology.

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alexgartrell
First, let me say that there's a huge difference between teaching
presentations (presenting material that students will need to use and be
tested on later) and idea pitching or research presentations (where you want
people to leave with a general idea and a pointer to the material).

My algorithms professor wrote out the whole outline of the presentation, then
would do the whole thing on the board as he went. I loved it.

That said, powerpoints have a very worthwhile benefit in that redistribution
is trivial. If you're fortunate enough to be in an Operating Systems course
where you're writing an operating system, there's a large amount of stuff
where details are very important that can get screwed up when twice-
transcribed. Something like a powerpoint is invaluable.

I think the best presenters use both powerpoints (for main ideas) and a
(chalk|white)board, for actually working through it.

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jff
One of my professors likes to print out all of his slides (which can be up to
50 for any given lecture) on transparencies. Then, when he's showing them on
the overhead, he'll stand there and underline things, make check marks (while
saying "check please"), etc. Draws smiling faces when something good shows up
("now the numbers are already there for the ALU") and frowning faces for
problems ("we have to insert a bubble in the pipeline"). In the end, each
slide ends up full of lines, boxes, checks, and faces.

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stevenbedrick
I had an excellent prof. who did this with a Tablet PC using PowerPoint's
annotation tools. It seemed like a really natural use for a pen-based
computer, and made for a good mix of results- nice, readable slides, but with
the spontaneity and temporal benefits of a good chalkboard lecture.

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pixcavator
I use Tablet PD with Windows Journal. In addition to what you say, other
advantages over chalk are the brightness, the colors, and the ability to
instantly post the lecture online. Later I transcribe the lectures into text
and just copy the illustrations. Plus, I don’t have to deal with chalk on my
shoes, pants, and lungs!

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pyre
I had a professor whose lecture 'notes' where a series of overhead
transparencies that were _written_ out by him in wet-erase marker. The thing
that frustrated me that most about them is that they were in essay-style. The
_entire_ transparency was _packed_ with words, just a huge block of text. No
separation of different ideas, no bullet points. The only breaks from the huge
blocks of text were when he needed to show a graph.

It really frustrated me because unlike when a professor writes all of that
stuff out on the board, he was able to _breeze_ through the material _without
pause_ in barely enough time for anyone to write anything down. I was really
frustrated at those lectures because I couldn't find a balance between taking
notes and actually paying attention to what he was saying in the lecture.

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jlees
We had the OHP handwritten essay style of lectures as well, primarily in
maths, but I seem to recall one computer science topic that stooped that low.
We definitely had one pre-prepared essay type, but most of these were
lecturers would just freely write on OHP reels instead of the blackboard. I
found that a lot worse, due to people trying to write legibly/exaggeratedly on
blackboards but writing 'normally' (and totally illegibly) on OHPs. But my
sympathies for the overhead essays, I've been there.

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brettnak
On the handwriting note; some of the lectures at UW in bifurcation, chaos and
some others were part of the 'UW Engineering Extension' program ( or something
similarly named. ) It was really great because only the best professors with
the best handwriting got to be on TV. Enrolling in the class on campus was a
double bonus because we got access to the video recordings of the classes, the
teachers lecture notes, and, of course, got to sit in the room with the
professor ( if a matriculated student at the main Seattle campus ) and ask
questions to our hearts content. The downside was that if we asked a stupid
question, it was beamed to the rest of the world.

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cwan
I generally find criticisms like this a bit odd. The issue seems less about
PowerPoint than it is about how the message/information gets presented and
used. It's sort of like blaming the web for websites where companies just
cobble together some of the hardcopy content from brochures and newsletters.

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drunkpotato
Powerpoint _is_ how the information is presented. Her post is all about how
using a chalkboard leads to a better presentation of the material and
increased focus. I like to teach using the chalkboard or whiteboard, and
prefer learning that way as well.

There are some use cases for slides. A picture or graphic too complex to be
drawn on the chalkboard. Animating an example (I've seen Steve Jobs use this
to good effect). In my lectures I strive for a minimal slideshow, lots of
chalkboard examples, and live demos of example code.

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psawaya
I went to a CS theory class this semester which was taught in a computer lab
by a teacher drawing notes into Photoshop with a Wacom tablet. I ended up
switching into a compilers class, which is taught by a professor writing notes
on a blackboard, and I can already tell it will work out so much better. It's
surprising, but it seems the old fashioned way is the best way to learn
concepts, even in the high tech field of computer science.

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Mystitat
Could that be because the chalkboard notes were neater? Or the professor
didn't have to worry about getting the technicalities just right?

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psawaya
I think it's because the professor was off to the side, drawing on a tablet,
while we were staring at the screen it was projecting on. It also didn't help
that we were in a computer lab, with huge 22 inch iMacs in front of us, making
it hard to see the screen and basically impossible to concentrate. When a
professor writes on chalkboard, your eyes tend to follow them around the room,
rather than staring at what they wrote.

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lmkg
One of the best points for chalk over powerpoint is that it's easy to diverge
from the script if you need to. A good teacher adapts to the needs of the
student(s). Secondarily to this, chalk allows for a script that is more
interactive to begin with (eg, "who can give me an example of an abelian
group?" followed by verifying the axioms).

But, while powerpoint may be a fundamentally weaker medium, I think part of
the problem is that a lot of people are simply bad at it. Having an optimal
presentation requires a lot of attention to things like pacing, and separating
content between the powerpoint itself and the delivery. I get the feeling that
a lot of people don't look further than content. Hint: if you print your
slides and distribute them as notes, they are not optimal for at least one of
those purposes[1].

[1] However, optimal slides printed out with room to take notes during a
lecture can often be made into optimal notes by a good student.

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blahedo
As an avowed chalkboard lecturer, I can totally understand where the OP is
coming from, and I can add a few more reasons why chalkboards are better:

1\. Non-linearity---it's easy to reconfigure the lecture on the fly if I'm
chalking it out on the board.

2\. Interactivity---I can ask for and actually use examples from the students
when working through something, and I can even ask the students to come up and
write something on the board when appropriate.

3\. Real estate---In a good classroom, I might have seven or eight times the
area of chalkboard as I do projector screen, and I don't need to erase
anything until it's all full. That makes it much easier to refer back to
earlier points. It also gives everything I wrote a "place", and I can refer
back to what I had "over there on that board" sometimes two or three classes
later, and if I don't need the precise content (just a general reminder),
that's often enough to refresh it in students' minds.

4\. Editing---Have you ever been in a PP-based lecture where there were some
errors in a formula or graph or equation? (It might be better to ask if you've
ever been in one _without_ errors...) These are hard to edit out, and if the
slides for students to look at later, how often does the prof correct them
first? I had a theory class in grad school that was _terrible_ for this.

One "big" advantage for PP isn't even unique to it: sure, I could post a PDF
of my slides for students to read later. You know what I do instead? Snap a
photo of the chalkboards after each class and post that.

The only reason to use projected slides IMO is when there is a long formula
that students don't have to write down (e.g. it's in the book) that I need to
point to, or a particular graph or diagram that needs to be precise. For these
things, I stick a PDF of the formula or diagram on the course website, and
pull that up during class to talk about it... briefly, before going back to
the chalkboard.

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rabidgnat
I vastly prefer handwritten presentations to Powerpoint presentations, but
because it's so dynamic.

First, look at content. When you're delivering a Powerpoint presentation and a
great side conversation arises, you are pressured to return to the content of
your slides before you divert too far. If you don't, then you've lost your
visual medium for interacting with your audience. Granted, sometimes it's
better to refocus, but it's arrogant to believe you can always anticipate the
best direction a conversation can take ahead of time. Anecdotally, my favorite
classroom memories of school involve the teacher abandoning plans for the day
because students were passionately interested in a side conversation. I'll
note that none of those teachers used Powerpoint slides.

Next, there's form. Most subjects are easily broken down by bulleted lists,
but that doesn't mean that it's always the most effective way to transmit
information to others. Some Powerpointers are talented enough to genereate
lots of high-quality picture-based slides, but they're few and far between.
I've met some of these talented few, and they're always clearer on a
markerboard, because they are able to dynamically change their diagrams as I
ask questions and comment.

I realize Powerpoint works better for some scenarios, but if given the choice,
I'll choose the guy with the marker in his hand every day of the week

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jimbokun
In this day and age, when the slides to so many academic lectures are
available for free online, a professor standing in front of a chalkboard in
the same room as you seems to give more value for money.

What value do you get from a professor reading his slides to you, versus just
downloading them and reading them at your leisure? With the professor at the
chalkboard, however, you feel like you are getting more of his thought
processes with more spontaneity. And more of a feeling that it is OK and
encouraged to stop him with questions, and maybe even diverge from the day's
planned lecture on occasion.

I wonder if universities with professors standing in front of chalkboards will
start to attract the best students over time.

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protomyth
On a tangent, Powerpoint is seriously painful for a distance learning class.
To be fair, a person standing at a podium or sitting at a desk and talking
into the camera is painful too. The lack of movement is a killer. Think "worst
TV program I ever had to watch".

I was filling in at a community college for one of the techs who was running
the distance learning classroom for a biology lecture. The person teaching it
had the camera pointed at his face while he went on in a monotone lecture
voice with small breaks of drawing on an overhead. Everyone in the classroom
fell asleep. When he called us asking for questions, I had to mute our mikes
and wake people up. I taped the lecture, but would have hated to watch it
again.

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andrewcooke
i once wrote some notes, scanned them, cleaned them up with thresholding and a
raster to vector tool, and then added used them as images (sole content) in a
powerpoint presentation. it was a lot of work and loses many of the advantages
listed in the article, but it did get a lot of positive comments (the audience
was fairly academic, however, so most people in the audience grew up with
handwritten overhead notes and so found it "familiar" rather than just
"weird").

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larsberg
There's also a distraction issue: you can write while the professor writes,
and they can't really talk coherently while they're writing. With a
presentation, they can start talking while you're still taking notes.

Additionally, having to write out content in longhand slows down the amount of
info you can cram into a lecture.

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brettnak
> Additionally, having to write out content in longhand slows down the amount
> of info you can cram into a lecture.

I'm not sure if you meant that as a positive or a negative, but that was the
biggest advantage for me when I had chalk board classes. If you can't write
down everything you want to say, your students can't either.

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tybris
Good chalk education took a while to develop, same with slides education.

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nearestneighbor
_I Prefer My Professor’s Illegible Handwriting To Your PowerPoint
Presentation_

With the right font in your PowerPoint, you can have the best of both worlds.

~~~
Mystitat
Touché.

