Could PowerPoint Be...Satan?

You have heard it all before. And today, a news story from the Sydney Morning Herald is making the internet rounds, trotting out the "PowerPoint is bad" theme yet again.

This time, Professor Sweller from the University of New South Wales is using "PowerPoint Bad" as a platform for promoting his old "cognitive load" theory.

Here is the Professor's spin (I paraphrased it considerably):

Your audience learns more when you speak to a compelling graphic than when you read aloud the words on a slide.

Huh. How about that.

I guess that's why people like to watch actors act instead of read from their scripts. Or why children who are too young to read like to look at pictures while listening to you read the words aloud.

Anyway, the picture attached to the story is ironic. Professor Sweller is quoted as saying that PowerPoint is a disaster and should be ditched.

The picture?

Professor Sweller is gesturing broadly in front of a projected PowerPoint slide of a bar chart.

Holy Cognitive Dissonance, Professor!

So you see, it's not that PowerPoint is bad. It's more likely that OPP (Other People's PowerPoint) is bad!

That's why other people should stop using PowerPoint.

You? You're terrific. You're good. You can keep using PowerPoint.

And you can use "PowerPoint Bad" as a platform for generating good publicity! People never seem to tire of the old "PowerPoint is Evil" theme.

Actually, PowerPoint is morality-neutral. There is no good or evil when it comes to PowerPoint.

But you know that.

Labels: Presentation

¶ 4/05/2007 10:53:00 AM