PowerPoint 180

 I have seen enough dull and unimaginative PowerPoint presentations in my day to have a less than enthusiastic view of working with PowerPoint. I mean, if I have to watch one more person read their PowerPoint slides word for word without looking up or stopping to breath...! But, I digress. To be fair, I've created my share of mediocre presentations that, I'm sure, put a few professors and fellow students to sleep.

Honestly, I had no idea about all the possible uses for PowerPoint. My previous belief was that PowerPoint was created for businessmen and teachers to disseminate as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of new and creative ways to use PowerPoint. The hyperlinks and the options to move from one point within a presentation to any other point give a dynamic quality which lends itself to more flexibility and interaction. Quizzes, reviews, games, interactive stories, and other projects are all possible to create using PowerPoint. I'm officially a fan.

Now, for the negatives. Why must there always be negatives? I wish there was a way to prevent a slide from advancing it to the next slide due to a random click. This way, only when users intentionally click on "Action Buttons" or hyperlinks or any predetermined button would the slide actually transition to whatever function it was designed for. How many times must we suffer as a teacher inadvertently taps on a Smart Board to point to something and the presentation automatically advances to the next slide? Laptop users also suffer the same fate quite frequently, as touch pads can be sensitive. This flaw becomes particular cumbersome when you are interacting with a dynamic PowerPoint presentation like a quiz or review game where advancing to the next slide would confuse the user, who may find it  difficult to navigate back to the desired slide.

Negatives aside, my view of PowerPoint has done a 180. PowerPoint is a fun and simple way to incorporate technology into the classroom and enhance learning.