Instructional Technology Conference 2008

Title: Presentation Design: from Bullets to Lessig and Beyond

Name: Mary Katherine Klose, JD, MLIS & Rhonda Crim-Tumelson, MLIS (12/07)

Audience Level: All

Audience: General

Length: One hour

Abstract:
Learn more about the Lessig/Hardt style of presentation design, beginning with its ability to put the power back into PowerPoint and moving on to the potential of its application to other learning objects. Fast paced and concise, this innovative approach to electronic presentations moves the typical slide show away from a passive, instructivist tool and toward a thought provoking constructivist learning experience.

Description:
How can you use slide presentation software to create engaging, exciting learning objects? Why would you want to? The use of extant products, familiar and usable, can be utilized in novel ways to create engaging, entertaining learning environments, virtual and otherwise. And therein lies the gift; with no learning curve beyond a willingness to rethink the way the tools have been used, these presentation programs stand ready to become more immersive right now.

Our work explores the Lessig/Hardt style of presentation design, beginning with its ability to put the power back into PowerPoint and moving on into the potential of its application to other learning objects. Fast paced and concise, this innovative approach to electronic presentations moves the typical slide show away from a passive, instructivist tool and toward a thought provoking constructivist learning experience. Eschewing the hackneyed bulleted lists and paragraphs of information, Lessig and Hardt have turned the audience experience of presentation software from a tedious exercise into a learning experience that engages and entertains.

Having seen what is possible, we hope to instruct on the riches that lie in store for those willing to repurpose old presentation software from a creator of colorful lists to a launch pad for interest grabbing, thought provoking learning tools. In so doing, we will show the value of moving presentations from a convenience for the lecturer to a meaningful experience for the learner. We will also demonstrate the process of converting traditional slides into lean, intentional design objects that engage learners while imparting information.

In a room full of students casually invested in the material being presented, this approach provides ideas, scaffolds, upon which learners may build knowledge and ideas of their own. It also challenges the instructor to consider the goals of his lesson and to bring those to the forefront of his product. To make this leap, temptations of the bulleted lecture must be avoided in favor of the power the alternatives provide to those willing to make the effort to change.

Session Type: Lecture/Presentation

Contact information/affiliation:
Mary Katherine Klose, JD, MLIS
University of Alabama
3712 Blackberry Lane
Northport, AL 35473
205-752-2441
mkklose@ua.edu

Rhonda Crim-Tumelson, MLIS (12/07)
University of Alabama
2302 13th Street
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
205-409-0250
rcrim-tumelson3@slis.ua.edu

Equipment: Multimedia Projector and Screen

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