Just Say No to Death By PowerPoint

As soon as a presenter powers-up the old PowerPoint presentation, most participants power-up their smart phones and begin checking their Facebook.  It’s exactly what our middle and high school students do when they are bored in a classroom.  I have been in the front of a room, all ready to go with my awesome PowerPoint, cool graphics and colors.  Two minutes in, I’m losing, not everyone, but many educators in the room.  As soon as educators see long pieces of text on PowerPoint slides, they begin to check their email on any of the smart devices they have in their bags.  Most people are thinking, “I can read this PowerPoint on my own while in my pajamas and drinking wine, thank you.  You don’t have to read it to me.”

The PowerPoint has to be used sparingly to support your content, but not a tool to kill an audience with boredom.  In education we like to call it death by PowerPoint.   One size does not fit all when deciding on the approach to use while working with adult learners.

My advice for those who present material to adults is to work towards understanding adult learners.  We are a very dynamic and diverse group.  Apply a nonlinear approach to the context of adult learners and use a concept called andragogy.  Glickman, Gordon and Ross-Gordon (2010) described andragogy as being an important aspect of adult learning.  Andragogy has four basic patterns: adults have a need to be self-directing; adults bring an expanse of experience that should be utilized in adult learning practices; adults have a readiness to learn to solve real-life problems; and adults are performance-centered (Knowles, 1980).  Of course, within these four aspects of andragogy there are even more specific aspects of adult learning.  Arguably the most important is the holistic dimension of adult learning which would fall under the premise adults need to be self-directing in the acquisition of knowledge (Knowles, 1980).  Translation, give us the information in a way that we can make it our own.  Let us create something once you give us a snippet of the information.  Don’t tell us what to do; let us figure it out.  In the holistic model of adult learning, the learner is not just using cognitive and rational components of learning; he or she is also tapping into non-cognitive components of learning such as narrative elements and past experiences to understand new concepts (Dewey, 1963; Doll, 1996; Knowles, 1980).

In a nutshell, the presenter should understand that adult learners are diverse in the way we learn.  Some are audio, visual, or kinesthetic learners and many enjoy a collaborative approach.  Presenters should understand that adult learners need to exercise autonomy.  Adult learners work better when they are afforded the freedom to create through collaboration.  And because each person in the room brings his or her own experiences and understanding, there is an opportunity to engage adult learners in an array of collaborative, inquiry-based activities.  Let participants engage each other in a conversation about the material.  Let the conversation be authentic and engaging with new ideas being shared and strategies being offered.  When we start to differentiate professional development based on how a person enjoys learning and what experiences the learner brings to the table, the result will be a genuine, impactful and pleasurable experience in professional development. Wine and pajamas work too.

References

Dewey, J. (1963). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books. (Original work published in 1938)

Doll, W. (1993). A post-modernist perspective on curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.

Knowles, M.S. (1980). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy (2^nd ed.). Chicago: Association/Follett.

Owens, R. G., & Valesky, T. C. (2011). Organizational behavior in education: Leadership and school reform (10^th ed.).  Boston: Pearson.