Dual PowerPoint presentation approach for students with special educational needs and note-takers

Abstract

In higher education, supporting students with special educational needs (SEN) necessitates an understanding of these needs, additional teaching aids and innovative ideas. The teacher must be an integral part of this support process, and this is difficult for the majority of teachers, due to their lack of core understanding of SEN. However, teachers can focus on their core skills and content knowledge, and have immense alacrity to explore potential options to support their students with SEN. I decided to support my students with SEN by adapting my PowerPoint presentations according to their requirements. PowerPoint presentations usually provide concisely summarised information to students that often lead to confusion in their pre-lecture or post-lecture review. This lack of comprehensive subject information within PowerPoint presentations can have serious implications for students with SEN and their note-takers if no other teaching resources or aids are available to help them. Students with SEN and note-takers reported this concern to me at Aberystwyth University, UK. Consequently, I began to explore ways to make my PowerPoint presentations extra helpful for my students with SEN. After a review of best practices for students with SEN based on universal design for learning and a few trials, I developed a dual PowerPoint presentation (DPP), lecture handouts and comprehensive lecture notes. Subsequently, I successfully employed this approach in the delivery of some of the undergraduate modules of a BSc computer science programme. Feedback from students with SEN, note-takers and the student support department, and examination results showed the success and potential of this DPP approach.     

Interactive Multimedia Instruction Versus Traditional Training Programmes: Analysis of their Effectiveness and Perception

Abstract

In this article, the practicability of introduction of computer multimedia as an educational tool was compared with the traditional approach for training sugarcane growers in ratoon management practices in three villages of Tamil Nadu state, India using pre-test, post-test control group experimental design.

A CD-ROM was developed as a multimedia resource to support the training process using Macromedia Flash as the authorware. Three modes of message delivery—traditional lecture alone, lecture followed by multimedia and multimedia alone were analyzed for their effectiveness in terms of knowledge gain, learning index and extent of adoption. The group which was exposed to lecture followed by multimedia had better knowledge gain and learning index. Farmers perceived that the use of different multimedia building blocks made it an interesting and educative tool. The message, when given through lecture alone was perceived as boring and monotonous with limited attention span. The extent of adoption of ratoon management practices was almost on par; however the group which had received instructions through lecture followed by computer multimedia had a better adoption rate. Such a comparative analysis is an opportunity for a better understanding of the role that multimedia could play in technology transfer to farmers.     

Using multimedia visual aids in presentations: The demise of the transparency has been greatly exaggerated

Summary Business people are making presentations that require visual aids, and they are commonly using presentation software to create those visuals. Microsoft PowerPoint? appears to be the most widely used presentation package. Clipart was the most-used special software feature. For presenting the finished product, turning the slide show into color transparencies was the most popular option. Half of the respondents indicated that they displayed their presentations in computer slide shows. Other forms of visual aids that presentation software did not create were still frequently used in the organizations.     

PowerPoint,habits of mind,and classroom culture

In lecture halls, in secondary school classrooms, during training workshops, and at research conferences, PowerPoint is becoming a preferred method of communicating, presenting, and sharing knowledge. Questions have been raised about the implications of the use of this new medium for knowledge dissemination. It is suggested PowerPoint supports a cognitive and pedagogical style inconsistent with both the development of higher analytical thinking skills and the acquisition of rich narrative and interpretive understanding. This paper examines how PowerPoint invites and seduces educators to reshape knowledge in particular ways, and subsequently how this knowledge is presented to students in the classroom. The particular forms of knowing, relating, and presenting with PowerPoint are decided in part by teacher habituation to the software tool’s default patterns, but also by the very nature of the presentation medium itself.     

Use of Student Notes and Lecture Summaries as Study Guides for Recall

Abstract

This study represents an extension of previous research on interfering and facilitating variables affecting the encoding function of note taking by adding several review conditions. Ninety-six subjects were assigned to five note-taking and three non-note-taking groups. Subjects heard a 16-minute segmented lecture and recalled lecture content 48 hours later. The review of notes neutralized both the interfering and facilitating effects on recall of note-taking manipulations reported in previous research. Review of student-generated notes resulted in better recall than did review of lecturer-generated summaries.     

Adding interactive graphic organizers to a whole-class slideshow lesson

This study examines the effects of including interactive graphic organizers into a whole-class PowerPoint lesson as an instructional approach intended to improve student engagement and generative learning in schools. A software application was developed and integrated into PowerPoint that makes it possible for the instructor to fill in empty graphic organizers during PowerPoint projection mode. The participants were 152 fourth-grade students selected from three schools that were grouped in four classrooms. Each classroom was divided in two groups—graphic organizer and content-based. The graphic organizer group was taught using an 11-slide PowerPoint presentation on a social study topic that included two empty graphic organizers plus two additional slides explaining how to make a comparison. The content-based group was taught using the same presentation but without these additional slides plus a set of questions students had to answer as a class activity. The lessons were recorded and the verbal statements between instructor and students examined using the Flanders Interaction Analysis System. Results indicated significant differences in how instructors and students interacted in each group, including more questions asked by teachers (d?=?1.99) and more students participating in the classroom discussion in the graphic organizer group (d?=?1.76). Learning outcomes showed that the graphic organizer group outperformed the content-based group on a memory test (d?=?.45) and a comprehension test (d?=?.44). These results encourage the use of graphic organizers as an instructional approach, and are consistent with a generative theory of learning.     

Note-taking in the college classroom as evidence of generative learning

College student notes were analysed with respect to the amount of words copied directly, omitted and added to the teacher’s overheads or PowerPoint slides in order to understand the effect of teacher scaffolds on student generative learning during initial encoding. Scores on quizzes taken at the end of classes from which notes were collected were analysed with respect to the content of student notes and teacher scaffolds. Statistically significant results were found when comparing how much students copied, added and omitted, whether teachers used PowerPoint presentations or overheads, and with respect to the amount of information teachers presented visually. Significant effects also were found on performance quiz items with respect to the amount of information that teachers provided.     

Immediate and Delayed Recall of Lecture Material as a Function of Note Taking

Abstract

Randomly chosen halves of an undergraduate class were instructed either to take notes in their usual manner or to refrain from note taking while listening to a guest lecturer. Immediately following the lecture, notes were collected and a quiz on the lecture was administered. Ten days later, a second quiz was administered. Statistical analysis indicated that the note-taking group performed significantly better overall than the no-notes group on both the immediate and the delayed quizzes. Both groups showed a significant decline in performance on the latter quiz. Alternative explanations for these results were examined.     

PowerPoint多媒体课件的超链接与Flash插入技巧

与其他多媒体制作软件相比,PowerPoint制作周期短、修改方便、便于呈现,在日常教学中被普遍使用。为增强PowerPoint多媒体课件的交互性和灵活性,掌握PowerPoint制作多媒体课件过程中一些超链接的使用及Flash插入技巧,有利于增强多媒体课件的交互性和灵活性。     

演示文稿制作与播放中的“微处理”技术

利用“画图”和Power Point软件自身功能对演示文稿作“微处理”。把多个对象组合成一个新对象,对截图进行修整,控制练习题答案隐藏与显示,作程序文本与幻灯片文本框文本对拷,以及合理设置幻灯片背景和字体字形。综合考虑多媒体系统、情境等其他因素,优化设置,操作便捷,将多媒体的性能发挥到极致。     

用PowerPoint制作课件的几种特殊用法

PowerPoint作为简单、易学的非编程多媒体课件整合平台 ,如果根据课件的需要挖掘它的特殊功能 ,实现与复杂多媒体工具相比拟的“按扭交互”、“热区交互”、“沿路径运动”、“控制多媒体播放”等功能 .为初学者运用PowerPoint设计和制作多媒体课件提供切实可行的操作方法 ,那么它将更有使用价值     

An Exploratory Study of the Effects of Time Compressed Animated Delivery Multimedia Technology on Student Learning in Reproductive Physiology

Two experiments examined the effects of a multimedia technology referred to as “Time Compressed Animated Delivery” (TCAD), on student learning in a junior-level reproductive physiology course. In experiment 1, participating students received one of two presentations of the same instructional material: TCAD and a lecture captured on video. At the completion of each presentation a test was administered and group mean test scores computed and compared. The results were statistically significant (df = 362, t = 10.623, p < 0.05), favoring the TCAD treatment group. The effect size estimate was 1.14. In experiment 2, student learning from three groups were compared on the same reproductive physiology unit used in experiment 1: (1) TCAD, (2) TCAD without the 3-D component, and (3) video-lecture. After removal of three poor functioning items, a one-way analysis of variance was computed. The results were statistically significant (df = 2, F = 2.351, p < 0.10). Results of post hoc comparisons showed that differences in mean test scores between the TCAD and control groups were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The effect size estimate was 0.25. These findings provide preliminary evidence for use of TCAD.     

Effect of on-screen text on multimedia learning with native and foreign-accented narration

This study examined the impact of redundant on-screen text on learning from an animated PowerPoint presentation, narrated either by a native or a foreign-accented narrator, with no text, summary text, or full text. Participants completed retention and transfer tests and rated the cognitive load induced by the narration and the PowerPoint materials. With a native narrator, participants performed better on transfer with no text than summary text (redundancy effect). The foreign-accented narration was perceived to be more difficult to understand. Transfer performance was worse for accented than native narration with no text, replicating a voice effect. With a foreign-accented narrator, participants performed better on retention with full text than summary text. Full text facilitated decoding of the accented narration at the word level, but it did not facilitate deep processing for knowledge transfer. The results are discussed in the context of cognitive load and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning.     

Applying the many‐facet Rasch model to evaluate PowerPoint presentation performance in higher education

This study investigated the usefulness of the many‐facet Rasch model (MFRM) in evaluating the quality of performance related to PowerPoint presentations in higher education. The Rasch Model utilizes item response theory stating that the probability of a correct response to a test item/task depends largely on a single parameter, the ability of the person. MFRM extends this one‐parameter model to other facets of task difficulty, for example, rater severity, rating scale format, task difficulty levels. This paper specifically investigated presentation ability in terms of items/task difficulty and rater severity/leniency. First‐year science education students prepared and used the PowerPoint presentation software program during the autumn semester of the 2005–2006 school year in the ‘Introduction to the Teaching Profession’ course. The students were divided into six sub‐groups and each sub‐group was given an instructional topic, based on the content and objectives of the course, to prepare a PowerPoint presentation. Seven judges, including the course instructor, evaluated each group’s PowerPoint presentation performance using ‘A+ PowerPoint Rubric’. The results of this study show that the MFRM technique is a powerful tool for handling polytomous data in performance and peer assessment in higher education.     

A Holistic Course on the Environment

Abstract

This article describes how anecdotal teaching can relate classroom material more effectively than lecture presentations. Personalizing the lesson engages students and increases retention.     

Using mimicking gestures to improve observational learning from instructional videos

Abstract

This study, generated from considerations of embodied cognition, observational learning, and cognitive load theory, investigated the effect of mimicking gestures on learning to play piano tasks. Fifty university students from an Australian University, with two different levels of piano-playing experience, were randomly assigned to one of the two different gesturing conditions in a 2 (gestures vs. no-gestures) × 2 (novice vs. more expertise) design. All groups viewed an animated video presentation of four musical scores being played on a piano with the hand motions visible, accompanied by the sounds of the notes played. Participants in the gesturing condition were required to gesture while watching the presentations, but in the no-gesturing condition, gesturing was prohibited. Test results indicated a significant learning advantage to gesturing with reduced cognitive load. It was also evident that the efficacy of gesturing was influenced by learner expertise and task complexity.     

机械制图多媒体课件中图形插入方法研究

使用AutoCAD和Inventor等绘图软件能够方便地绘制复杂的二维图样和创建三维立体模型,将其插入PowerPoint中制作多媒体课件,可以增强教学效果。详细介绍在PowerPoint演示文档中插入平面图形和立体模型的各种方法,比较不同方法的优缺点,为制作PowerPoint多媒体课件提供参考。     

Using active learning in criminal justice: Twenty-five examples

Active learning strategies may overcome the weaknesses of the traditional lecture approach. This paper outlines some of the main strengths and weaknesses of the lecture approach and reports research which illustrates why active learning strategies should be used in the classroom. The paper concludes with a presentation of twenty-five active learning strategies to be used in the criminal justice classroom, along with a discussion of how these strategies meet the goals of higher education.