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What is a Presentation of Learning and Why Do We Do It?

Alec patton.

A Presentation of Learning (POL) requires students to present their learning to an audience, in order to prove that they are ready to progress. Effective POLs include both academic content and the student’s reflection on their social and personal growth. They are important rituals – literally “rites of passage” for students.

At my school, every student gives two POLs per year – one at the end of fall semester, and one at the end of the year. They happen at the same time that most schools have their final exams, and serve a similar function. However, unlike exams, POLs happen in front of an audience that includes their teachers, parents, and peers. By requiring students to present to an audience, reflect on their learning, and answer probing questions on the spot, we are helping students build skills that they will use for the rest of their life. Taking an exam, on the other hand, is a skill that students will rarely, if ever, need to utilize after they finish college.

Every team’s POL expectations are slightly different, but they all fall into one of two broad categories: “presentation” or “discussion”.

Presentation

The presentation is the “classic” version of the POL. A student gives a prepared presentation on their own, and takes questions. Designing a POL structure is a balancing act for the teacher: require students to cover too much material, and every one of your students will march in and recite a near-identical list of assignments completed and skills learned. On the other hand, make the requirements too open-ended and the POL can become an empty facsimile of reflection – or, as students have described it to me, “BS-ing”!

I once saw a POL assignment that included the phrase “it has to have some magic”, which students were free to interpret as they saw fit. It led to unpredictable and delightful presentations, and inspired more thought and extra work than any rubric could have.

The “Discussion of Learning” trades the presentation structure for a seminar structure: a small group of students facilitates their own hour-long discussion, with the teachers initially just listening, then adding questions to enrich and drive the discussion. The parents are invited in for the final fifteen minutes, when the students summarize the discussion thus far and invite the parents to participate.

In my experience, this format tends to lead to meatier, more honest reflection than presentations. Especially when students are allowed to choose their own groups, they tend to make themselves more vulnerable than in other contexts. This format also opens up a space for students whose voices aren’t always heard in the classroom. The most memorable POL I’ve ever been a part of was a discussion by a group of girls, all them native Spanish speakers, who talked about having been made uncomfortably aware of their accents by peers, and struggling to make their voices heard within our team. It was powerful, effective, thoughtful – everything I would have wanted from a POL, but it never would have happened if the structure had been different.

Which format should I choose, and when?

Students will be best-served by experiencing both the “presentation” and “discussion” format at some point in their academic careers.

I like to end fall semester with a presentation, because individual presentations give me the clearest sense of which skills a student has successfully developed, and what they will need more help with in the coming semester. I then end the year with a discussion, because at this point I know the students very well, and in a small-group setting we can speak frankly both about their successes, and the potential problems they will face in the coming year. I end this discussion with every student setting goals for the summer and coming year that I record and email to the student and their parents, so that they leave my class with the best possible trajectory into the future.

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3 Learning Theories: Understanding How People Learn

Introduction.

Learning theories describe the conditions and processes through which learning occurs, providing teachers with models to develop instruction sessions that lead to better learning. These theories explain the processes that people engage in as they make sense of information, and how they integrate that information into their mental models so that it becomes new knowledge. Learning theories also examine what motivates people to learn, and what circumstances enable or hinder learning.

Sometimes people are skeptical of having to learn theory, believing those theories will not be relevant in the real world, but learning theories are widely applicable. The models and processes that they describe tend to apply across different populations and settings, and provide us with guidelines to develop exercises, assignments, and lesson plans that align with how our students learn best. Learning theories can also be engaging. People who enjoy teaching often find the theories interesting and will be excited when they start to see connections between the theory and the learning they see happening in their own classrooms.

General Learning Theories

With a basic understanding of learning theories, we can create lessons that enhance the learning process. This understanding helps us explain our instructional choices, or the “why” behind what and how we teach. As certain learning theories resonate with us and we consciously construct lessons based on those theories, we begin to develop a personal philosophy of teaching that will guide our instructional design going forward. This chapter provides a bridge from theory to practice by providing specific examples of how the theories can be applied in the library classroom. These theories provide a foundation to guide the instructional design and reflective practices presented in the rest of this textbook.

As you read, you might consider keeping track of the key points of each theory and thinking about how these theories could be applied to your practice. Figure 3.1 provides you with an example of a graphic organizer, one of the instructional materials that will be discussed in Chapter 11, that you could use to take notes as you read this chapter. In addition to the examples in practice that are provided in this chapter, you might add some of your own.

Figure 3.1: Graphic Organizer for Major Learning Theories

A table with four columns. The columns are labeled theory, major theorists, key concepts, and examples in practice. There are three blank rows where students can take notes.

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is based largely on the work of John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. Behaviorists were concerned with establishing psychology as a science and focused their studies on behaviors that could be empirically observed, such as actions that could be measured and tested, rather than on internal states such as emotions (McLeod, 2015). According to behaviorists, learning is dependent on a person’s interactions with their external environment. As people experience consequences from their interactions with the environment, they modify their behaviors in reaction to those consequences. For instance, if a person hurts their hand when touching a hot stove, they will learn not to touch the stove again, and if they are praised for studying for a test, they will be likely to study in the future

According to behavioral theorists, we can change people’s behavior by manipulating the environment in order to encourage certain behaviors and discourage others, a process called conditioning (Popp, 1996). Perhaps the most famous example of conditioning is Pavlov’s dog. In his classic experiment, Pavlov demonstrated that a dog could be conditioned to associate the sound of a bell with food, so that eventually the dog would salivate whenever it heard the bell, regardless of whether it received food. Watson adapted stimulus conditioning to humans (Jensen, 2018). He gave an 11-month-old baby a rat, and the baby seemed to enjoy playing with it. Over time, Watson caused a loud, unpleasant sound each time he brought out the rat. Eventually, the baby associated the rat with the noise and cried when he saw the rat. Although Watson’s experiment is now considered ethically questionable, it did establish that people’s behavior could be modified through control of environmental stimuli.

Skinner (1938) examined how conditioning could shape behavior in longer-term and more complex ways by introducing the concept of reinforcement. According to Skinner, when people receive positive reinforcement, such as praise and rewards for certain behaviors, those behaviors are strengthened, while negative reinforcement will deter behaviors. According to Skinner, by carefully controlling the environment and establishing a system of reinforcements, teachers, parents, and others can encourage and develop desired behaviors (Jensen, 2018). A simple example of behaviorism in the classroom is a point system in which students are awarded points for good behavior and deducted points for unwanted behavior. Eventually, accumulated points might be traded in for rewards like small gifts or homework passes. This approach assumes that motivation is external, in that students will engage in certain behaviors in order to gain the rewards.

Because it emphasizes the external environment, behaviorism largely ignores or discounts the role of internal influences such as prior knowledge and emotion (Popp, 1996). To an extent, behaviorists view learners as blank slates and emphasize the role of the teacher in the classroom. In this teacher-centered approach, instructors hold the knowledge, decide what will be learned, and establish the rewards for learning. Since their experience and prior knowledge are not considered relevant, learners are passive participants simply expected to absorb the knowledge transmitted by the teacher. While the idea of learners as blank slates has fallen out of favor, many of the conditioning aspects of behaviorism remain popular. As almost any student can attest, behavioral methods of reinforcement, such as the point system described above, are still common, especially in younger grades. Recent trends toward gaming in the classroom, where certain behaviors are rewarded with points and leveling up, are based in a behaviorist approach to learning. See Activity 3.1 for a brief activity on behaviorism.

Activity 3.1: Reflecting on Behaviorism

Think of some of your own learning experiences, whether they were in a traditional classroom, through professional development training, or related to personal interests, such as dance or photography lessons. Try to identify a few examples of behaviorism from those experiences and reflect on the following questions:

How did your instructors use behavioral practice in their classrooms?
Did you find those practices motivating? Why or why not?
If you can think of examples of behaviorism from several different learning experiences, were they more appropriate in some situations than others? How so?
Have you ever used, or can you imagine using, behaviorism in your own teaching practice? How so?

Humanism recognizes the basic dignity and worth of each individual and believes people should be able to exercise some control over their environment. Although humanism as an educational philosophy has its roots in the Italian Renaissance, the more modern theorists associated with this approach include John Dewey, Carl Rogers, Maria Montessori, Paolo Freire, and Abraham Maslow. Humanist learning theory is a whole-person approach to education that centers on the individual learners and their needs, and that considers affective as well as cognitive aspects of learning. At its essence, “humanism in education traditionally has referred to a broad, diffuse outlook emphasizing human freedom, dignity, autonomy, and individualism” (Lucas, 1996). Within this broader context, humanism is also characterized by the following tenets (Madsen & Wilson, 2012; Sharp, 2012):

Students are whole people, and learning must attend to their emotional as well as their cognitive state.
Teachers should be empathetic.
Learners are self-directed and internally motivated.
The outcome of learning is self-actualization.

Humanism centers the individual person as the subject and recognizes learners as whole beings with emotional and affective states that accompany their cognitive development. Recognizing the role of students’ emotions means understanding how those emotions impact learning. Student anxiety, say around a test or a research paper, can interfere with the cognitive processes necessary to be successful. Empathetic teachers recognize and try to understand students’ emotional states, taking steps to alleviate negative emotions that might detract from learning by creating a supportive learning environment.

In a library context, Mellon (1986) identified the phenomenon of library anxiety, or the negative emotions that some people experience when doing research or interacting with library tools and services. This anxiety can distract learners and make it difficult to engage in the processes necessary to search for, evaluate, and synthesize the information they need to complete their task. Similarly, in her Information Search Process, Kuhlthau (1990) describes the affective states as well as the cognitive processes students engage in when doing research, acknowledging that their emotions fluctuate among anxiety, optimism, and, ultimately, satisfaction or disappointment.

A humanist approach to education recognizes these affective states and seeks to limit their negative impact. For instance, we can acknowledge that feelings of anxiety are common so learners recognize that they are not alone. We can also explain how the skills students learn are relevant to their lives in and outside of the classroom.

Because humanists see people as autonomous beings, they believe that learning should be self-directed, meaning students should have some choice in what and how they learn. Humanistic education is often connected with student-centered pedagogical approaches such as differentiated curricula, self-paced learning, and discovery learning (Lucas, 1996). Self-directed learning can take many forms, but it generally means that the instructor acts as a guide, and learners are given the freedom to take responsibility for their own learning. Teachers will provide the materials and opportunities for learning, but students will engage with the learning on their own terms. In a library classroom, we can give students choices about the topics they will research or offer learners different types of activities to practice skills and demonstrate what they have learned.

Humanists also believe that learning is part of a process of self-actualization. They maintain that learning should be internally motivated and driven by students’ interests and goals, rather than externally motivated and focused on a material end goal such as achievement on tests, or employment (Sharp, 2012). The expectation is that when students are allowed to follow their interests and be creative, and when learning takes place within a supportive environment, students will engage in learning for its own sake. This emphasis on self-actualization is largely based on Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs. Maslow identified five levels of needs: basic physiological needs such as food, water, and shelter; safety and security needs; belongingness and love needs, including friends and intimate relationships; esteem needs, including feelings of accomplishment; and self-actualization, when people achieve their full potential. Importantly, these needs are hierarchical, meaning a person cannot achieve the higher needs such as esteem and self-actualization until more basic needs such as food and safety are met. The role of the humanist teacher is to facilitate the student’s self-actualization by helping to ensure needs such as safety and esteem are met through empathetic teaching and a supportive classroom.

In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed , Freire (2000) brings together many of the student-centered elements of humanistic education, with a strong emphasis on social justice aspects of learning and teaching. In contrast to behaviorist approaches, Freire emphasizes the importance of students’ life experience to their learning. He criticizes what he describes as the “banking model” of education, in which students are viewed as passive and empty vessels into which teachers simply deposit bits of knowledge that students are expected to regurgitate on exams or papers without any meaningful interaction. Freire insists that learning must be relevant to the student’s life and the student should be an active participant in order for learning to be meaningful. Freire also emphasized the emancipatory role of education, arguing that the purpose of education was for learners to gain agency to challenge oppressive systems and improve their lives, and praxis, in which learners put abstract and theoretical knowledge into practice in the real world.

While a student-centered approach and choice can be introduced in any classroom, observers note that in an age of curriculum frameworks and standardized tests, where teachers are often constrained by the material, the ability to provide students with choice and allow for exploration is limited (Sharp, 2012; Zucca-Scott, 2010). Librarians often face similar constraints. School librarians also must meet state and district curriculum standards. Academic librarians generally depend on faculty invitations to conduct instruction and need to adapt their sessions to fit the content, time frame, and learning objectives of the faculty member. Nevertheless, we can always find ways to integrate some self-direction. For instance, rather than using planned examples to demonstrate searches, we might have students suggest topics to search. If we plan hands-on practice activities, we could allow learners to explore their own interests as they engage in the activity, rather than limiting them to preselected topics.

Cognitivism

Cognitivism, or cognitive psychology, was pioneered in the mid-twentieth century by scientists including George Miller, Ulric Neisser, and Noam Chomsky. Whereas behaviorists focus on the external environment and observable behavior, cognitive psychologists are interested in mental processes (Codington-Lacerte, 2018). They assert that behavior and learning entail more than just response to environmental stimuli and require rational thought and active participation in the learning process (Clark, 2018). To cognitivists, learning can be described as “acquiring knowledge and skills and having them readily available from memory so you can make sense of future problems and opportunities” (Brown et al., 2014, p. 2).

Cognitivists view the brain as an information processor somewhat like a computer that functions on algorithms that it develops in order to process information and make decisions. According to cognitive psychology, people acquire and store knowledge, referred to as schema, in their long-term memory. In addition to storing knowledge, people organize their knowledge into categories, and create connections across categories or schema that help them retrieve relevant pieces of information when needed (Clark, 2018). When individuals encounter new information, they process it against their existing knowledge or schema in order to make new connections. Cognitivists are interested in the specific functions that allow the brain to store, recall, and use information, as well as in mental processes such as pattern recognition and categorization, and the circumstances that influence people’s attention (Codington-Lacerte, 2018).

Because cognitivists view memory and recall as the key to learning, they are interested in the processes and conditions that enhance memory and recall. According to cognitive psychology research, traditional methods of study, including rereading texts and drilling practice, or the repetition of terms and concepts, are not effective for committing information to memory (Brown et al., 2014). Rather, cognitivists assert that activities that require learners to recall information from memory, sometimes referred to as “retrieval practice,” lead to better memory and ultimately better learning. For example, they suggest that language learners use flash cards to practice vocabulary words, rather than writing the words out over and over or reading and rereading a list of words, because the flash cards force the learner to recall information from memory.

While testing has fallen out of favor with many educators and education theorists, cognitivists find tests can be beneficial as both a retrieval practice and a diagnostic tool. They view tests not only as a way to measure what has been learned but as a way to practice retrieval of important concepts, and as a way to identify gaps or weaknesses in knowledge so that learners know where to concentrate their efforts (Brown et al., 2014). Cognitivists encourage “spaced practice,” or recalling previously learned information at regular intervals, and “interleaving,” or learning related concepts together to establish connections among them. Their research has found that retrieval is more effective when the brain is forced to recall information after some time has passed, and when the recall involves two or more related subjects or concepts. Finally, cognitivists also promote problem-based learning, maintaining that “trying to solve a problem before being taught the solution leads to better learning, even when errors are made in the attempt” (Brown et al., 2014, p.4).

These processes that enhance memory and recall, and thus learning, have some implications for instructors in creating an optimal environment for learning. Gagné (1985) proposed nine conditions for learning, referred to as the external conditions of learning, or the nine events of instruction:

Gain attention. Engage students’ attention by tying learning to relevant events in their lives and asking stimulating questions.
Inform the learner of the objective. Begin by sharing the learning goals with the students, thus setting expectations and providing a map of the learning.
Stimulate recall of prior learning. Encourage students to remember previously learned relevant skills and knowledge before introducing new information.
Present the stimulus. Share new information. This step depends on the content of the lesson. For instance, a lesson on Boolean operators might begin with a Venn diagram and examples of the uses of and , or , and not .
Provide learner guidance. Facilitate learning by demonstration and explanation.
Elicit performance. Allow time for students to practice skills and demonstrate their abilities. Ideally, students would be given low-stakes opportunities for practice, so they feel comfortable if they do not succeed immediately.
Provide feedback. Offer students input on what they are doing well and where they can improve.
Assess performance. Employ measures such as assignments, activities, and projects to gauge whether learning has occurred.
Enhance retention and transfer. Give students opportunities to practice skills in new contexts, which improves retention and helps students see how the skills are applied to different areas.

Cognitivism remains a popular approach to learning. However, one criticism of cognitive psychology is that, unlike humanism, it does not account for the role of emotions in learning (Codington-Lacerte, 2018). Further, some critics believe that cognitivism overemphasizes memorization and recall of facts to the detriment of higher-order skills such as creativity and problem solving. However, cognitivists argue that the ability to recall facts and concepts is essential to higher-order thinking, and therefore the two are not mutually exclusive but actually interdependent (Brown et al., 2014). Finally, cognitivism is considered teacher-centered, rather than learner-centered, since it emphasizes the role of the instructor in organizing learning activities and establishing the conditions of learning (Clark, 2018). Activity 3.2 is a brief exercise on cognitivism.

Activity 3.2: Reflecting on Cognitivism

Cognitive scientists recommend retrieval practice, including spaced practice and interleaving, over drilling.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion:

What kind of study practices do you tend to use? Do your practices vary depending on the content or material you are studying? How so?
Can you think of ways to integrate retrieval practices into your work for this class?
Spaced practice involves returning to previously learned concepts at later times, but information professionals often teach one-shot sessions. Can you think of ways to integrate spaced practice into a one-shot session?

Constructivism

Constructivism posits that individuals create knowledge and meaning through their interactions with the world. Like cognitivism, and as opposed to behaviorism, constructivism acknowledges the role of prior knowledge in learning, believing that individuals interpret what they experience within the framework of what they already know (Kretchmar, 2019a). Social constructs, such as commonly held beliefs, and shared expectations around behavior and values provide a framework for knowledge, but people “do not just receive this knowledge as if they were empty vessels waiting to be filled. Individuals and groups interact with each other, contributing to the common trove of information and beliefs, reaching consensus with others on what they consider is the true nature of identity, knowledge, and reality” (Mercadal, 2018). Cognitivism and constructivism overlap in a number of ways. Both approaches build on the theories of Jean Piaget, who is sometimes referred to as a cognitive constructivist. However, while cognitivism is considered teacher-centered, constructivism centers the learner by recognizing their role in engaging with content and constructing meaning. Constructivist teachers act as guides or coaches, facilitating learning by developing supportive activities and environments, and building on what students already know (Kretchmar, 2019b).

Piaget discusses the concepts of assimilation, accommodation, and disequilibrium to describe how people create knowledge. In his early work as a biologist, Piaget noticed how organisms would adapt to their environment in order to survive. Through such adaptation, the organism achieved equilibrium. Extending these observations to cognitive science, he posited that human beings also seek equilibrium (Kretchmar, 2019a).

When they encounter new situations, or new information, human beings must find a way to deal with the new information. Similar to the processes described in the section on cognitivism, people will examine their existing knowledge, or schema, to see if the new information fits into what they already know. If it does, they are able to assimilate the information relatively easily. However, if the new information does not fit into what people already know, they experience disequilibrium or cognitive conflict, and must adapt by accommodating the new information. For example, once children learn what a dog is, they might call any four-legged creature they see a dog. This is assimilation, as the children are fitting new information into their existing knowledge. However, as children learn the differences between, say, a dog and cat, they can adjust their schema to accommodate this new knowledge (Heick, 2019).

Disequilibrium and accommodation can be uncomfortable. People might be confused or anxious when they encounter information that does not fit their existing schema, and they might struggle to accommodate that new information, but disequilibrium is crucial to learning (Kretchmar, 2019a). During assimilation, people might be adding new bits of information to their knowledge store, but they are not changing their understanding of the world. During accommodation, as people change their schema, construct new knowledge, and draw new connections among existing areas of knowledge, actual learning occurs, and accommodation requires disequilibrium.

Acknowledging the role of disequilibrium is important for both instructors and students. People naturally want to avoid discomfort, but that can also mean avoiding real learning. As instructors, we can facilitate accommodation by acknowledging that the process might be challenging, and by creating conditions that allow students to feel safe exploring new information. We can reassure learners that feelings of discomfort or anxiety are normal and provide them with low-stakes opportunities to engage with new information.

Social Constructivism

Social constructivism builds on the traditions of constructivism and cognitivism; whereas those theories focus on how individuals process information and construct meaning, social constructivists also consider how people’s interactions with others impact their understanding of the world. Social constructivists recognize that different people can have different reactions and develop different understandings from the same events and circumstances, and are interested in how factors such as identity, family, community, and culture help shape those understandings (Mercadal, 2018).While cognitivists and constructivists view other people as mostly incidental to an individual’s learning, social constructivists see community as central. Social constructivism can be defined as “the belief that the meanings attached to experience are socially assembled, depending on the culture in which the child is reared and on the child’s caretakers” (Schaffer, 2006). Like constructivism, social constructivism centers on the learners’ experiences and engagement, and sees the role of the instructor as a facilitator or guide. Two of the major theorists associated with social constructivism are Pierre Bourdieu and Lev Vygotsky.

Vygotsky built on the work of Piaget and believed knowledge is constructed, but felt that prior theories overemphasized the role of the individual in that construction of knowledge. Instead, he “was most interested in the role of other people in the development and learning processes of children,” including how children learn in cooperation with adults and older or more experienced peers who can guide them with more complex concepts (Kretchmar, 2019b). Vygotsky was also interested in how language and learning are related. He postulated that the ways in which people communicate their thoughts and understandings, even when talking themselves through a concept or problem, are a crucial element of learning (Kretchmar, 2019b). For Vygotsky, interaction and dialogue among students, teachers, and peers are key to how learners develop an understanding of the world and of the socially constructed meanings of their communities.

Bourdieu examined the way in which social structures influence people’s values, knowledge, and beliefs, and how these structures often become so ingrained as to be invisible. People within a society become so enculturated into the systems and beliefs of that society that they often accept them as “normal” and do not see them as imposed structures (Roth, 2018). As a result, individuals might not question or challenge those structures, even when they are unfair or oppressive. In addition to examining how community and culture help shape knowledge, Bourdieu was interested in how issues of class impact learning. He observed that over time, schools developed to reflect the cultures of wealthier families, which enabled their children to succeed because they inherently understood the culture of the classroom and the system of education. We continue to see such issues today, and as discussed more in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, part of our critical practice is to ensure that our classrooms and instructional strategies are inclusive of and responsive to all students.

Activity 3.3 explores how we can use theory to guide our practice.

Activity 3.3: Using Learning Theory to Plan Lessons

While learning theories can be interesting on their own, our goal as instructors is to apply them to classroom practice. Imagine that you are a high school librarian working with a class that has just been assigned a research paper. Your goal for this session is for students to brainstorm keywords and synonyms for their topics, and to learn how to string those words together using the Boolean operators and , or , and not . You want to be sure the students understand the function of the Boolean operators and can remember how to use them for future searches.

Choose one of the learning theories outlined in this chapter and design a brief lesson to teach Boolean operators from the perspective of that theory. Concentrate less on what you would teach but rather on how you would teach it in keeping with the chosen theory:

How would you introduce the topic?
What sort of learning activities would you use?
What would you be doing during the lesson? What would you expect students to do?
How might any of your answers to these questions change if you were to use a different theory as your guide?

Developmental Stages

The learning theories outlined above discuss various cognitive processes involved in learning, as well as some of the motivators and conditions that facilitate learning. While these theories attempt to describe how people learn, it is important to note that individuals are not born ready to engage in all of these processes at once, nor do they necessarily all engage in the same processes at the same time. Rather, more complex processes develop over time as people experience the world and as their brain matures. In addition to studying how people learn, some theorists have also proposed theories or frameworks to describe developmental stages, or the various points in human development when different cognitive processes are enabled, and different kinds of learning can occur.

Piaget outlined four hierarchical stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational (Clouse, 2019), illustrated in Table 3.1. In the sensorimotor stage, from birth to about two years, infants react to their environment with inherent reflexes such as sucking, swallowing, and crying. By about age two, they begin problem solving using trial and error. The preoperational stage, also sometimes called the intuitive intelligence stage, lasts from about ages two to seven. During this time, children develop language and mental imagery. They are able to use their imagination, but they view the world only from their own perspective and have trouble understanding other perspectives. Their understanding of the world during this stage is tied to their perceptions. Children are in the operational stage from about ages seven to 12, during which time they begin to think more logically about the world, can understand that objects are not always as they appear, and begin to understand other people’s perspectives. The final stage, formal operationalism, begins around age 12. At this point, individuals can think abstractly and engage in ideas that move beyond the concrete world around them, and they can use deductive reasoning and think through consequences (Clark, 2018; Clouse, 2019).

Table 3.1: Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development


Sensorimotor	Birth to 18-24 months
Preoperational	18-24 months to 7 years
Concrete operational	7 to 12 years
Formal operational	12 years and up

Perry’s (1970) Scheme of Intellectual and Moral Development offers another useful framework for understanding the developmental stages of learning. Perry proposed four stages of learning. In the first stage, dualism, children generally believe that all problems can be solved, and that there are right and wrong answers to each question. At this stage, children generally look to instructors to provide them with correct answers. The second stage is multiplicity, where learners realize that there are conflicting views and controversies on topics. Learners in the multiplicity stage often have trouble assessing the authority and credibility of arguments. They tend to believe that all perspectives are equally valid and rely on their own experiences to form opinions and decide what information to trust. In the next stage, referred to as relativism, learners begin to understand that there are different lenses for understanding and evaluating information. They learn that different disciplines have their own methods of research and analysis, and they can begin to apply these perspectives as they evaluate sources and evidence. At this point, learners can understand that not all answers or perspectives are equal, but that some answers or arguments might be more valid than others. In the final stage, commitment, students integrate selected information into their knowledge base. You might notice connections between Perry and the cognitivists and constructivists described above in the way they each describe people making sense of information by comparing new information to existing knowledge. However, Perry organizes the processes into developmental stages that outline a progression of learning.

Understanding the stages laid out by Piaget and Perry, we can develop lessons that are appropriate to learners at each stage. For example, in presenting a lesson on climate change to preoperational students using Piaget’s framework, an instructor could gather pictures of different animal habitats, or take children on a nature walk to observe the surrounding environment. Instructors could ask these children to describe what they see and reflect on their personal experiences with weather, while older children could be asked to imagine how the changes are impacting other people and organisms, anticipate consequences of the impact of climate change, and perhaps use problem solving to propose steps to improve their environment. Considering Perry’s Scheme, instructors might guide students from multiplicity to relativism by explaining scientific methods for measuring climate, and challenging learners to evaluate and compare different sources of information to determine which presents the strongest evidence.

Piaget and Perry offer developmental models that outline stages broadly aligned with a person’s age. Both models assume a relatively linear chronological development, with children and young adults passing through different stages at roughly the same time. Vygotsky, on the other hand, describes a model that focuses more on the content being mastered rather than the age of the student. According to Vygotsky’s theory, known as Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), as learners acquire new knowledge or develop new skills, they pass through three stages, often illustrated as concentric circles, as in Figure 3.2. The center circle, or first zone, represents tasks that the learner can do on their own. The second zone, or the Zone of Proximal Development, represents an area of knowledge or set of tasks that the learner can accomplish with assistance. The tasks and knowledge in this zone require students to stretch their abilities somewhat beyond their current skill level but are not so challenging as to be completely frustrating. The outermost circle, or third zone, represents tasks that the learner cannot yet do. Vygotsky posits that by working within the ZPD, learners can continue to grow their skills and abilities and increase their knowledge (Flair, 2019).

Figure 3.2: The Zone of Proximal Development

Whereas Piaget and Perry’s theories suggest that learners pass through the same stages at roughly the same time, Vygotsky maintains that the ZPD, or the zone of learning that will appropriately challenge the learner, is different for each student, depending on their background knowledge, experience, and ability (Flair, 2019). The same individual can experience different ZPDs in different subject areas; they might be advanced in math and able to take on material above their grade level but might find languages more challenging. Like with social constructivism, interaction with others is central to ZPD. According to Vygotsky, learning takes place when students interact with others who are more knowledgeable, including peers and instructors, who can provide guidance in the ZPD (Schaffer, 2006).

Math can provide a good example of working within the ZPD. Once students are comfortable with addition, they can probably learn subtraction with some help from a teacher or other peers but are probably not ready to learn long division. Our challenge as instructors is to identify the ZPD for each student so that we are neither boring learners with material that is too easy nor overwhelming them with material that is too hard. Chapter 7 discusses methods for assessing learners’ background knowledge to help determine the appropriate level of learning.

Most of the educational theories and frameworks outlined in this chapter were developed with a focus on children and young adults. While many of the principles can apply to an adult audience, they do not necessarily account for the specific issues, challenges, and motivations of adult learners. Yet, many information professionals will work mostly or even exclusively with adults. Academic librarians and archivists largely work with students who are at least 17 years old and, as the numbers of nontraditional students continue to increase, will find themselves increasingly working with older learners. Likewise, information professionals in corporations and medical and legal settings work almost exclusively with adults. Public librarians see a range of patrons, and many public libraries are increasing educational programming for their adult patrons. This section presents the educational concept of andragogy, which addresses teaching and learning for adults.

Knowles proposed andragogy as “the art and science of helping adults learn” (1988, p. 43). Andragogy is based on a set of assumptions about the ways in which adult learners’ experience, motivations, and needs differ from those of younger students, and suggests that traditional classroom approaches developed with younger students in mind will not necessarily be successful with adult learners. Perhaps one of the biggest differences between child and adult learners, according to Knowles (1988), is that adults are interested in the immediate applicability of what they are learning and are often motivated by their social roles as employees, parents, and so on. As Knowles notes, in traditional classrooms, children are usually taught discrete subjects like math, reading, and history, and their learning is focused on building up knowledge for the future. Young students might not use geometry in their everyday lives, but it forms a foundation for more complex math and for future job or life tasks like measuring materials for home repairs.

Adults, on the other hand, are already immersed in the social roles for which younger students are only preparing, and they want to see how their learning applies to those roles. Thus, Knowles suggests that adults will be interested in a competency-based, rather than a subject-based, approach to learning. Further, as autonomous individuals, adults are likely to be more self-directed in their learning. That is, they will want to, and should be encouraged to, take an active part in the design and planning of lessons, providing input on content and goals. Finally, Knowles also argues that adults’ wider experience and larger store of knowledge should be a resource for learning.

Knowles (1988, p. 45) organized his approach around four assumptions of adult learners:

Their self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward a self-directed human being.
They accumulate a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasingly rich resource for learning.
Their readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of their social roles.
Their time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and, accordingly, their orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of performance-centeredness.

Later, he elaborated with two additional assumptions, summed up by Merriam et al. (2007):

The most potent motivations are internal rather than external.
Adults need to know why they need to learn something.

Certain understandings follow from Knowles’ assumptions that we can use to guide our practice with adult learners. To begin with, we should recognize and respect adults’ tendency to be self-motivated and self-directed learners. After all, in most states, school attendance is compulsory up to a certain age, and relatively strict curriculum standards are set by each state, meaning that children have little choice about attending school in some form or about what content they learn. At least in theory, adults have a choice about whether to attend college or engage in other kinds of learning opportunities such as workshops and professional development and continuing education courses. Presumably, adults are motivated to pursue these opportunities for a specific reason, whether out of personal curiosity, to advance in their careers, or to gain a new skill. These adult learners will likely have opinions and ideas about what they want to learn and perhaps even how they want to engage with the content, so Knowles suggests we provide adult learners with choices and opportunities for input to help shape the curriculum.

Adult learners also have a larger store of knowledge and experience than their younger counterparts. From a cognitivist or constructivist point of view, adults have a larger schema against which to compare new information and make new connections. As instructors, we should recognize this store of knowledge and find ways to integrate it into the classroom, by providing ample opportunity for reflection and using guiding questions to encourage learners to draw on that knowledge. We can approach adult learners as peers or co-learners, acting more as coaches or facilitators in the learning process than as the more directive teacher associated with a traditional school classroom. This focus on learner-centered approaches and a democratic environment overlaps with humanistic and constructivist approaches to teaching.

Points three, four, and six in Knowles’ list of assumptions underscore the importance of relevance and transparency for adult learners. Knowles suggests that adults have different priorities in learning, perhaps in part because they are learning by choice and are in a better position to direct their own learning. Adult learners also tend to have more demands on their time than younger students; they may have families and jobs that impact the time they have to devote to their studies. Thus, adult learners want to see the applicability of what they are learning and might be resistant to work or information that seems incidental. We should be transparent with our adult students, both about what they will learn and how that learning is important and relevant. Sharing learning goals is an important step toward transparency, as it can help set expectations so that students understand the purpose of the lesson and activities. To illustrate relevance, we can provide concrete examples of how the learning can be applied in practice. One could argue that all students, not just adults, deserve transparency and to see the relevance of lesson goals and learning. Knowles’ point is that adults are more likely to expect, and perhaps appreciate, such transparency.

While some controversy exists over whether andragogy really constitutes a theory per se or is more a set of guiding principles or best practices, the assumptions provide helpful guidance to instructors not just in how they organize content but also in how they frame the lesson and its purposes. Based on these assumptions, we can take certain steps to set an appropriate environment for adult education (Bartle, 2019):

Set a cooperative learning climate.
Create mechanisms for input.
Arrange for a diagnosis of learner needs and interests.
Enable the formulation of learning objectives based on the diagnosed needs and interests.
Design sequential activities for achieving the objectives.
Execute the design by selecting methods, materials, and resources.
Evaluate the quality of the learning experience while rediagnosing needs for further learning.

As noted above, andragogy overlaps with other theories such as humanism and constructivism, and some of the principles of andragogy, like transparency, would benefit all learners. Still, this framework is useful in reminding instructors that adult learners likely have different priorities and motivations, and thus some differences in classroom approach might be warranted.

In addition to how people learn, we should also know something about why people learn. What motivates a student to put the time and effort into learning a skill or topic, and what can we do to cultivate that motivation? Svinicki (2004) offers an intriguing model that amalgamates some of the prevailing theories of motivation in learning. She suggests that motivation is a factor of the perceived value of the learning, along with students’ belief in their own self-efficacy, or their belief in their ability to achieve the goal. As Svinicki explains, “motivation involves a constant balancing of these two factors of value and expectations for success” (2004, p. 146). Most of the learning theories outlined above address motivation implicitly or explicitly. For instance, behaviorists talk in terms of reinforcement, or external motivators, as students strive to avoid negative consequences and achieve the rewards of good work. Humanists, on the other hand, focus on the internal motivation of self-actualization. As instructors, we can create environments to increase our learners’ motivation or their perception of the value of the goal and their self-efficacy:

Emphasize the relevance of the material. As outlined in the section on andragogy, learners are motivated when they see the benefits of learning and understand why the material is important. Instructors should explain how the effort individuals put into learning can help them achieve personal goals, such as getting a good grade on a paper or finding a job.
Make the material appropriately challenging. Reminiscent of the Zone of Proximal Development, material that is too easy will be boring for learners, while material that is too challenging will be overwhelming and frustrating.
Give learners a sense of choice and control. Choice allows learners to have a stake in the class, while control helps them determine the level of risk they will take and thus increase their confidence. We can foster choice and control by allowing learners options in the types of activities and assignments they engage in, or in the topics they research.
Set learners up for success. Clear expectations for the class or the assignment help learners understand what a successful performance or project looks like. By providing meaningful feedback, we can guide learners toward success.
Guide self-assessment. When learners accurately assess their current level of knowledge and skill, they can make reasonable predictions of the likelihood of their success with the current material.

Activity 3.4 offers an opportunity to reflect on motivation in learning.

Activity 3.4: What Motivates You?

Think back on learning experiences such as courses or workshops where you felt more or less motivated as a learner. These experiences could be related to academics, hobbies, sports, or other interests.

In the experiences in which you felt motivated, what steps did the instructor take that helped you feel motivated?
In the experiences where you felt less motivated, what could the instructor have done differently?
In each case, what role did self-efficacy, or your confidence in your own abilities, play?

Growth Mindset

Dweck’s (2016) mindset theory has gained much attention in the field of education over the last few decades and has some implications for student motivation. Although this theory is somewhat different in its conceptualizations than those described in the rest of this chapter, it is included here both because of its popularity and because it provides interesting insight into how instructors can coach learners to understand and build on their potential. Dweck’s theory is less about how people learn and more about how their attitude toward learning and their self-concept can impact their ability and willingness to learn. According to Dweck, people tend to approach learning with a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Those with more of a fixed mindset tend to believe that ability is innate; either people are born with a certain talent and ability, or they are not. If individuals are not born with natural ability in a certain area, they would waste time working on that area because they will never truly be successful. People with more of a growth mindset, on the other hand, tend to believe that ability is the outcome of hard work and effort. These people see value in working at areas in which they are not immediately successful because they believe they can improve. Even when they are good at something, they are willing to continue to work at it because they believe they can continue to get better (Dweck, 2016).

These mindsets can have a profound impact on how a person approaches learning (Dweck, 2016). People with a fixed mindset will view low grades or poor test performance as a sign of their lack of natural ability and are likely to become discouraged. They might try to avoid that subject altogether or resign themselves to failure because they do not believe that practice or study will help them improve. Instead, they will tend to stick to subjects in which they already perform well. People with a growth mindset take an opposite view. They tend to view low grades or poor performance as a diagnostic tool that helps them see where they need to concentrate their efforts in order to get better. They are willing to put in extra effort because they believe that their hard work will lead to improved performance. They are also willing to take risks because they understand that failure is just part of the process of learning. We can see connections between Dweck’s theory and Piaget’s argument that the discomfort of disequilibrium is necessary to learning.

Understandably, people with a growth mindset are usually more successful learners because they believe in their own ability to learn and grow. Luckily, Dweck maintains that these mindsets themselves are not necessarily immutable. That is, a person with a fixed mindset can be coached to adopt a growth mindset. Learners can begin by recognizing when they are engaging in fixed mindset thinking, for instance when getting anxious about mistakes or telling themselves that they are “no good” at something. Once learners understand that this thinking is counterproductive, they can change their thinking to adopt a more encouraging voice.

Importantly, Dweck notes that encouraging a growth mindset in the classroom does not mean lowering standards for learning. She maintains that instructors should have high standards but also create a supportive and nurturing atmosphere. To begin with, instructors themselves must believe that learning and growth are possible, and not give up on students who are struggling. Instructors can model this belief for students by replacing fixed mindset feedback with growth mindset feedback. For example, Dweck suggests that if learners are struggling, instructors can respond by telling them they have not succeeded yet. The word “yet” implies that they will achieve the necessary learning; they just need to keep working at it. In that way, instructors can reframe mistakes and struggles as opportunities to learn rather than as failures. Instructors should encourage and appreciate effort as well as learning. In other words, rather than focusing only on a student’s achievement, instructors can praise the effort and hard work that led to that achievement. At the same time, Dweck (2015) notes that a growth mindset is not just about effort. In addition to putting in the work, learners must also be willing to try different strategies and be open to feedback on their performance. The goal is to help students view challenges as part of the learning process and to work with them rather than to fear or avoid them.

Learning theories are meant to help instructors understand the processes and circumstances that enable learning and, by extension, offer guidance in developing activities and environments that best support learning. But what to make of the fact that there are so many different theories and that some contradict each other? The truth is that the human brain and its cognitive processes are incredibly complex and not yet fully understood. Learning theorists do their best to describe how people learn based on careful observation and experimentation, but no learning theory is perfect. Indeed, each theory has its critics, and the various theories go in and out of favor over time. Even so, the theories provide us with an empirically based understanding of how learning occurs.

Further, these theories are not mutually exclusive. We do not have to strictly adhere to one theory but can combine elements across theories in ways that resonate with our teaching styles and reflect our best understanding of our students. For instance, a teacher might draw on elements of cognitivism to enhance students’ retention and recall but also develop group activities that promote social constructivism through peer-to-peer communication. Especially with younger children, instructors might draw on behaviorism by using rewards and positive reinforcement to motivate student engagement with the content, but also integrate humanism by empathizing with students and use constructive feedback to encourage a growth mindset. We can use our understanding of developmental stages to create lessons and activities that provide an appropriate level of challenge to help students grow in their understanding. Ultimately, we should view learning theories as guidelines, not rules, and draw on them in ways that reflect our own values and understandings.

Keeping this idea of learning across theories in mind, we can sum up the key takeaways from this chapter:

Learning is the change in knowledge, behavior, or understanding that occurs when people make connections between new information and their existing knowledge. Various theories attempt to describe the factors that enable the learning process.
Learning does not happen in the same way or at the same time for all students. Understanding developmental stages can help instructors align instruction with student readiness. Adult learners may have needs and constraints that differ from younger learners.
The learning process is influenced by internal factors such as the student’s level of motivation and feelings of self-efficacy, and external factors such as the classroom environment and the adults and peers with whom the learner interacts.
Creating a democratic, empathetic, and supportive learning environment
Assisting students in becoming self-directed learners and enhancing their motivation by offering a sense of control and choice in their learning
Acknowledging that learning can be challenging, and helping students develop the mindset and self-efficacy that will support their persistence
Offering regular and meaningful feedback

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Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
Instructional Guide

Teaching with PowerPoint

When effectively planned and used, PowerPoint (or similar tools, like Google Slides) can enhance instruction. People are divided on the effectiveness of this ubiquitous presentation program—some say that PowerPoint is wonderful while others bemoan its pervasiveness. No matter which side you take, PowerPoint does offer effective ways to enhance instruction when used and designed appropriately.

PowerPoint can be an effective tool to present material in the classroom and encourage student learning. You can use PowerPoint to project visuals that would otherwise be difficult to bring to class. For example, in an anthropology class, a single PowerPoint presentation could project images of an anthropological dig from a remote area, questions asking students about the topic, a chart of related statistics, and a mini quiz about what was just discussed that provides students with information that is visual, challenging, and engaging.

PowerPoint can be an effective tool to present material in the classroom and encourage student learning.

This section is organized in three major segments: Part I will help faculty identify and use basic but important design elements, Part II will cover ways to enhance teaching and learning with PowerPoint, and Part III will list ways to engage students with PowerPoint.

PART I: Designing the PowerPoint Presentation

Accessibility.

Student accessibility—students with visual or hearing impairments may not be able to fully access a PowerPoint presentation, especially those with graphics, images, and sound.
Use an accessible layout. Built-in slide template layouts were designed to be accessible: “the reading order is the same for people with vision and for people who use assistive technology such as screen readers” (University of Washington, n.d.). If you want to alter the layout of a theme, use the Slide Master; this will ensure your slides will retain accessibility.
Use unique and specific slide titles so students can access the material they need.
Consider how you display hyperlinks. Since screen readers read what is on the page, you may want to consider creating a hyperlink using a descriptive title instead of displaying the URL.
All visuals and tables should include alt text. Alt text should describe the visual or table in detail so that students with visual impairments can “read” the images with their screen readers. Avoid using too many decorative visuals.
All video and audio content should be captioned for students with hearing impairments. Transcripts can also be useful as an additional resource, but captioning ensures students can follow along with what is on the screen in real-time.
Simplify your tables. If you use tables on your slides, ensure they are not overly complex and do not include blank cells. Screen readers may have difficulty providing information about the table if there are too many columns and rows, and they may “think” the table is complete if they come to a blank cell.
Set a reading order for text on your slides. The order that text appears on the slide may not be the reading order of the text. Check that your reading order is correct by using the Selection Pane (organized bottom-up).
Use Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker to identify potential accessibility issues in your completed PowerPoint. Use the feedback to improve your PowerPoint’s accessibility. You could also send your file to the Disability Resource Center to have them assess its accessibility (send it far in advance of when you will need to use it).
Save your PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file to distribute to students with visual impairments.

Preparing for the presentation

Consider time and effort in preparing a PowerPoint presentation; give yourself plenty of lead time for design and development.
PowerPoint is especially useful when providing course material online. Consider student technology compatibility with PowerPoint material put on the web; ensure images and graphics have been compressed for access by computers using dial-up connection.

PowerPoint is especially useful when providing course material online.

Be aware of copyright law when displaying course materials, and properly cite source material. This is especially important when using visuals obtained from the internet or other sources. This also models proper citation for your students.
Think about message interpretation for PowerPoint use online: will students be able to understand material in a PowerPoint presentation outside of the classroom? Will you need to provide notes and/or other material to help students understand complex information, data, or graphics?
If you will be using your own laptop, make sure the classroom is equipped with the proper cables, drivers, and other means to display your presentation the way you have intended.

Slide content

Avoid text-dense slides. It’s better to have more slides than trying to place too much text on one slide. Use brief points instead of long sentences or paragraphs and outline key points rather than transcribing your lecture. Use PowerPoint to cue and guide the presentation.
Use the Notes feature to add content to your presentation that the audience will not see. You can access the Notes section for each slide by sliding the bottom of the slide window up to reveal the notes section or by clicking “View” and choosing “Notes Page” from the Presentation Views options.
Relate PowerPoint material to course objectives to reinforce their purpose for students.

Number of slides

As a rule of thumb, plan to show one slide per minute to account for discussion and time and for students to absorb the material.
Reduce redundant or text-heavy sentences or bullets to ensure a more professional appearance.
Incorporate active learning throughout the presentation to hold students’ interest and reinforce learning.

Emphasizing content

Use italics, bold, and color for emphasizing content.
Use of a light background (white, beige, yellow) with dark typeface or a dark background (blue, purple, brown) with a light typeface is easy to read in a large room.
Avoid using too many colors or shifting colors too many times within the presentation, which can be distracting to students.
Avoid using underlines for emphasis; underlining typically signifies hypertext in digital media.

Use of a light background with dark typeface or a dark background with a light typeface is easy to read in a large room.

Limit the number of typeface styles to no more than two per slide. Try to keep typeface consistent throughout your presentation so it does not become a distraction.
Avoid overly ornate or specialty fonts that may be harder for students to read. Stick to basic fonts so as not to distract students from the content.
Ensure the typeface is large enough to read from anywhere in the room: titles and headings should be no less than 36-40-point font. The subtext should be no less than 32-point font.

Clip art and graphics

Use clip art and graphics sparingly. Research shows that it’s best to use graphics only when they support the content. Irrelevant graphics and images have been proven to hinder student learning.
Photographs can be used to add realism. Again, only use photographs that are relevant to the content and serve a pedagogical purpose. Images for decorative purposes are distracting.
Size and place graphics appropriately on the slide—consider wrapping text around a graphic.
Use two-dimensional pie and bar graphs rather than 3D styles which can interfere with the intended message.

Use clip art and graphics sparingly. Research shows that it’s best to use graphics only when they support the content.

Animation and sound

Add motion, sound, or music only when necessary. When in doubt, do without.
Avoid distracting animations and transitions. Excessive movement within or between slides can interfere with the message and students find them distracting. Avoid them or use only simple screen transitions.

Final check

Check for spelling, correct word usage, flow of material, and overall appearance of the presentation.
Colleagues can be helpful to check your presentation for accuracy and appeal. Note: Errors are more obvious when they are projected.
Schedule at least one practice session to check for timing and flow.
PowerPoint’s Slide Sorter View is especially helpful to check slides for proper sequencing as well as information gaps and redundancy. You can also use the preview pane on the left of the screen when you are editing the PowerPoint in “Normal” view.
Prepare for plan “B” in case you have trouble with the technology in the classroom: how will you provide material located on your flash drive or computer? Have an alternate method of instruction ready (printing a copy of your PowerPoint with notes is one idea).

PowerPoint’s Slide Sorter View is especially helpful to check slides for proper sequencing and information gaps and redundancy.

PowerPoint Handouts

PowerPoint provides multiple options for print-based handouts that can be distributed at various points in the class.

Before class: students might like having materials available to help them prepare and formulate questions before the class period.

During class: you could distribute a handout with three slides and lines for notes to encourage students to take notes on the details of your lecture so they have notes alongside the slide material (and aren’t just taking notes on the slide content).

After class: some instructors wait to make the presentation available after the class period so that students concentrate on the presentation rather than reading ahead on the handout.

Never: Some instructors do not distribute the PowerPoint to students so that students don’t rely on access to the presentation and neglect to pay attention in class as a result.

PowerPoint slides can be printed in the form of handouts—with one, two, three, four, six, or nine slides on a page—that can be given to students for reference during and after the presentation. The three-slides-per-page handout includes lined space to assist in note-taking.
Notes Pages. Detailed notes can be printed and used during the presentation, or if they are notes intended for students, they can be distributed before the presentation.
Outline View. PowerPoint presentations can be printed as an outline, which provides all the text from each slide. Outlines offer a welcome alternative to slide handouts and can be modified from the original presentation to provide more or less information than the projected presentation.

The Presentation

Alley, Schreiber, Ramsdell, and Muffo (2006) suggest that PowerPoint slide headline design “affects audience retention,” and they conclude that “succinct sentence headlines are more effective” in information recall than headlines of short phrases or single words (p. 233). In other words, create slide titles with as much information as is used for newspapers and journals to help students better understand the content of the slide.

PowerPoint should provide key words, concepts, and images to enhance your presentation (but PowerPoint should not replace you as the presenter).
Avoid reading from the slide—reading the material can be perceived as though you don’t know the material. If you must read the material, provide it in a handout instead of a projected PowerPoint slide.
Avoid moving a laser pointer across the slide rapidly. If using a laser pointer, use one with a dot large enough to be seen from all areas of the room and move it slowly and intentionally.

Avoid reading from the slide—reading the material can be perceived as though you don’t know the material.

Use a blank screen to allow students to reflect on what has just been discussed or to gain their attention (Press B for a black screen or W for a white screen while delivering your slide show; press these keys again to return to the live presentation). This pause can also be used for a break period or when transitioning to new content.
Stand to one side of the screen and face the audience while presenting. Using Presenter View will display your slide notes to you on the computer monitor while projecting only the slides to students on the projector screen.
Leave classroom lights on and turn off lights directly over the projection screen if possible. A completely dark or dim classroom will impede notetaking (and may encourage nap-taking).
Learn to use PowerPoint efficiently and have a back-up plan in case of technical failure.
Give yourself enough time to finish the presentation. Trying to rush through slides can give the impression of an unorganized presentation and may be difficult for students to follow or learn.

PART II: Enhancing Teaching and Learning with PowerPoint

Class preparation.

PowerPoint can be used to prepare lectures and presentations by helping instructors refine their material to salient points and content. Class lectures can be typed in outline format, which can then be refined as slides. Lecture notes can be printed as notes pages (notes pages: Printed pages that display author notes beneath the slide that the notes accompany.) and could also be given as handouts to accompany the presentation.

Multimodal Learning

Using PowerPoint can help you present information in multiple ways (a multimodal approach) through the projection of color, images, and video for the visual mode; sound and music for the auditory mode; text and writing prompts for the reading/writing mode; and interactive slides that ask students to do something, e.g. a group or class activity in which students practice concepts, for the kinesthetic mode (see Part III: Engaging Students with PowerPoint for more details). Providing information in multiple modalities helps improve comprehension and recall for all students.

Providing information in multiple modalities helps improve comprehension and recall for all students.

Type-on Live Slides

PowerPoint allows users to type directly during the slide show, which provides another form of interaction. These write-on slides can be used to project students’ comments and ideas for the entire class to see. When the presentation is over, the new material can be saved to the original file and posted electronically. This feature requires advanced preparation in the PowerPoint file while creating your presentation. For instructions on how to set up your type-on slide text box, visit this tutorial from AddictiveTips .

Write or Highlight on Slides

PowerPoint also allows users to use tools to highlight or write directly onto a presentation while it is live. When you are presenting your PowerPoint, move your cursor over the slide to reveal tools in the lower-left corner. One of the tools is a pen icon. Click this icon to choose either a laser pointer, pen, or highlighter. You can use your cursor for these options, or you can use the stylus for your smart podium computer monitor or touch-screen laptop monitor (if applicable).

Just-In-Time Course Material

You can make your PowerPoint slides, outline, and/or notes pages available online 24/7 through Blackboard, OneDrive, other websites. Students can review the material before class, bring printouts to class, and better prepare themselves for listening rather than taking a lot of notes during the class period. They can also come to class prepared with questions about the material so you can address their comprehension of the concepts.

PART III: Engaging Students with PowerPoint

The following techniques can be incorporated into PowerPoint presentations to increase interactivity and engagement between students and between students and the instructor. Each technique can be projected as a separate PowerPoint slide.

Running Slide Show as Students Arrive in the Classroom

This technique provides visual interest and can include a series of questions for students to answer as they sit waiting for class to begin. These questions could be on future texts or quizzes.

Opening Question : project an opening question, e.g. “Take a moment to reflect on ___.”
Think of what you know about ___.
Turn to a partner and share your knowledge about ___.
Share with the class what you have discussed with your partner.
Focused Listing helps with recall of pertinent information, e.g. “list as many characteristics of ___, or write down as many words related to ___ as you can think of.”
Brainstorming stretches the mind and promotes deep thinking and recall of prior knowledge, e.g. “What do you know about ___? Start with your clearest thoughts and then move on to those what are kind of ‘out there.’”
Questions : ask students if they have any questions roughly every 15 minutes. This technique provides time for students to reflect and is also a good time for a scheduled break or for the instructor to interact with students.
Note Check : ask students to “take a few minutes to compare notes with a partner,” or “…summarize the most important information,” or “…identify and clarify any sticking points,” etc.
Questions and Answer Pairs : have students “take a minute to come with one question then see if you can stump your partner!”
The Two-Minute Paper allows the instructor to check the class progress, e.g. “summarize the most important points of today’s lecture.” Have students submit the paper at the end of class.
“If You Could Ask One Last Question—What Would It Be?” This technique allows for students to think more deeply about the topic and apply what they have learned in a question format.
A Classroom Opinion Poll provides a sense of where students stand on certain topics, e.g. “do you believe in ___,” or “what are your thoughts on ___?”
Muddiest Point allows anonymous feedback to inform the instructor if changes and or additions need to be made to the class, e.g. “What parts of today’s material still confuse you?”
Most Useful Point can tell the instructor where the course is on track, e.g. “What is the most useful point in today’s material, and how can you illustrate its use in a practical setting?”

Positive Features of PowerPoint

PowerPoint saves time and energy—once the presentation has been created, it is easy to update or modify for other courses.
PowerPoint is portable and can be shared easily with students and colleagues.
PowerPoint supports multimedia, such as video, audio, images, and

PowerPoint supports multimedia, such as video, audio, images, and animation.

Potential Drawbacks of PowerPoint

PowerPoint could reduce the opportunity for classroom interaction by being the primary method of information dissemination or designed without built-in opportunities for interaction.
PowerPoint could lead to information overload, especially with the inclusion of long sentences and paragraphs or lecture-heavy presentations with little opportunity for practical application or active learning.
PowerPoint could “drive” the instruction and minimize the opportunity for spontaneity and creative teaching unless the instructor incorporates the potential for ingenuity into the presentation.

As with any technology, the way PowerPoint is used will determine its pedagogical effectiveness. By strategically using the points described above, PowerPoint can be used to enhance instruction and engage students.

Alley, M., Schreiber, M., Ramsdell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006). How the design of headlines in presentation slides affects audience retention. Technical Communication, 53 (2), 225-234. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43090718

University of Washington, Accessible Technology. (n.d.). Creating accessible presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://www.washington.edu/accessibility/documents/powerpoint/

Selected Resources

Brill, F. (2016). PowerPoint for teachers: Creating interactive lessons. LinkedIn Learning . Retrieved from https://www.lynda.com/PowerPoint-tutorials/PowerPoint-Teachers-Create-Interactive-Lessons/472427-2.html

Huston, S. (2011). Active learning with PowerPoint [PDF file]. DE Oracle @ UMUC . Retrieved from http://contentdm.umuc.edu/digital/api/collection/p16240coll5/id/78/download

Microsoft Office Support. (n.d.). Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities. Retrieved from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/make-your-powerpoint-presentations-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-ae3b2b3ef25

Tufte, E. R. (2006). The cognitive style of PowerPoint: Pitching out corrupts within. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press LLC.

University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Medicine. (n.d.). Active Learning with a PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://www.unmc.edu/com/_documents/active-learning-ppt.pdf

University of Washington, Department of English. (n.d.). Teaching with PowerPoint. Retrieved from https://english.washington.edu/teaching/teaching-powerpoint

Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching. (n.d.). Making better PowerPoint presentations. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/making-better-powerpoint-presentations/

Suggested citation

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2020). Teaching with PowerPoint. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide

Phone: 815-753-0595 Email: [email protected]

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Project-based Learning and Presentations

Transform student presentations with feedback and reflection.

To make learning during the process visible and to facilitate assessment, project-based learning culminates in a final presentation of learning. Notice I didn‘t just say presentation, but presentation of learning. There is a difference. A big difference.

During the process of PBL, students receive continuous feedback from team mates, their instructor, coaches, mentors, and others involved in the project. Presenting the final product, idea, and any other relevant artifacts created during the process is a great way to celebrate success as well as get feedback. However, for purposes of growth and learning, presentations need to be more than an introduction to the product or learning artifact.

While there are times the presentation will include sharing information, a presentation of learning isn‘t a one-way lecture. In effective presentations of learning, everyone participates: the student presenting their learning, the audience, the facilitator.

Before presentations of learning begin, share questions that the presenters and audience members should be prepared to answer. Work to establish norms for sharing feedback.

Remind everyone that effective critiques are:

free of value judgments.
specific, personal, and directed at one‘s work.
founded on trust from someone respected.
immediate enough to be useful.

Ideas for the Presenter(s)

Begin transforming presentations into presentations of learning by making this distinction to your students. Let them know that you expect their final presentation to be a presentation of their learning through the project-building process, not just a demonstration of the product they create.

Presentations of learning should include what students learned about:

the subject matter content.
planning, organizing, and implementing a project.
how they learn.
how their group functioned.
how they work in a group.

To promote reflection, you might ask them to also share:

what they would do differently if they had the opportunity to do this project again.
what they will do differently when working on the next project.
what they would change in their product/idea/design if they had more time (one day, one week, one year).

Ideas for the Audience

The audience should be expected to give feedback on the project content and delivery. The audience should also share observations, reflections, and ideas brought up as students share their learning.

Ask the audience what they learned about:

effective presentation strategies.
using technology purposefully.

Ask the audience to share opinions about the product/idea/design:

What did you think about while viewing the presentation?
How did the product/idea/design engage you?
Why did the product/idea/design engage you?
How could it be revised or extended?

Instructors/Facilitators

The instructor should share insights on the product, student presentations and reflections, and audience thoughts. They should also highlight issues and events that occurred for the presenter(s) during the process. Ask clarifying and open-ended questions that further group discussion.

Listen to critiques and feedback from the students and audience for insight into what the students have gained from participating in the project. This will enable instructors to reflect upon key elements to maintain in future projects and that can improve the process next time.

As students present their learning, write common themes, issues, and ideas in a place everyone can refer to when forming their own reflections and feedback.

Beyond Oral Presentations

Don't settle for making every presentation of learning an oral presentation or multimedia slide show. Students can also share projects through small group discussion, peer-to-peer meetings, or even in a mini-trade show or conference.

You may even want to separate the product presentation from the presentation of learning, since they may have competing goals. For example, if outside experts are judging a product prototype or design, the focus needs to remain on the product. The presentation of learning should take place at a different time.

Integrate Reflection

You can also promote reflection and presentation of learning by asking students to complete a written self-assessment before presenting. You might ask them to reflect on:

new content knowledge gained while working on this project.
their work done and contributions they made to the team‘s or project‘s success.
obstacles and impediments to success during the project.
their biggest takeaway from the project.

It doesn‘t take major changes to transform a presentation into a presentation of learning. Simply asking for feedback and reflection about the product AND the process will help you get there.

by Melinda Kolk

Melinda Kolk ( @melindak ) is the Editor of Creative Educator and the author of Teaching with Clay Animation . She has been helping educators implement project-based learning and creative technologies like clay animation into classroom teaching and learning for the past 15 years.

Project-based Learning Professional Development

Creative Educator can help you bring project-based learning to your school.

What is PBL and why do it?
Make It Matter! Move it from projects to project-based learning
Developing the questions for project-based learning
Write a Great Authentic Task
It's the Process, Not the Product
Assessing Project Work
Formative assessment during project-based learning
Collaboration
PBL and Presentations of Learning

Project-based learning professional development

Bring project-based learning to your school

Make presentations of learning work for ELLs and primary students

Make learning fun with comics and cartoons

How to write a great authentic task

Make It Matter! Move from projects to project-based learning

More sites to help you find success in your classroom

Share your ideas, imagination, and understanding through writing, art, voice, and video.

Rubric Maker

Create custom rubrics for your classroom.

Pics4Learning

A curated, copyright-friendly image library that is safe and free for education.

Write, record, and illustrate a sentence.

Interactive digital worksheets for grades K-8 to use in Brightspace or Canvas.

Professional Learning

Digital Storytelling

21st Century Classrooms

Project-based Learning

Teaching and Learning

Informational Text

English Language Aquisition

Language Arts

Social Studies

Visual Arts

Additional Chapters

The learning process.

A male teacher holds up a small glass or plastic container resembling a petri dish. Two students (one male, one female) stand beside him watching. The male student is wearing black gloves and is hand is extended touching the dish.

The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot. —Audre Lorde, writer and civil rights activist

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Identify the stages of the learning process
Define learning styles, and identify your preferred learning style(s)
Define multimodal learning
Describe how you might apply your preferred learning strategies to classroom scenarios

Stages of the Learning Process

Consider experiences you’ve had with learning something new, such as learning to tie your shoes or drive a car. You probably began by showing interest in the process, and after some struggling it became second nature. These experiences were all part of the learning process, which can be described in the four stages:

Unconscious incompetence : This will likely be the easiest learning stage—you don’t know what you don’t know yet. During this stage, a learner mainly shows interest in something or prepares for learning. For example, if you wanted to learn how to dance, you might watch a video, talk to an instructor, or sign up for a future class. Stage 1 might not take long.
Conscious incompetence : This stage can be the most difficult for learners, because you begin to register how much you need to learn—you know what you don’t know. Think about the saying “It’s easier said than done.” In stage 1 the learner only has to discuss or show interest in a new experience, but in stage 2, he or she begins to apply new skills that contribute to reaching the learning goal. In the dance example above, you would now be learning basic dance steps. Successful completion of this stage relies on practice.
Conscious competence : You are beginning to master some parts of the learning goal and are feeling some confidence about what you do know. For example, you might now be able to complete basic dance steps with few mistakes and without your instructor reminding you how to do them. Stage 3 requires skill repetition.
Unconscious competence : This is the final stage in which learners have successfully practiced and repeated the process they learned so many times that they can do it almost without thinking. At this point in your dancing, you might be able to apply your dance skills to a freestyle dance routine that you create yourself. However, to feel you are a “master” of a particular skill by the time you reach stage 4, you still need to practice constantly and reevaluate which stage you are in so you can keep learning. For example, if you now felt confident in basic dance skills and could perform your own dance routine, perhaps you’d want to explore other kinds of dance, such as tango or swing. That would return you to stage 1 or 2, but you might progress through the stages more quickly this time on account of the dance skills you acquired earlier. [1]

Kyle was excited to take a beginning Spanish class to prepare for a semester abroad in Spain. Before his first vocabulary quiz, he reviewed his notes many times. Kyle took the quiz, but when he got the results, he was surprised to see that he had earned a B-, despite having studied so much.

Identifying Learning Styles

Many of us, like Kyle, are accustomed to very traditional learning styles as a result of our experience as K–12 students. For instance, we can all remember listening to a teacher talk, and copying notes off the chalkboard. However, when it comes to learning, one size doesn’t fit all. People have different learning styles and preferences, and these can vary from subject to subject. For example, while Kyle might prefer listening to recordings to help him learn Spanish, he might prefer hands-on activities like labs to master the concepts in his biology course. But what are learning styles, and where does the idea come from?

Learning styles are also called learning modalities . Walter Burke Barbe and his colleagues proposed the following three learning modalities (often identified by the acronym VAK):

Kinesthetic

Examples of these modalities are shown in the table, below.

Visual	Kinesthetic	Auditory
Picture	Gestures	Listening
Shape	Body Movements	Rhythms
Sculpture	Object Manipulation	Tone
Paintings	Positioning	Chants

Neil Fleming’s VARK model expanded on the three modalities described above and added “Read/Write Learning” as a fourth.

The four sensory modalities in Fleming’s model are:

Visual learning
Auditory learning
Read/write learning
Kinesthetic learning

Fleming claimed that visual learners have a preference for seeing (visual aids that represent ideas using methods other than words, such as graphs, charts, diagrams, symbols, etc.). Auditory learners best learn through listening (lectures, discussions, tapes, etc.). Read/write learners have a preference for written words (readings, dictionaries, reference works, research, etc.) Tactile/kinesthetic learners prefer to learn via experience—moving, touching, and doing (active exploration of the world, science projects, experiments, etc.).

The VAK/VARK models can be a helpful way of thinking about different learning styles and preferences, but they are certainly not the last word on how people learn or prefer to learn. Many educators consider the distinctions useful, finding that students benefit from having access to a blend of learning approaches. Others find the idea of three or four “styles” to be distracting or limiting.

In the college setting, you’ll probably discover that instructors teach their course materials according to the method they think will be most effective for all students. Thus, regardless of your individual learning preference, you will probably be asked to engage in all types of learning. For instance, even though you consider yourself to be a “visual learner,” you will still probably have to write papers in some of your classes. Research suggests that it’s good for the brain to learn in new ways and that learning in different modalities can help learners become more well-rounded. Consider the following statistics on how much content students absorb through different learning methods:

10 percent of content they read
20 percent of content they hear
30 percent of content they visualize
50 percent of what they both visualize and hear
70 percent of what they say
90 percent of what they say and do

The range of these results underscores the importance of mixing up the ways in which you study and engage with learning materials.

Activity: Identifying Preferred Learning Styles

Define learning styles, and recognize your preferred learning style(s)
Now it’s time to consider your preferred learning style(s). Take the VARK Questionnaire here .
Review the types of learning preferences.
Identify three different classes and describe what types of activities you typically do in these classes. Which learning style(s) do these activities relate to?
Describe what you think your preferred learning style(s) is/are. How do you know?
Explain how you could apply your preferred learning style(s) to studying.
What might your preferred learning style(s) tell you about your interests? Consider which subjects and eventual careers you might like.
Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your assignment.

Defining Multimodal Learning

While completing the learning-styles activity, you might have discovered that you prefer more than one learning style. Applying more than one learning style is known as multimodal learning. This strategy is useful not only for students who prefer to combine learning styles but also for those who may not know which learning style works best for them. It’s also a good way to mix things up and keep learning fun.

For example, consider how you might combine visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles to a biology class. For visual learning, you could create flash cards containing images of individual animals and the species name. For auditory learning, you could have a friend quiz you on the flash cards. For kinesthetic learning, you could move the flash cards around on a board to show a food web (food chain).

The following video will help you review the types of learning styles and see how they might relate to your study habits:

The next assignment can help you extend and apply what you’ve learned about multimodal learning to current classes and studying.

Activity: Applying Learning Styles to Class

Apply your preferred learning styles to classroom scenarios
Review the three main learning styles and the definition of multimodal learning.
Identify a class you are currently taking that requires studying.
Describe how you could study for this class using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile learning skills.
Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your activity.
Mansaray, David. "The Four Stages of Learning: The Path to Becoming an Expert." DavidMansaray.com . 2011. Web. 10 Feb 2016. ↵
The Learning Process. Authored by : Jolene Carr. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
Learning Styles. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
SU13_KentLeach_MT_Edit (29 of 65). Provided by : UC Davis College of Engineering. Located at : https://www.flickr.com/photos/ucdaviscoe/9731984405/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
The Process of Learning - Kristos. Authored by : calikristos. Located at : https://youtu.be/G1eQ6JWAi9Q . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License
Discover Your Learning Style and Optimize Your Self Study. Authored by : Langfocus. Located at : https://youtu.be/dvMex7KXLvM . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

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General Teaching Methods

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Presentation

A presentation delivers content through oral, audio and visual channels allowing teacher-learner interaction and making the learning process more attractive. Through presentations, teachers can clearly introduce difficult concepts by illustrating the key principles and by engaging the audience in active discussions. When presentations are designed by learners, their knowledge sharing competences, their communication skills and their confidence are developed.

Define the objectives of the presentation in accordance to the lesson plan (lesson planning)
Prepare the structure of the presentation, including text, illustrations and other content (lesson planning)
Set up and test the presentation equipment and provide a conducive seating arrangement and environment for the audience (lesson planning)
Invite the audience to reflect on the presentation and give feedback (lesson delivery)
After the presentation, propose activities or tasks to check the learners’ understanding
Use Mentimeter for interactive presentations and to get instant feedback from your audience (consult this written tutorial on how to use Mentimeter).
An infographic; graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge, is an innovative way to present. Use the digital tool Canva to create your own infographics (consult this written tutorial on how to use Canva).
Use Google Slides or the Microsoft software PowerPoint , to easily create digital presentations.
The purpose of a presentation is to visually reinforce what you are saying. Therefore the text should contain few words and concise ideas organised in bullet-point.
Support your text using images .
Provide time for reflection and interaction between the presenter and the audience, for example by using Mentimeter .

Techniques/ Demonstration Techniques/ Brainstorming

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Slide 1 THE LEARNING PROCESS. Slide 2 The Nature of Learning  “Learning is the acquisition, through maturation and experience, of new and more knowledge,

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Presentation on theme: "Slide 1 THE LEARNING PROCESS. Slide 2 The Nature of Learning  “Learning is the acquisition, through maturation and experience, of new and more knowledge,"— Presentation transcript:

Second Language Acquisition

COGNITIVE VIEWS OF LEARNING Information processing is a cognitive theory that examines the way knowledge enters and is stored in and retrieved from memory.

Learning, Motivation and Performance

Psychology of Music Learning

Principles of High Quality Assessment

DED 101 Educational Psychology, Guidance And Counseling

Learning Process and Influences on Learning Chapters 2 and 3 Instructors and Their Jobs W.R. Miller and M.F. Miller.

Chapter 6 Consumer Learning

Psychological Foundation

Theories relating to learning movement skills. Connectionist and associationist theories Depend on linking a stimulus to a response This S-R bond is stored.

Click to edit Master title style  Click to edit Master text styles  Second level  Third level  Fourth level  Fifth level  Click to edit Master text.

Human Learning Aeman Alabuod. Learning Theory it is conceptual frameworks that describe how information is absorbed, processed, and retained during learning.

Educational Services for Individuals with Exceptionalities Adapted Lesson Plan.

…Important Meeting…  Ag Ed Seniors pursuing the Teaching Option...  Will meet Tuesday, September 28 in AGH, Room 201 at 6:00 p.m....  To Discuss Requirements.

Development and Theorists

LEARNING THEORIES LEARNING THEORIES. Behaviorist theories  Behavior was defined as a muscle movement a result of a series of condition reflexes, and.

Cognitive Learning Theory Group 2: Akilah Al-Din Olabisi Asaya Sylvia Chamberlain Daniel Cheptumo.

Instructional software. Models for integrating technology in teaching Direct instructional approach Indirect instructional approach.

1 Effective Teaching & Learning Dr. Abida Ahmed Associate Professor Department of Physiology Mymensingh Medical College.

Classification of motor skills Methods of manipulating skills practice Part, Whole Part Whole, Progressive Classification of abilities.

About project

Effective Communication in the Classroom

Why is It Important?

In a student-centered classroom, the instructor should not be speaking all of the time. However, when you are speaking, students count on you to: provide clarity by highlighting key ideas; elaborate on difficult concepts; and provide clear instructions for in-class activities. These messages should be backed up by appropriate visual aids that reinforce what you are talking about: board work, slides, and/or handouts.

In-class communication can be thought of as consisting of verbal, vocal, and visual channels.

Verbal channel

The verbal channel relates to word choice: the same content or point can be delivered in different ways using different words. Those differences in delivery affect how students comprehend and engage with the material.

The verbal channel can clarify and reinforce course content by:

Defining and using discipline-specific vocabulary.
Verbally outlining your presentation. Verbal indicators can signal transitions between ideas, helping students make connections to their prior knowledge and experiences, follow along, and organize their notes.

The verbal channel can also be used to send growth messages and create an inclusive classroom. For example, the way you respond to students’ questions and incorrect answers can be an opportunity to create a warm classroom climate but are often not something we consider rehearsing.

When a student asks a question:

Try to call on them by name. This will help to create a sense of belonging.
Thank them for their question to motivate them to ask questions again in the future.
If a question is common, say so. This will help the student see that others’ have needed clarification on this point as well.

If you pose a question and a student responds with an incorrect answer:

Thank the student for responding.
If the student’s response is in line with a common error, say so, so they do not feel alone in their misunderstanding.
Ask the student about the process that they used to come up with the answer to better understand where they made a misstep. This emphasizes process over product and also teaches good troubleshooting strategies.
If a student’s answer is partially correct, ask another student to add on or clarify the response.

Certain verbal phrases can detract from a presentation by being distracting, signaling a lack of instructor preparation, or by making students feel insecure in their ability to succeed in the course.

Filler Phrase to Avoid	Potential Student Interpretation	Potential Replacement
“Um”, “you know”, “uh”, “like”	When overused, can be distracting or signal a lack of preparation.	Silence. Take time to think about what comes next. Your students can also use that silence to reflect on what they’re learning.
“I’ll tell you quickly…” “Details are not important, but…”	Improper planning “This isn’t important. The instructor is wasting my time.”	Consider removing this content, sharing it as an optional reading outside of class, or preparing and delivering it at an appropriate level of detail with sufficient time.
“This is easy.” “You should already know this.”	Students could be embarrassed or insecure if they don’t know something or think it’s easy.	Learning takes time and practice, so it’s best to avoid judgments of difficulty. When building on prior knowledge is necessary, suggest resources students can use for additional practice.

We all use some filler phrases habitually, and we should strive to minimize them. However, over-focusing on avoiding filler phrases can distract from a clear presentation. The best strategy is to practice avoiding filler phrases when rehearsing a lecture, but when actually teaching to focus on communicating with the students.

Vocal channel

The vocal channel includes aspects of speech such as volume, pacing, and tone. The vocal channel can be used to draw students attention and convey enthusiasm.

Effective Use	Things to Avoid	Suggestions
Speak loudly enough that students throughout the room can hear you.	Sound is directional, so when turned towards a projector screen or writing on the board, speak louder or wait to speak until done gesturing or writing. Sometimes our volume decreases as we near the end of a sentence. Be mindful of this.	If you have trouble speaking loud enough to reach the back of your classroom, consider asking your students on the first day to sit near the front, or see if a microphone is available for your classroom.
Speak at a speed which allows students to hear and process what you’re saying. You adjust your rate and use pauses to emphasize key points or when transitioning between ideas.	Speaking too fast is overwhelming and makes it hard for students to process information. “Too fast” refers to both quantity of words and quantity of ideas. Constant speech, without pausing between ideas, doesn’t give students time to think about what they’re hearing. If you are using slides in your teaching, be particularly mindful about pacing.	It can be hard to judge appropriate pacing by yourself. Have a friend or colleague give you feedback and help you identify an appropriate speaking rate. If no one else is available, you can record yourself speaking and listen to it later to try to self-evaluate whether or not your speaking rate is appropriate.
Emphasize nouns and verbs, which contain the meaning in a sentence.	Not varying your tone can cause students to tune out.

Visual channel

The visual channel includes all visual aids that support your message, including you (!), anything that you write on the board, project on the projector, or distribute as a handout.

Your physical appearance—posture, attire, expressions—are all part of your presentation and affect how students listen to you and receive your message. Here are some ways your appearance affects your presentation:

Presence/Position/Posture : standing up straight conveys confidence and authority.
Eye contact : helps you connect with your audience and keep your students engaged. You may tend to focus your gaze on a particular side of the classroom. Consciously make eye contact in a “W” pattern across the room.
Movement : too much movement can be distracting, but well-timed movements emphasize key points or physically signal a transition between points – reinforce the information you’re presenting.

Plan what you will actually write on the board so you can make sure it’s organized, large, and legible. If you have limited experience writing on the board, try to practice in the room in which you will be teaching. You may be surprised at how large you have to write so that it is legible from the back of the room.

At MIT, most classrooms are outfitted with multiple, movable boards. Visit your classroom in advance to know the layout of the boards and use this information in your planning. For example, with movable boards, consider the order in which you will fill them to maximize the amount of information students can see at any given point. Students will want to write down everything that you write on the board.

Practice drawing important schematics. If a schematic is necessary but challenging to draw, consider supplementing your board work with a slide, which can also be distributed to students as a handout. Consider using color to highlight ideas, group items, or add clarity to diagrams.

Slide design

The digital nature of slides makes it easy to include more information than students can process on them. In general, try to keep the mantra of “less is more” in mind to reduce the likelihood of cognitive overload and including extraneous information.

When creating slides, words and images are better than words alone. Relevant images can help to support and clarify your message. That said, there are times when images may not be appropriate and you just need to use text. In these cases, summarize the ideas using phrases and avoid full sentences on your slide.

Simple animations of having bullets appear in a synchronized manner with your oration will help to reduce cognitive overload and help students stay focused on what you are saying. Key ideas can also be highlighted by using bolding and color.

Managing Nerves

Stage fright is natural. Almost everyone gets some degree of stage fright. Below are some things you can do at different stages of your preparation to minimize the effects of stage fright.

While preparing for class

Acknowledge your fears by writing them down or sharing them with a friend or a trusted colleague. This will help you identify specific things you can practice to reduce your nerves.
Practice your presentation. Try to make your practice as realistic as possible: practice in your assigned classroom with an audience of friends, colleagues, or a video camera.

Shortly before class

Warm up your body by stretching, walking around, and standing up straight.
Do breathing exercises to warm up your vocal cords and to regulate your breathing.
Drink water to stay hydrated.
Use relaxation or meditation resources to reduce nerves, like the MIT Community Wellness Relaxation Line, 617-253-2256 (CALM)

During class

Use pauses to give yourself a chance to breathe and think. You can use longer pauses between major ideas or during active learning exercises to get a drink of water from your water bottle.
If you find your speech rushing, try taking a longer pause after your next point. Take a couple of deep breaths and get comfortable with silence to reset your rate of speech.
If you find yourself pacing or moving a lot, try planting your feet or putting your hands on a table or podium (if it doesn’t ruin your posture) to ground yourself. Once you’ve reset, give yourself more freedom to move around the room and interact with your students.

Additional resources

Mit school of engineering communication lab.

The Communication Lab is a discipline-specific peer-coaching program for MIT’s School of Engineering that helps graduate students with their scientific writing, speaking, and visual design.

MIT Writing and Communication Center

MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing offers innovative programs that apply critical analysis, collaborative research, and design across a variety of media arts, forms, and practices.

Improve your practice.

Enhance your soft skills with a range of award-winning courses.

How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information 40% more accurately than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations
How knowledgeable the audience already is on the given subject
How much interaction you want from the audience
Any time constraints there are for your talk
What setting you are in
Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:

What is your presentation’s aim?
Who are the audience?
What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

Good presentation structure is important for a presentation

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.

Read our tips on How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

Introduce your general topic
Explain your topic area
State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
State your presentation’s purpose – this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, “I will argue that…” or maybe you will “compare”, “analyse”, “evaluate”, “describe” etc.
Provide a statement of what you’re hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, “I’m hoping this will be provide you with…”
Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

The length of the talk.
Signal whether you want audience interaction – some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.
If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a sales pitch may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.
Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.
Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you’re moving onto the next point.
Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for example, “As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…”
Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation – “In this speech I wanted to compare…”
Summarise the main points, including their implications and conclusions
Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking takeaway
Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to ask any questions they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Questions being asked after a presentation

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

Explain why the product is valuable.
Describe why the product is necessary.
Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.
Demonstrate the product to support what you’ve been saying.
Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

Briefly frame the issue.
Go into the issue in detail showing why it ‘s such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this – the logical and emotional appeals.
Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.
Call to action – something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Storytelling for Business Success webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.

Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.

Go into the issue in detail showing why it’s such a problem – use logos and pathos.
Rebut your opponents’ solutions – explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you’re trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.
After you’ve presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you’re fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done using speech transitions which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
First, let’s begin with…
I will first cover…
My first point covers…
To get started, let’s look at…

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

In the same way…
Likewise…
Equally…
This is similar to…
Similarly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
You discuss your second point from the centre again.
You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

An intro slide outlining your ideas
A summary slide with core points to remember
High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

Don’t over fill them – your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.
A picture says a thousand words – instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.
Make them readable – depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.
Don’t rush through slides – give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a 10-20-30 rule :

There should be a maximum of 10 slides – people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there’s no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.
The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

7 design tips for effective, beautiful PowerPoint presentations
11 design tips for beautiful presentations
10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices. Clean transitioning between speakers is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Elnaz”.
The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Joe.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and practising your talk beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

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What Are the Key Benefits of Using PowerPoint in Teaching and Learning?

Table of Contents

The Importance of PowerPoint Presentation in Teaching

An education-based PowerPoint presentation templates have become an integral part of teaching in today’s classrooms. They provide educators with a versatile tool for delivering engaging and interactive lessons. PPT presentations also offer numerous benefits for students, including the ability to improve concentration and comprehension levels.

Additionally, by using PowerPoint slides in conjunction with other instructional materials, such as textbooks and handouts, teachers can ensure that all students are able to access the information being presented in class. PowerPoint presentations can be a powerful tool for teaching and learning when used effectively.

The main reason behind this is that PowerPoint presentations enable you to interact with your audience psychologically. So, here we’re going to discuss the power of PowerPoint in education.

In most cases, presentations are designed for businesses and applied very commonly in business areas. Moreover, presentation slides are likewise used in the education sector and can make your educational or research content compelling.

Let’s get started. Scroll now to read the key benefits of using PowerPoint in teaching and learning .

Why PowerPoint Templates Are the Best Tool for Teaching?

PowerPoint templates are an excellent tool for teaching. They provide a consistent and professional look to your presentations and help keep your ideas organized. Presentation templates also make updating and changing your slides easy, so you can always keep your presentations fresh and up-to-date.

When teaching a subject like biology, getting your audience interested in what you have to say is essential. PowerPoint templates can help you set the tone for your presentation and reinforce the type of content you will discuss. There are various templates out there, so you can find one that will let you teach your subject efficiently and keep things neat and organized.

In addition, PPT slides can be easily shared with other teachers so that you can collaborate on projects and assignments. Overall, PowerPoint templates are a versatile and valuable tool for any teacher. With their help, you can create engaging and informative presentations to help your students learn and succeed.

How PowerPoint Templates Let You Engage Your Students or Audience?

At present, it’s more important than ever to be able to engage your audience. Whether you’re giving a PPT presentation to a group of students or speaking to a potential client, you need to be able to capture their attention and keep them engaged.

One way to do this is by using PowerPoint templates. With templates, you can create visually appealing and informative presentations. By using engaging visuals and helpful content, you can ensure that your audience stays interested in what you’re saying.

In addition, templates can help you save time when creating presentations. All you need to do with everything already laid out for you is add your content. Accordingly, templates can help you create professional and effective presentations.

Although presentation skills are essential for everyone, they are particularly important for educators. After all, a large part of a teacher’s job is to present information to students engagingly and effectively. Fortunately, there are some simple tips that can help to improve any presentation.

First, it is important to be well prepared. This means clearly understanding the material that will be covered and knowing how to effectively communicate it to the audience.
It is also significant to be aware of the audience’s level of knowledge and adjust the presentation accordingly.
Finally, it is significant to be confident and keep the presentation interesting using various techniques such as humor, stories, or multimedia elements.

By following these tips, any teacher can deliver a successful presentation.

How to Create an Educational Presentation Quickly?

PowerPoint templates are a great way to teach your students detailed data. For your lessons to be practical, you need your students to focus and pay attention, so having templates allows them the tools they need to learn more effectively.

It’s a wise way of helping children in school hone their PowerPoint skills. Many children feel overwhelmed when they have to start creating presentations from scratch-templates give them a structure they can follow and tweak to make their own.

Additionally, templates can be reused multiple times, which saves you time in the long run. With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that PowerPoint templates are becoming increasingly popular in educational settings.

If you’re finding a way to help, your students learn more effectively, consider using PowerPoint templates in your next lesson.

However, you can create an informative and engaging presentation with some preparation and organization. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Choose a subject that is interesting and relevant to your audience.
Gather information and resources on the topic.
Outline your presentation content.
Create visuals or slides to accompany your presentation content.
Practice giving your presentation.
Time yourself so you can keep it within the desired time frame.

Let’s walk through the best practices to create a unique educational PPT presentation.

Choose a Subject That Is Interesting and Relevant to Your Audience

When creating an educational PowerPoint, choosing a subject that is interesting and relevant to your audience is essential.

This will help engage the audience and ensure that they learn from the presentation.

Also, choosing a relevant topic will help keep the audience’s attention focused on the PowerPoint. There are a few different ways to determine what subject would be most exciting and pertinent to your audience. One way is to consider the age range of the audience.

Another way is to think about what type of information would be most helpful to them. Additionally, you can research the interests of the audience ahead of time. Considering these factors, you can choose a subject for your PowerPoint that will be both interesting and relevant to your audience.

Gather Information and Resources on the Topic

If you want to create an educational PPT presentation, it’s essential to gather information and resources on your topic first. This will ensure that the PowerPoint is informative and accurate.

There are a few different ways to go about gathering information. One option is to do some online research. Another option is to visit a library and look for books or articles on the topic.

Once you have brought together all the necessary information, you can start putting together your PowerPoint presentation. Remember to include only appropriate information and to present it in an organized and visually appealing way.

If a little effort is put into creating a PowerPoint, you can come up with an educational presentation that you will like.

Outline Your Presentation Content

You will need to describe your content thoroughly when creating educational PowerPoint slides. This will be useful to organize your thoughts and ensure that your presentation is cohesive and informative. Begin by brainstorming the main points that you want to cover.

Then, create an introductory presentation outline, including an introduction, body, and conclusion. Once you have a general overview of your content, you can begin to flesh out the details. In the body of your presentation, include supporting evidence for each point you make.

In conclusion, summarize the key points of your presentation and leave your audience with something to think about. By wisely and efficiently editing and structuring your content, you can create a captivating and interactive PowerPoint lesson that is both informative and interesting.

Create Visuals or Slides to Accompany Your Presentation Content

You must include visual components to reveal information in an instructional PowerPoint presentation. It will help to engage the audience and provide them with a more immersive experience.

Additionally, visuals can help clarify and strengthen the key points you are trying to communicate. If used effectively, they can also help to add interest and excitement to your presentation.

When choosing visuals, be sure to select ones that are high quality and relevant to your topic. Avoid using too many visuals, as this can overwhelm your audience.

Instead, focus on choosing a few useful visuals to support your presentation and help your audience understand your message better.

Practice Giving Your Presentation

Whether you are allowed to give a speech, practice builds expertise. By practicing your presentation, you can ensure that you are delivering your material in the most effective way possible.

Being careful with your delivery, body language, and overall clarity is essential when practicing. Remember that eye contact is key and that you want to project confidence in your ability to speak on the topic at hand.

It can also be helpful to tape-record yourself so that you can listen back and identify areas that may need improvement. With a bit of practice, you will be capable of giving an educative and memorable presentation.

Time Yourself So You Can Keep It Within the Desired Time Frame

If you’re planning for an educational presentation, it’s important to time yourself stay within the desired time frame. This can be exceptionally important if you’re giving a presentation to a group of students who have a limited attention span.

You can ensure that your presentation stays on track and doesn’t run over by timing yourself. There are a few different ways to time yourself. One option is to use a stopwatch or timer.

Another option for keeping track of where you are in your presentation is periodically checking the clock.

Whichever method you choose, ensure you give yourself enough time to practice to stay within the desired time frame when giving your presentation.

How an Educational PowerPoint Presentation Skyrocket Your Success

How a Professional Educational PowerPoint Presentation Skyrocket Your Success

A well-designed PowerPoint slide can be the key to success in any educational setting. A PowerPoint presentation can help students grasp complex concepts and remember key points by organizing visually appealing and easy-to-understand information.

Additionally, a PPT presentation can add excitement and interest to a dull lecture or dry text. When used effectively, a PowerPoint presentation can engage students and encourage them to participate actively in learning.

As a result, an investment in a professional educational PowerPoint presentation can pay off handsomely in terms of student success.

PowerPoint templates are must-haves for both inexperienced and veteran educators. One of the top reasons is that it saves hours of manual work and struggles.

For instance, if you’ve picked a premium customizable education PPT template, it only requires a couple of minutes to edit and craft your presentation layout. It means you can develop professional PPT presentation infographics within half an hour.

There are countless templates that educators can use for a wide variety of subjects, including maths, science, humanities studies like literature and history, and many more.

It allows your children to have a hands-on, experiment-based curriculum where they can visualize key concepts while paying attention to multimedia elements tools provided by PowerPoint templates along the way.

Now, let’s walk through the top tips to present an impactful educational PPT presentation that will comprehensively drive knowledge to your potential audience.

Arrange your presentation objective in a way that attracts your audience and familiarizes the area of discussion in seconds. You can use animated PPT templates or other visual aids to make it attractive and appealing.
Try to insert at least one brief one-liner highlighting the relevance and benefits of learning that particular topic.
Include self-image or videos to personalize your presentation content.
Add animations and slide transitions to explain the key learning steps.
Include charts, maps, infographics , images, and graphs that illustrate your topic at hand. A well-organized chart could be vital to driving your point home. Regarding corporate PowerPoint presentations , adding Gantt Charts and other business-related details is better.
Avoid having several ideas on one single slide. It may overwhelm your viewers.
Leave a little more white space around each element in your PPT slide.
No need to add every sentence you intend to speak on your PowerPoint slide. Instead, add sharp points that are easily read and comprehended. Then, explain it.

It is not surprising that technology has fundamentally changed education. In former times, the only way to learn about a topic was to hear a lecture from a professor in a classroom. Today, virtual presentations have become an essential tool for educators. There are many reasons why online presentations are so valuable in education. So, learn how to create virtual presentations that capture your audience’s attention .

Advantages of Purchasing Fully Editable PowerPoint Presentation Templates for Teaching

As we discussed above, PowerPoint templates are a great teaching tool for many reasons. They allow the presentation to maintain a uniform look and feel, which is key for understanding the message. Moreover, it can quickly add sense to your teaching.

It is the only wise choice to purchase a fully-editable premium PowerPoint presentation layout for teaching purposes. Then, you can professionally teach your audience the way you want to educate them.

Here are the top reasons why one should turn to fully editable premium education PPT infographics:

Fully editable PPT themes for education will let you overcome the stress of starting with a blank slate each time.
All premium education PowerPoint layouts are made with plenty of ideas and unique designs to effectively present your education or research topic.
When you have a fully editable PPT theme, you will easily add videos, images, and your brand logo.
You can edit and customize anything in the layout without losing quality in minutes. There is no need to have any design skills to edit and customize them.
These editable PowerPoint presentation templates will help you save hours of manual work and confusion.

Top Points to Keep in Mind While Preparing a PowerPoint for Teaching

Characteristics that your students like about education PowerPoint slides are:

Graphs, charts, and maps can increase the understanding of content.
Bulleted lists that let them focus on the top ideas.
Animations and slide transitions are the best visual aids.
Cliparts and creative layouts.
Present your ideas in short phrases rather than lengthy paragraphs.
Spoken words with images are better than pictures with text.

Note: Cliparts are the perfect choice to get your audience’s attention in seconds. It is helpful in education PowerPoint presentations for small children and students. However, try to avoid Cliparts if your presentation is for technical students or medical students.

Characteristics that your students don’t like about education PowerPoint slides are:

Too many ideas on a single slide.
Templates with too many colors.
Irrelevant images and WordArts decrease understanding and learning compared to presentation layouts with no picture or animation.

Find the Best Education PowerPoint Presentation Slides for Teaching

PowerPoint presentations have a great power to share your ideas comprehensively, especially for educational purposes. Therefore, picking the suitable PowerPoint presentation template that fits well will help you significantly convey your presentation.

Moreover, choosing the appropriate theme or design is the base part of the entire PPT presentation.

There may be several PPTs available in the free source, but always remember that they may not assure you the quality and features needed for a powerful PowerPoint template.

Therefore, it will be wise to pick a premium PPT template designed by professionals . Selecting an ideal template for creating an attention-grabbing educational presentation is crucial if you wish to make your presentation’s tone professional. Thus, say goodbye to typical, boring PowerPoint templates that ruin your presentation.

Explore the top highlights of our exclusive educational PowerPoint presentation template below:

100% Fully editable PowerPoint slides & design elements.
2 Aspect ratio (4:3 & 16:9).
One-time purchase (Free download for life).
Unlimited downloads (Come back anytime to download the files again).
Lifetime free updates (We update by adding more slides regularly).
Lifetime free customer care support.

There you can view the best-in-quality education or research topic presentation themes designed by our expert graphic designers.

You can find a selection of creative, unique PPT themes here at FlySlides , in addition to education PowerPoint templates or research presentation PPT slides. All our premium PowerPoint templates are fully customizable and come with unlimited download and update options.

Besides our PPT templates, we also have a tremendous selection of fully customizable Keynote presentation templates and Google Slides themes . So it’s up to you to select your preference. With FlySlides, you can quickly create your education presentations on PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.

You can also refer to:

Tips to Develop a Powerful Business Presentation .
10 Proven Tips to Make a Great Sales Presentation .

What’s more, Look into our library and take a look at our templates. They’re available in as many presentations as you want and skyrocket your success as a PowerPoint presenter. Why waste your precious time? Just explore our top selection of PowerPoint presentation layouts for education and find the best templates for your next presentation .

Written by FlySlides Editorial Team

FlySlides is one of the leading and high-quality Free and Premium PowerPoint, Google Slides & Keynotes Templates providers on the internet.

FlySlides is one of the leading and high-quality premium PowerPoint, Google Slides & Keynotes Templates provider on the internet

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THE LEARNING PROCESS

Oct 24, 2014

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEARNER. THE LEARNING PROCESS. metacognitive skills self-regulation/learning strategies learning style prior knowledge and skills intellectual ability physical characteristics attention attitudes/beliefs, motivation theories of intelligence

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information processing
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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEARNER THE LEARNING PROCESS • metacognitive skills • self-regulation/learning strategies • learning style • prior knowledge and skills • intellectual ability • physical characteristics • attention • attitudes/beliefs, motivation • theories of intelligence • self-concept, self-efficacy • attributions • achievement goals • interest • physiological arousal/anxiety • effort and perseverance LEARNING

NATURE OF THE MATERIALS THE LEARNING PROCESS • modality (visual, linguistic, etc.) • book, film, lecture • conceptual/task difficulty • questions • examples • reading level • vocabulary level • how material is presented • embedded questions • “read to find out” • how material is sequenced • advanced organizers • spiral curriculum LEARNING

CRITERIAL TASK THE LEARNING PROCESS • What are you asked to do? • are you asked to recognize? • T/F • multiple choice • are you asked to recall? • serial recall • free recall • short answer • essay • fill-in-the-blank • are you asked to problem-solve? • analysis • synthesis • evaluation • are you asked to transfer? LEARNING

LEARNING STRATEGIES THE LEARNING PROCESS • attention • rehearsal • maintenance • elaborative • organization • creation of categories • networking • chunking • comprehension monitoring • summarize • clarify • question • predict • metacognition • metamemory LEARNING

THE LEARNING PROCESS NATURE OF THE MATERIALS CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEARNER LEARNING LEARNING STRATEGIES CRITERIAL TASK

Learning: Using all we know • Behavioral • consequences and practice • Cognitive (individual constructivist) • attention, memory, knowledge, organization, elaboration, effort • Constructivist(social constructivist) • discourse, authenticity, community, identity • Understand, remember, apply (practice)

Learning: Greatest Hits • Practice is more than repetition. Use it or lose it. • Consequences matter--they are a kind of feedback • Cognitive tools are remarkable--but some are limited • Attention is a gateways to learning. • Working memory fills fast • Knowledge and beliefs play critical roles in learning • Learning is hard work: Strategic persistence pays • Knowledge is difficult to transfer

Associationist/ Behavioral Approaches

Learning: Greatest Hits • Practice is more than repetition. Use it or lose it. • Consequences matter--they are a kind of feedback • Cognitive tools are remarkable--but some are limited • Attention is a gateways to learning. • Working memory fills fast • Organization and elaboration support memory • Knowledge and beliefs play critical roles in learning • Learning is hard work: Strategic persistence pays • Knowledge is difficult to transfer

INFORMATION PROCESSING

ASSOCIATIONIST APPROACHESprevalent during first half of 20th century CONSTRUCTIVISTAPPROACHESdominating psychology today INFORMATION PROCESSING can be conceptualized as a bridge between …

ASSOCIATIONIST APPROACHESprevalent during first half of 20th century CONSTRUCTIVISTAPPROACHESdominating psychology today Learning is response strengthening. Learning is knowledge construction. Teachers are response monitors. INFORMATION PROCESSING Students are response makers. Teachers are cognitive guides. Students are meaning-makers. Learning is information processing. Teachers are information providers. Students are information processors. Each view provides differing guiding metaphors for LEARNING

LITERAL CONSTRUCTIVIST Learners actively select, organize, and integrate incoming experience with existing knowledge. Learners perform a series of discrete mental operations on input information and store the output. TWO VIEWS OF INFORMATION PROCESSING Mental representations are simply information. (bits, bytes) Humans “compute” information. INFORMATION PROCESSING Mental representations are knowledge. Humans construct knowledge.

TWO VIEWS OF INFORMATION PROCESSING Mental representations are simply information. CLASSIC (bits, bytes) Humans “compute” information. Mental representations are knowledge. LIBERAL Learners actively select, organize, and integrate incoming experience with existing knowledge. Humans construct knowledge. Learners perform a series of discrete mental operations on input information and store the output. INFORMATION PROCESSING

THE CAPABILITY OF RETRIEVING INFORMATION FROM LONG-TERM MEMORY FROM A CLASSIC INFORMATION PROCESSING PERSPECTIVE LEARNINGis

FROM A LIBERAL INFORMATION PROCESSING PERSPECTIVE LEARNINGis THE CAPABILITY TO ACTIVELY SELECT, ORGANIZE,AND INTEGRATE INCOMING EXPERIENCE (INFORMATION)WITH EXISTING KNOWLEDGE

Attention “I saw John today” “What?” “I said, I sa...” “Oh, how is John?”

COUNT THE NUMBER OF “F’s” IN THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

A B Which player has the strongest poker hand?

A B Which player has the strongest poker hand? Did you notice the red six of spades?

Can a Powerpoint show tell what you think?

You can see 6 cards. Think one of them. Just think. Think now.

Close your eyes and Just think about your card.

Look, I took your card.

Bet I can do it again.

Look at the cards. Go ahead. Pick a different one. Just think. Think harder.

I took your card again!

Here’s how it’s done.

You can see 6 cards. Think one of them. Just think. Think now. Look, I took your card.

FB IMT VU SAHB OC IA FBI MTV USA HBO CIA Organization and Elaboration

Organized in four categories: Fruits Flowers Cities Countries Each set of four words begins with the same letter. Organization and ElaborationListen to these words

Experts organize around central ideas and principles

Knowledge and expectationssupport memory • Legend of the Ghosts (Bartlett, 1932, Remembering) • Baseball and reading • Stereotypes

Knowledge and Comprehension In 1367 Marain and the settlements ended a 7-year war with the Langurians and Pitoks. As a result of this war Langauria as driven out of East Bacol. Marian would now rule Laman and other lands that had belonged to Languria. This brought peace to the Bacolian settlements. The settlers no longer had to fear attacks from Laman. The Balcolians were happy to be part of Marain in 1367. Yet, a dozen years later, these same people would be fighting the Marish for independence, or freedom from United Marain’s rule.

Knowledge and Comprehension In 1763 Britain and the colonies ended a 7-year war with the French and Indians. As a result of this war France as driven out of North America. Britain would now rule Canada and other lands that had belonged to France. This brought peace to the American colonies. The settlers no longer had to fear attacks from Canada. The Americans were happy to be part of Britain in 1763. Yet, a dozen years later, these same people would be fighting the British for independence, or freedom from Great Britain’s rule.

In 1367 Marain and the settlements ended a 7-year war with the Langurians and Pitoks. As a result of this war Langauria as driven out of East Bacol. Marian would now rule Laman and other lands that had belonged to Languria. This brought peace to the Bacolian settlements. The settlers no longer had to fear attacks from Laman. The Balcolians were happy to be part of Marain in 1367. Yet, a dozen years later, these same people would be fighting the Marish for independence, or freedom from United Marain’s rule. In 1763 Britain and the colonies ended a 7-year war with the French and Indians. As a result of this war France as driven out of North America. Britain would now rule Canada and other lands that had belonged to France. This brought peace to the American colonies. The settlers no longer had to fear attacks from Canada. The Americans were happy to be part of Britain in 1763. Yet, a dozen years later, these same people would be fighting the British for independence, or freedom from Great Britain’s rule.

Hyde and Jenkins, 1973

WHAT ARE EIGHT COUNTIES IN ENGLAND?

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PowerPoint 101: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners

Are you struggling with PowerPoint? You need a quick design in PowerPoint but don't know where to start? Don't worry, you have nothing to be ashamed of.

In this article, we're going to refresh the most important PowerPoint basics so you can take advantage of this Microsoft software and create high-impact presentations at any time!

Millions of users worldwide use Microsoft 365 services , making PowerPoint the presentation design software with the highest market share. And with good reason! PowerPoint's features stand out for its usability and originality . We can tell you that PowerPoint is pretty intuitive software, and it's a great option to choose when working with presentations on a daily basis. So, are you ready for a quick PowerPoint 101 class?

Let ' s see what you ' re going to learn today with this PowerPoint Guide :

What is PowerPoint?

What are the best uses of powerpoint, powerpoint basics: what are the components of powerpoint workspace, mastering powerpoint: what are the main features of powerpoint, what are powerpoint templates and where to find them, time to practice how to make a presentation in powerpoint.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation design software that is part of Microsoft 365 . This software allows you to design presentations by combining text, images, graphics, video, and animation on slides in a simple and intuitive way.

Over time, PowerPoint has evolved and improved its accessibility to users. For this reason, it has been adapted to the main operating systems and modalities:

PowerPoint Online

Additionally, you can use Word and Excel in this online version. That way, you'll be able to make real-time changes in the cloud without fearing losing your files. Sounds great, right?

PowerPoint has a versatile range of uses. Here's a list of the different tasks you can complete with this presentation design software:

Business presentations or Pitch decks.
Marketing, Sales and HR plans.
Project briefs and timelines.
Inductions to new employees.
Seminars and educational classes.
Professional portfolio of photos or designs.
Presentations of a research summary.
Presentations for special occasions.

These are just a few examples of the multiple possibilities this Microsoft software offers. Your imagination is the only limit!

Stay tuned as we continue with this PowerPoint 101 Guide...

PowerPoint 101: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners

In order to deeply understand this presentation design software, you need to recognize its main components. Now it's time to learn about the PowerPoint basics!

A quick note before going any further: when opening PowerPoint, some of the commands in the ribbons will look grayish and won't be highlighted when you hover the mouse over them.

This happens since some commands need to be selected in order to function. For example, if you want to change the color of a text, you first need to select it.

That being said, let's start with this Guide for PowerPoint beginners:

PowerPoint Main Window

The first aspect to learn is PowerPoint Main Window. To facilitate the explanation, we've organized its main elements with numbers from 1 to 10:

Based on that, the main components of PowerPoint window are the following:

1. Quick Access Toolbar: allows you to customize commands to have them at hand. You only have to select it and go to "More commands."

2. Title Bar: shows you the name of your file and other "Suggested options" like Slide Master View . These options will vary depending on the use you give to the commands.

3. File Tab: you will see the Home Menu (PowerPoint backstage) by selecting it. There, you can create a new presentation, save it, print it, export it, and many other options.

4. The Ribbon: it's where PowerPoint tabs and tools are. These tools can also be called "commands" or “features.”

5. More Button or Down Arrow: these arrows allow you to view more tools or layout options in PowerPoint.

6. Slides Pane: shows your slides in thumbnail size. By right-clicking, you can access additional options for customizing each slide. Perfect for PowerPoint beginners!

7. Slide: PowerPoint's blank canvas and the frame to be seen when presenting the file.

8. Placeholders: they are dotted boxes that will store your content.

9. Status Bar: allows you to view the slide number, grammatical errors, speaker notes, and the comments on your file.

10. Zoom: allows you to enlarge or minimize your PowerPoint workspace. The range goes from 10 to 400%.

PowerPoint Tabs

The PowerPoint tabs are the control desk of your presentation . Since PowerPoint's features are too many, they're organized in tabs.

You can come and go between tabs as you need. Once you click on a tab, it will open its ribbon, and there, you'll be able to see all the tools related to that particular category.

This PowerPoint tutorial for beginners will give you an overview of all PowerPoint tabs . Pay attention to the following list:

Transitions Tab
Animations Tab
Slide Show Tab
Recording Tab

1. Home Tab

The Home tab is the most common tab of PowerPoint. This is the tab you'll probably use the most if you're designing a presentation deck from scratch.

It allows you to add new slides and change the text characteristics : font, size, boldness, underlining, alignment, etc. If you've ever used Microsoft Word, these features will be familiar to you.

Also, you will find commands to edit the characteristics of the geometric shapes you insert. This includes: fill color, line color, sharpe effects, among others.

2. Insert Tab

The Insert tab is exactly what its name says it is. In this ribbon, you'll find all the options concerning adding a new element to your PowerPoint presentation .

You can insert a picture, some geometric shapes, icons, WordArt graphics, among others. We can tell you that this tab is really helpful for PowerPoint beginners!

For example, if you have a lot of data in PowerPoint , you could add a chart or diagram to show your information in a more visual way. Also, you can embed videos or music into PowerPoint really easily.

PowerPoint tip for beginners: To be able to write text on your slides, you need a text box. So, if you're designing your presentation from scratch, remember to go first to the Insert tab and add a text box to start writing.

3. Design Tab

If you are one of those people who enjoy choosing the design of a PowerPoint presentation, this tab will be your favorite.

The Design tab offers a wide range of premade designs , allowing you to get more polished slides. Even better, if you explore its ribbon, you can adjust the color palette and change the overall style of your PowerPoint deck.

The PowerPoint interface, as this basic PowerPoint Tutorial, is really intuitive. We believe that you won't have any problem with this tab!

4. Transitions Tab

Using transitions in PowerPoint is a dynamic way to move from one slide to the next during a presentation. This feature is PowerPoint's stamp, so don ' t miss it!

Some PowerPoint transitions are really classic, like wiping the old slide to present the new one. Others are somewhat over the top, like the “Vortex” or the “Airplane” effect.

If you click on each kind of transition, you'll see a preview on how it would look when presenting. Really cool, right?

5. Animations Tab

In case you want to add special effects for certain elements in your slides , the Animations tab in PowerPoint will interest you.

Like the Transitions tab, you will find various animation effects in this ribbon. It's a matter of trying and choosing the best one according to your needs!

6. Slide Show Tab

As its name says, the Slide Show tab is about presenting your slides . We really like that it gives you several options to show up your presentation!

Considering that you're a PowerPoint beginner, you're not likely to use the Slide Show tab very much.

But if you're curious about this command, you must read our article: How to Make a PowerPoint Slideshow that Runs Automatically?

7. Review Tab

The Review tab is not often used by PowerPoint beginners either.

However, if your job is related to writing or if you work at an international company, this tool can be extremely useful!

With this tab, you can check the slide's spelling, translate the text in real-time, and add comments to your slides . This last function can be helpful to give feedback to a colleague.

8. View Tab

This View tab allows you to change the view of your PowerPoint slides and make handouts from them, among other things.

As you can see, the majority of its commands are really specific. So you won't have any issues while designing, test and see!

In this section, our favorite command for PowerPoint beginners is Slide Master . Explore more about this tool in our guide!

9. Recording Tab

In the last versions of this design presentation software, PowerPoint added the Recording tab. As its name says, it allows you to record all your presentation slides .

This ribbon has advanced commands, so the most common action for a PowerPoint beginner is to take a screenshot or record the screen sequentially .

10. Help Tab

Finally, there is the Help tab. If you have any problem or question concerning how to use PowerPoint, you may go here to look for a solution.

In the latest versions, Windows has added a “Show Training” option. You can click this command to practice the PowerPoint basics since it will download training templates.

As a beginner in PowerPoint, you must recognize the objective of each PowerPoint tab to be able to master the software . But, in order to conduct an outstanding presentation deck, you also need to dominate its most important features. Let's see some of them in the next section!

If you feel ready to delve deeper into PowerPoint's tools, this section is for you.

As you may know , 24Slides specializes in creating outstanding presentations for any Design Project . So, we asked one of our experts about her favorite PowerPoint features, and we want to share them all with you!

Carmen Navarrete , Graphic Designer at 24Slides, highlighted the following features that will make your presentations stand out from the crowd:

PowerPoint Feature #1: Crop to Shape

This first PowerPoint feature is simple but effective!

Let's see how to use it:

First, choose an image you want to cut and insert it into your workspace.
Once inserted, select it with the mouse.
Go to the "Picture Format" tab.
Press the arrow of the "Crop" button (right side of the screen).
Select "Crop to Shape."
Choose your favorite shape and customize your PowerPoint presentation!

PowerPoint Feature #2: Merge Shapes

If you don't like any figure enough, you can create one from scratch!

This is possible thanks to the "Merge Shapes" option. Follow these steps to unleash your creativity:

First choose an image you want to cut.
Check the list of PowerPoint shapes (Insert tab > Shapes).
Choose two or three figures you want to merge (they can be the same figure).
Select the figures you are going to merge (see the image).
Once selected, go to the "Shape Format" tab.
Press the "Merge Shapes" option and the type of merge you want (test and choose!).

A new figure will appear, and you must fill it with the image from the first step.
Stay on the Shape Format tab and go to "Shape Fill" (button in the middle of the ribbon).
Select "Picture Fill" and browse for your image.
Select the image to fill your new figure, and that's it!

PowerPoint tip for beginners: When your merged figure is ready, paste the image to the background of your slide to achieve a better result. This way, you can use your image as a canvas and see if both elements fit well.

PowerPoint Feature #3: Insert Icons

This PowerPoint feature is quite easy to follow for PowerPoint beginners!

Just follow these steps:

Go to the Insert tab.
Select the "Icons" option.
A Microsoft 365 library will open, where you can search for the required icon.
Now, you must insert it into your presentation and adapt it to your design.
If you have an active Microsoft 365 subscription, you'll have access to a larger number of icons in PowerPoint.

PowerPoint tip for beginners: If you want to learn more about icons in PowerPoint, read our article on How to Use Icons to Make Amazing PowerPoint Presentations .

PowerPoint Feature #4: Insert SmartArt

PowerPoint's SmartArt is one of the most popular and accessible tools to dominate while learning about PowerPoint basics.

To use it in your slide deck, you must:

Select SmartArt.
See all SmartArt categories and choose your favorite based on your needs.
Add the text you have prepared and adapt it to your presentation.

We want to give you some ideas to master this SmartArt tool in PowerPoint: you can make timelines , flowcharts , and even a Venn diagram in just a few seconds. Try and see!

PowerPoint Feature #5: Remove Background

If you don't know how to use Photoshop and want to remove the background from an image, in this PowerPoint 101 Guide, we show you how:

First choose the image you want to remove the background from.
Insert the image in the PowerPoint workspace.
Select the image and go to the "Picture Format" tab.
Select "Remove Background" (first option on the left).
You can keep and remove parts of the image with the first two tools of the ribbon (see image).
Keep in mind that all the sections highlighted in purple will be deleted.

PowerPoint Feature: Remove Background of image

We recommend zooming in to keep or remove parts of the image with more detail.
Once you're done, press the "Keep Changes" button.
Finally, adapt the new image to your PowerPoint presentation.

PowerPoint tip for beginners: Choose a high-contrast photo or image for best results. In other words, the outline of the person or object you want to cut out must have clear edges and cannot blend with the image's background color.

PowerPoint Feature #6: Add Speaker Notes

The latest PowerPoint feature is a command you can use to prepare your speech before presenting to an audience.

Learning how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint is simple:

Select the slide that needs some notes.
Usually, there is a footer below the slide, but if not, you will have to activate it.
Go to the View tab and select "Notes."
The Speaker Notes section will appear, and you can add whatever you want!

PowerPoint tip for beginners: In case you want to practice your entire presentation and have a lot of notes, go to the View tab and select "Notes Page" (fourth command). You'll be able to see all your Speaker Notes faster!

PowerPoint Feature #7: PowerPoint Translator

If you've ever wondered how to translate your PowerPoint Slides, we'll explain the step by step here:

Go to the Review tab.
Select the text you want to translate.
Press the “Translate” button.
A panel will open on the right side of the screen.
Choose the language you need and you'll see the translation in real-time.
If you press Insert, the text will change to the new translation!

PowerPoint Feature #8: Screen Recording

The process of recording your screen in PowerPoint is straightforward and intuitive. Let's see:

Go to the “Record” or “Recording” tab.
Press the "Record Slide Show" button or the “From Beginning” button (depending on your PPT version).
A new window will open.
Select the red record button and start recording!
When you're done, select “Export.”
By default, the video will be 1080p. If you want to lower the video quality, go to "Customize export."
Name the video, save it to a folder and that's it!

As you may have noticed, this software has endless PowerPoint design options for beginners. We encourage you to try and test each functionality!

However, we're clear that PowerPoint has different features, so it can be hard to know where to start. That's why understanding PowerPoint basics is crucial if you truly want to master this software!

Our PowerPoint 101 Guide continues; stay tuned to discover more great stuff about this Microsoft software. Keep reading!

A PowerPoint template is a pre-made design that you can use for your own means, and that will save you a lot of time!

Templates in PowerPoint are a great resource for designing since all the structure is already done, and you only have to update the content . We can tell you they're the perfect resource for PowerPoint beginners!

They can be incredibly specific. For example, there are templates for a SWOT analysis or a complete Marketing report. Otherwise, templates can also be very general, with several slides with a similar design.

If you struggle with the artistic part of designing presentations, downloading PowerPoint templates will be a life changer!

How to download PowerPoint templates for free?

If you didn't know, 24Slides has an extensive repository of PowerPoint templates. But how to obtain them? It's really simple:

First, create an account on our Free Templates Website with the button “Register” (that way, you can download everything without problems!).
Think about the graphics you need and the ideal structure for your presentation deck (you can also change the color palette later!).
Download it in PowerPoint format (if you prefer it in Google Slides format, you'll also find this type in our repository).
Edit and change everything you need for your PowerPoint presentation!

24Slides Designers specialize in business and corporate PowerPoints, but you'll also find other types of templates on our website: Data templates, Timelines, Roadmaps, Matrixes, Diagrams, and more.

Keep in mind that a well-designed PowerPoint deck helps you communicate stronger messages to your audience . Don't waste this opportunity to make your presentation shine!

If you want to learn more about how to master PowerPoint, do not miss the last section. We'll show you some PowerPoint basics from the software itself!

A PowerPoint 101 Guide wouldn't be that useful with no examples. So, if you enjoy the step-by-step guides, this section is for you.

Below, we'll show you how to make a simple PowerPoint presentation. But first, here are some tips to be more efficient in the process:

Be clear about what type of presentation you're going to create (is it corporate, playful, or more creative?).
Make a draft with the most important information you need to add and, thus, generate a good structure in your presentation .
Get inspired by examples on the internet , but adapt them to your needs and audience.
If you will create a business presentation, keep in mind your brand identity .
Make sure your PowerPoint works , you may need to update to the latest version or pay for the subscription.

Step 1: Make a draft to structure your presentation

As we said before, writing a draft or script of your content will be vital to start on the right foot as a PowerPoint beginner.

This advice is so important that we choose it as the first step to learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation. Remember: Planning is key!

draft to structure a presentation in PowerPoint

Regarding the process of planning, we share some good practices:

If your presentation will be very long , write down all subtitles and content in a Word document. This will help you organize your ideas and give a correct sequence to your narrative. In addition to avoiding redundancies in the message you want to communicate.
If your presentation will use many visual resources , we recommend choosing high-quality images. This will help you have a starting graphic base. Some good free image repositories are Freepick , Unsplash , and Adobe Stock .
If your presentation is based on data , have all your results summarized or your most relevant conclusions at hand. The idea of making a PowerPoint presentation is to show your information in the simplest way possible for your audience.

Step 2: Create a new document in PowerPoint

Once you check that all the functions are working fine with the software, please open it and go to the File tab. If you've ever used Word or Excel, you'll probably find this Home Menu familiar.

In short, this is the main page of PowerPoint, where you can create a new presentation or open an older one. Let's see:

In order to follow this part of our PowerPoint Tutorial correctly, take into consideration the following points:

On the lower side of the screen, you'll find your recently opened PowerPoint files. This option is great for saving some time.
If you don't find the presentation you're looking for, click on the “Open” option at the left bar and find older files.
Don't forget to save your presentation with a relatable name so you won't lose sight of it!

Step 3: Choose the perfect design for your presentation

With your information ready in a draft, it's time to choose the design of your PowerPoint slide deck. You must imagine that the available design options are endless!

For practical reasons, you have three options regarding the design:

Start a design from scratch (very difficult for a PowerPoint beginner).
Choose an established PowerPoint design or layout.
Download a PowerPoint template and modify some details.

Don't worry if you don't know how to continue! In this PowerPoint 101 class, we're going to explain step by step the second option:

How do you set a default design in PowerPoint?

First, go to the Design tab.
Open the list of options by clicking on the third arrow.
Choose the design you like the most for your PowerPoint presentation.

If you want to explore more PowerPoint designs, there is a way to research online. For that, you only need to:

Go to the File tab (first tab, next to the Home tab).
Select "More themes" (see image).

Use the search engine and write the keyword you want (it can be related to your business or it can be a color).
Check the list of PowerPoint themes and choose your favorite.
Wait a few minutes while it loads and keep designing in PowerPoint!

How do you change the layout of one slide in PowerPoint?

In this PowerPoint 101 Guide, you will also learn how to configure the layout of each slide.

Keep in mind that to have a high-impact presentation, you must adapt your slides' design to the type of content you'll add. And using layouts is perfect for this purpose.

To change the layout type in PowerPoint, follow these steps:

Right-click on the slide you want to change.
Select the "Layout" option.
You will find more than ten layout models.
Choose the one that best suits your content.
Repeat these steps for each slide (if you wish or require).

How do you change the layout in PowerPoint

How do you customize your slides in PowerPoint?

The design process in this PowerPoint 101 Guide doesn't stop there.

You also can customize your presentation's color palette , font style, background format , and graphics effects .

Just go to:

Design tab > Variants.
Select Colors, Fonts, Effects or Background Styles (as you need).
If you're inspired and want to create your own background in PowerPoint, select Background Styles > Format Background.
Finally, custom your slides as you want!

Step 4: Add all your information to your presentation

Now, it's time to add all your information to your slides. If your script is long, take your time to copy each part of it.

In this PowerPoint Tutorial, we're going to show how our design is going so far. We design at your side!

Step 5: Add transitions or animations to your presentation

The stamp of PowerPoint is its transitions and animations! Naturally, our PowerPoint 101 has considered these essential commands.

If you want to add them to your presentation and make your speech more fluid, follow these steps:

Go to the tabs section of PowerPoint.
Select "Transitions" or "Animations" and try your favorite effects.
Remember that if you select Transitions, these will modify the entire slide, while Animations can be added to each element individually.

When choosing one Animation, you can eliminate it if you aren't 100% convinced. You only need to:

Select the Animation number that appears on the corner.
Press the "Delete" or "Backspace" button on your keyboard.
Choose another Animation in PowerPoint if you want!

How to add transitions or animations to PPT

This “PowerPoint for dummies” is full of tips and tricks! So here is one more: Don't overuse transitions or animations in PowerPoint ; they can make your presentation slower and unprofessional . Use this tool in a subtle way!

Step 6: Refine the final details

As always, every final product must be reviewed. Especially if you're learning the PowerPoint fundamentals with us.

We recommend reviewing each slide of your PowerPoint presentation one final time. In this process, you will be able to:

Add icons if your presentation requires it.
Change any image or illustration if they don't convince you.
Change transitions or animations.
Customize your presentation's color palette .
Proofread your slides' text or add more information.
Add speaker notes to your presentation.

Step 7: Slideshow your presentation

When your presentation is finished, it's essential to know how to make a PowerPoint slideshow. This way, you can see your slides from the exact same perspective your audience will see them.

To slideshow your presentation in PowerPoint, follow these simple steps for PowerPoint beginners:

Position yourself on your first slide.
Go to the bottom right of the software.
Select the "Slide Show" button (see image).
Have a look of your presentation by clicking on each slide or pressing the right arrow on your keyboard.
To go out from the Slide Show mode, you have to press the ESC key.

Now you can present your slides like an expert!

When you master this presentation design software, you'll be able to create amazing things in PowerPoint : infographics, diagrams, charts, pitch decks, business cards, calendars, you name it!

This was our PowerPoint Guide for beginners. We hope that our compilation today will be useful for conducting more professional presentations in the future and, why not, achieve all your goals!

Don't forget to share this PowerPoint 101 Guide with your co-workers or whoever you want!

Want to boost your beginner PowerPoint skills? Check out this content:

How to Work with Multiple Images in PowerPoint
How to Add a Timer to Your Powerpoint Presentations
PowerPoint Charts, Graphs, & Tables Made Easy | Tips & Tricks
How To Use PowerPoint Design Ideas - All Questions Answered!
36 Fun Icebreakers for Your Next Presentation
The Cost of PowerPoint Presentations: Discover the hidden expenses you might overlook!

Create professional presentations online

Tutorial: Save your PowerPoint as a Video

How To Convert Google Slides To PowerPoint and Vice Versa

How To Add Animations To PowerPoint

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

Partner Center

Conducting the Kickoff Meeting

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Explain the process flow to design the career site .
Prepare a kickoff meeting presentation .
Create a recruiting marketing project plan .

Career Site Design Process Flow

Watch this video to learn about career site design.

The customer and consultant work together to design the career site, beginning with the project kickoff meeting and configuration workshops, where the configuration workbook is completed.

The diagram shows career site design steps, explained further in the text.

Conduct the kickoff meeting: Engage early in the process with a kickoff meeting to avoid late-stage changes.
Conduct workshops: Discuss the basic site design, global elements, images, brand, languages, and components with the customer.
Decide on the host and domain: Decide on the site’s subdomain and hosting solution and whether the career site will be hosted or integrated.
Follow leading practices: Design the site following accessibility guidelines, SEO, and other leading practices.
Choose components: Organize content by using the appropriate Career Site Builder pages and components.
Confirm job requisition requirements: Confirm that the required fields are configured on the job requisition to fully support the candidate experience, job distribution features, and reporting.
Discuss a marketing strategy for job distribution: Conduct a job delivery intake meeting to discuss the customer’s job marketing strategy.
Discuss an internal applicant job strategy: Summarize the benefits of using the Career Site Builder for internal applicants.

Project Kickoff Meeting Preparation

Preparing for the project kick-off is a crucial step in beginning an implementation project with a customer. In this video, follow consultants Mia and Carlos as they discuss the process in preparing for a project kickoff.

To prepare for the kickoff call, consultants are responsible for creating a kickoff meeting presentation.

Consultants present this presentation to the customer team during the kickoff meeting.

Customize the presentation before the meeting:

Insert the customer’s name and logo where appropriate.

Insert the category pages from the Readiness Checklist.

Update the action items.

Insert the Project Team contact information.

Update the Candidate Experience section.

Optional: Add information returned on the Readiness Checklist:

Customer’s goals

Initiate the Project Kickoff Meeting

To help you initiate the project kickoff meeting, proceed as follows:

Formally kick off the project in a meeting with the Customer Project Team:

Required: Customer Project Sponsor and Project Manager
Recommended: Customer Marketing/Communications/Marketing/Web Design or equivalent
Optional: Customer ATS Administrator and Technical contact (IT/Webmaster)

Use the Kickoff slides to structure the meeting:

Access the Kickoff slides, along with other Recruiting implementation resources, on the SAP PartnerEdge community .
Introduce the implementation methodology.
Discuss the goals for the career site.
Discuss the design options for the Career Site Builder (CSB) site.

Provide examples of live CSB sites to provide the customer with ideas.

Review the assets provided by the customer and introduce the workbook.

Capture all feedback in the workbook and supplementary documentation as appropriate.

Set up any required follow-up meetings to complete the workbook.

Customization of the Project Plan

To customize a project plan for a customer, download the CSB Project Plan from SAP PartnerEdge Recruiting implementation resources. Ensure that you and your customer have Microsoft Project because it is required.

COMMENTS

What is a Presentation of Learning?
Alec Patton. A Presentation of Learning (POL) requires students to present their learning to an audience, in order to prove that they are ready to progress. Effective POLs include both academic content and the student's reflection on their social and personal growth. They are important rituals - literally "rites of passage" for students.
PDF Creating and Presenting an Effective Lecture
Frameworks of learning, memory, and effective teaching. A, The three core components of the learning process (attention, comprehension, and integration) are shown along with their relationship to memory formation. Examples of how a lecturer can facilitate these steps are shown in italics in the boxes on ... presentation of information, said ...
How a Simple Presentation Framework Helps Students Learn
In the presentation delivery, the presenter must be articulate and meticulous to ensure that everyone in the audience is able (and willing) to process the information provided. It didn't take long for me to realize that preparing and delivering presentations could provide a valuable learning opportunity for my students.
Learning Theories: Understanding How People Learn
Learning is the change in knowledge, behavior, or understanding that occurs when people make connections between new information and their existing knowledge. Various theories attempt to describe the factors that enable the learning process. Learning does not happen in the same way or at the same time for all students.
Teaching with PowerPoint
Incorporate active learning throughout the presentation to hold students' interest and reinforce learning. Emphasizing content. Use italics, bold, and color for emphasizing content. Use of a light background (white, beige, yellow) with dark typeface or a dark background (blue, purple, brown) with a light typeface is easy to read in a large room.
Project-based Learning and Presentations
Let them know that you expect their final presentation to be a presentation of their learning through the project-building process, not just a demonstration of the product they create. Presentations of learning should include what students learned about: the subject matter content. planning, organizing, and implementing a project. how they learn.
The Learning Process
In stage 1 the learner only has to discuss or show interest in a new experience, but in stage 2, he or she begins to apply new skills that contribute to reaching the learning goal. In the dance example above, you would now be learning basic dance steps. Successful completion of this stage relies on practice.
OLCreate: General Teaching Methods: Presentation
Presentation. A presentation delivers content through oral, audio and visual channels allowing teacher-learner interaction and making the learning process more attractive. Through presentations, teachers can clearly introduce difficult concepts by illustrating the key principles and by engaging the audience in active discussions.
Understanding the Teaching/Learning Process
Control the learning process rather than become a victim of it Are active, not passive, in their approach to learning Are motivated (e.g., enjoy learning, have short-term and long-term goals, etc) Are disciplined (e.g. have learned good habits and use them consistently) Are more aware of themselves as learners (e.g. know their own strengths and ...
Understanding the Teaching/Learning Process
11 17 Characteristics of "Expert" Learners Control the learning process rather than become a victim of it Are active, not passive, in their approach to learning Are motivated (e.g., enjoy learning, have short-term and long-term goals, etc) Are disciplined (e.g. have learned good habits and use them consistently) Are more aware of themselves as learners (e.g. know their own strengths and ...
Slide 1 THE LEARNING PROCESS. Slide 2 The Nature of Learning "Learning
4 Slide 4 Types of Learning Cognitive Learning - The acquisition of knowledge, facts, information, principles, ideas, concepts, understanding, reasoning, etc. Associate learning - Establishing the relationship between words or ideas and their meanings, between words or ideas and the things that they refer to, between principles and the situations and conditions they are applied to, etc ...
PDF Presentation-Based Learning and Peer Evaluation to Enhance Active
learning strategy that effectively enhances student active learning process and self-confidence. By implementing presentation-based learning activities, this study aims to improve current practices in Financial Management classroom to ensure that creative, active, and self-regulated learning as well as self-confidence, prevails to all
Effective Communication in the Classroom
Presence/Position/Posture: standing up straight conveys confidence and authority. Eye contact: helps you connect with your audience and keep your students engaged. You may tend to focus your gaze on a particular side of the classroom. Consciously make eye contact in a "W" pattern across the room.
How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples
This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there. Follow these steps: Signal that it's nearly the end of your presentation, for example, "As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…". Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation - "In this speech I wanted to compare…". 5.
What Are the Key Benefits of Using PowerPoint in Teaching and Learning?
PowerPoint templates are an excellent tool for teaching. They provide a consistent and professional look to your presentations and help keep your ideas organized. Presentation templates also make updating and changing your slides easy, so you can always keep your presentations fresh and up-to-date. When teaching a subject like biology, getting ...
PPT
The Learning Process. Learning 83 % - See 11% - Hear 3% - Smell 2% - Touch 1% - Taste Retention 10% - Read 20% - Hear 30% - See 50% - See/Hear 70% - Discuss 80% - See/Hear/Do Learning - relatively permanent change in behavior. Basic Principles of Learning: • Learning is continuous • Learning is purposeful & must make sense to the learner • Learning involves as many senses as possible ...
PPT
THE LEARNING PROCESS. metacognitive skills self-regulation/learning strategies learning style prior knowledge and skills intellectual ability physical characteristics attention attitudes/beliefs, motivation theories of intelligence. Download Presentation. learning. information processing. learning strategies. actively select.
PowerPoint 101: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners
Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation design software that is part of Microsoft 365. This software allows you to design presentations by combining text, images, graphics, video, and animation on slides in a simple and intuitive way. Over time, PowerPoint has evolved and improved its accessibility to users.
How to Make a "Good" Presentation "Great"
A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you're pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something ...
Conducting the Kickoff Meeting
To prepare for the kickoff call, consultants are responsible for creating a kickoff meeting presentation. Consultants present this presentation to the customer team during the kickoff meeting. Customize the presentation before the meeting: Insert the customer's name and logo where appropriate. Insert the category pages from the Readiness ...

What is a Presentation of Learning and Why Do We Do It?

Presentation

Which format should I choose, and when?

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3 Learning Theories: Understanding How People Learn

General Learning Theories

Behaviorism

Cognitivism

Constructivism

Social Constructivism

Developmental Stages

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Teaching with PowerPoint

PART I: Designing the PowerPoint Presentation

Preparing for the presentation

Slide content

Number of slides

Emphasizing content

Clip art and graphics

Animation and sound

Final check

PowerPoint Handouts

The Presentation

PART II: Enhancing Teaching and Learning with PowerPoint

Multimodal Learning

Type-on Live Slides

Write or Highlight on Slides

Just-In-Time Course Material

PART III: Engaging Students with PowerPoint

Running Slide Show as Students Arrive in the Classroom

Positive Features of PowerPoint

Potential Drawbacks of PowerPoint

Selected Resources

Suggested citation

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Project-based Learning and Presentations

Ideas for the Presenter(s)

Ideas for the Audience

Instructors/Facilitators

Beyond Oral Presentations

Integrate Reflection

More sites to help you find success in your classroom

Additional Chapters

Learning Objectives

Stages of the Learning Process

Identifying Learning Styles

Activity: Identifying Preferred Learning Styles

Defining Multimodal Learning

Activity: Applying Learning Styles to Class

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Slide 1 THE LEARNING PROCESS. Slide 2 The Nature of Learning  “Learning is the acquisition, through maturation and experience, of new and more knowledge,

Presentation on theme: "Slide 1 THE LEARNING PROCESS. Slide 2 The Nature of Learning  “Learning is the acquisition, through maturation and experience, of new and more knowledge,"— Presentation transcript:

About project

Effective Communication in the Classroom

Why is It Important?

Verbal channel

Vocal channel

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Slide design

Managing Nerves

While preparing for class

Shortly before class

During class

Additional resources

MIT Writing and Communication Center

How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

What will affect your presentation structure?