How to Use PowerPoint to Improve Teaching

PowerPoint is a useful tool for displaying learning objectives, presenting information to students, giving directions and incorporating multimedia into a lesson. Using PowerPoint in common classroom tasks improves teaching, as well as makes instruction more dynamic and interesting to today's computer-savvy students. Read on to learn how to use PowerPoint to improve teaching.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• PowerPoint software

1. Put your opening activity or warm-up on PowerPoint instead of the overhead. As students share their responses, add them to the next slide.
2. Prepare lectures in PowerPoint. Adding pictures and short video clips makes the presentation truly multimedia and more fully engages students in the material. Instructional goals will be met while multiple learning styles are addressed.
3. Website links can also be added to presentations. Taking a virtual tour of Egypt or browsing an online biography of an author will be a click away. Post links so they are available to students who want to explore the sites more deeply.
4. Post all PowerPoint presentations on a class website. Students can revisit material from home or the library. Absent students can access the class presentation while home sick or the next day.
5. Create review games using PowerPoint. Jeopardy and other game show formats can be found in template form all over the Internet. Teachers just add their specific content and the game is good to go. Students love team competitions and more visual students can easily see the questions and answers.
6. Tutor students on basic PowerPoint techniques so they can use their skills to make their own presentations for class assignments. Once students master the basics, you can also slowly introduce more advanced skills, especially by using them in your own presentations.
7. Share you presentations with other teachers. If each teacher creates several PowerPoints in your subject area, you won't have to make as many to have your whole year covered.
8. Give students a skeletal outline of the presentation to fill in as they listen. Discussion questions can also be included on the handout.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't put too much information on each slide, which might overwhelm students. Instead, highlight key ideas and then elaborate during the verbal part of the presentation.
• Save your presentations from year to year. They will only need a short update, saving tremendous preparation time for you.
• Don't let lectures become too passive from incorrect use of PowerPoint. Embed discussion questions and mini-activities between lecture material to keep students engaged.

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