Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Five ways to reduce PowerPoint overload

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I think this presentation (15 page PDF) offers good advice, but for the wrong reasons. It advocates for less text and less extraneous content on Power Point slides, and a structure where the words and picture on each slide support one main point. I agree. But not because of cognitive load theory, which (as readers know) I have criticized in the past. No, instead I would argue that the advice is good because humans perceive through pattern recognition. This suggests a model where presenting the same relatively simple (but not too simple!) pattern in multiple modalities (test and audio, but also activity and other sensations) develops and/or activates deeper patterns, layering what is being presented on pre-existing knowledge (aka pre-existing patterns of connectivity). Via Mike Taylor.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 9:35 p.m.

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