As a learner, I know I am a visual learner with a splash
of kinesthetic. I know that I am in no
way an auditory learner. I find that I can
tend to tailor my lessons for visual learners because I am so dominant in that
area. PowerPoint presentations can tend to
favor a visual learner in general so when we talk about software for
presentations the hardest part can be making it hands-on and appealing to an
auditory learner or a kinesthetic learner.
I also find that in most of my college classes as an undergraduate and
as at the graduate level that I would have professors read to me off of their
PowerPoint slides. I would become more
and more frustrated as the presentation when on that they weren’t sharing
anything with me that wasn’t already there for me to read for myself without
their help. As I work with my students I
try to think in terms of if I was sitting there listening to myself and would
it be as thought provoking and powerful as I intended and would it include
things that were authentic for my audience to walk away with and know aside
from just the information on the slides themselves?
Spector,
J. M., Merrill, M. D., Merrienboer, J. V., Driscoll, M. P. (2008). Handbook of research on educational
communications and technology. (3rd ed.). New York, NY:
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Thorsen,
C. (2009). Techtactics: Technology for
teachers. (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. 
Jacki,
ReplyDeleteI can tell you are visual and kinesthetic, mainly because of your line of work. You not only teach how to make movies, you manipulate (edit) them, too. I think (based on our reading assignment) that the best way to use presentation software to teach a kinesthetic learner is to have the student prepare a presentation himself. This works in an online environment as well as in a traditional classroom. However, PowerPoint presentations can be used effectively by the online teacher as well. I have seen that in my courses here at LUOnline. I agree with you that PowerPoint slides should not contain all the information that teacher wants to present, but instead enhance the lesson and summarize it.
Alma,
ReplyDeleteYou always have such great feedback and I value your perspective. Thanks for the feedback on this one. I notice my boys who are athletes in my classes are definitely kinesthetic learners and they do tend to enjoy the creating of the PowerPoint presentations. They don't always flourish during the actual reporting out part to their whole class but maybe that is where your advice can come in handy. It gives me an idea as I sit here and reflect on your post. Maybe I can create my rubric to match their learning style and the favoring style can hold more weight in their grading scale with still holding them accountable for the whole project.
Jacki