Lesson Slides and
Virtual Classrooms.
Do we really need them?

Overview
Thoughts on Lesson Slides.
Thoughts on Webmeetings.
Thoughts on users.

Slides come from
the corporate world
They are not “educational natives”.
Slides are a marketing instrument.
→ More information in less time.

“There are no compelling results to prove or disprove
that PowerPoint is more effective for learner retention
than traditional presentation methods.”
“Students retained 15% less information delivered
verbally by the lecturer during PowerPoint
presentations, but they preferred PowerPoint
presentations over traditional presentations.”
Savoy, April (2009) Information retention from PowerPoint
and traditional lectures

Problems
Teachers don't know how to use PowerPoint.
→ Teachers tend to use slides as notepad.
The slides are finished and only presented.
→ Less interaction / movement bores the students.

Death by PowerPoint
Angela R. Garber
● PowerPoint is a convenient prop for poor speakers.
● It can reduce complicated messages to simple bullet points.
● It elevates style over substance.
→ These three things contribute to its popularity.
Wright, J. (2009) A matter of presentation.

Webmeetings come from
the corporate world
They are not “educational natives”.
The teacher is a “presenter”.
→ Webmeetings assume a certain infrastructure.

Problems
Students / teachers have no high speed internet access.
Students / teachers PC is not up to date.
Students / teachers are overstrained.
→ Bad experiences. → Loss of students / clients and teachers.

(a)synchronous
Learning
Lectures Seminars 101

Lectures
101
Seminars

Digital Natives
Digital Settlers
Digital Immigrants
● Digital Natives born after 1980.
● Digital Settlers have comparable skills like Natives, still accent.
● Digital Immigrants have a heavy accent.
→ There are more Settlers and Immigrants than Natives.

Conclusion
Problems:
Infrastructure
Formation
Solutions:
Offer bypass solutions.
→ Use technology that works today and implement new features
only when the majority can use them.
Train the teachers.
→ They will guide the students.

Do we really need them?
Today on July 27 2009 I say:
“No, not really. I can live without them.”
BUT
As soon as the problems are solved Virtual Classrooms will
change education.
Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not this year but
we need to be ready.