Ugly PowerPoints make my eyes bleed!

[Ibn Rushd]

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Maybe it's just me ... I did do some graphic design in the past. But seriously!? You have a PhD in biochemistry, you're a smart dude, but clearly not smart enough to make your slides even the slightest bit visually appealing. If you really wanted your students to learn what you're attempting to teach, at the least change your color schemes, at the least.

/rant

I edit this professor's slides as I go through them, just so they hurt my eyes a little less. Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[ar2388]

absolutely!!!

 

[Antibodies]

Yes!. I would even prefer simple white background with black text, easier to print/work with.

 

[Mace1370]

Another thing some professors do is try to cram a novel onto a single slide. This, combined with a blue background and an image that overlays half the text for no good reason creates the perfect storm.

 

[xanthomondo]

Another thing some professors do is try to cram a novel onto a single slide. This, combined with a blue background and an image that overlays half the text for no good reason creates the perfect storm.

Yeah this annoys me.

What is the absolute worst is when a professor loads a 115 slide presentation for a 50 minute lecture.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Powerpoints were a boon sent to the business world. Quick, easy, poignant. The software and the presentations were easily made, easily disseminated, and easily displayed to any size with a monitor.

In general, powerpoint slides have proved devastating in the academic arena. Too few people know how to use them, build them, and the high-impact benefit of images and bullets are lost to the novelists and slide-readers. If I wanted a textbook read to me, Id have bought Robbins and Harrison's on tape.

Seriously. There should be a ban on powerpoint slides while we force professors to present in a meaningful manner that synthesizes information and points us to the salient points in life and (because it is essential) on the test. Get out those chalkboards and overhead projectors... passive learning (powerpoint) = 20% retenion, while any form of active learning increases retention.

 

[greatnt249]

Yeah this annoys me.

What is the absolute worst is when a professor loads a 115 slide presentation for a 50 minute lecture.

Couple that with typos/information that contradicts the previous lecture on every other slide to create the perfect storm of what some PhDs consider a "lecture."

 

[Isoprop]

Oh god, I hate the color schemes. Stick to black and white with the occasional color to highlight certain terms or ideas. And don't stick in pictures for the same of having pictures. Why is there a picture of a person smoking a cigarette on a slide on lung cancer. I know what smoking looks like. Yes, it is relevant but only serves as a distraction for the rest of the slide.

 

[Spates Catalog]

Evidently a lot of profs just don't give a damn about things like clarity, conciseness, and other aspects of effective teaching.

On average they're much worse communicators and educators than my undergrad profs.

I think the idea they have, and the philosophy of med schools in general, is that since we all did so well in undergrad and on the MCAT, they can just throw all this horsesh*t information at us and expect us to sort it out on our own, which is basically true, but it's a sad approach given that we actually pay for this stuff.

In terms of what is actually provided to students, med school is quite a swindle. Then again, so is residency for that matter.

 

[ar2388]

Evidently a lot of profs just don't give a damn about things like clarity, conciseness, and other aspects of effective teaching.

On average they're much worse communicators and educators than my undergrad profs.

I think the idea they have, and the philosophy of med schools in general, is that since we all did so well in undergrad and on the MCAT, they can just throw all this horsesh*t information at us and expect us to sort it out on our own, which is basically true, but it's a sad approach given that we actually pay for this stuff.

In terms of what is actually provided to students, med school is quite a swindle. Then again, so is residency for that matter.

couldnt agree more

 

[Cruzinman]

MD school 1970-1974, from the days when profs lectured from 3x5" note cards with an overhead "acetate" thrown in for flair. I have a hunch that these days the Powerpoints are a form of "defensive medicine". If the teacher says that an exam will come out of the class notes and fails to include something on the ppt slide that winds up on exam, he will face the Roman High Inquisition by grade grubbing students who raise the invariable stink.

 

[musafirah]

LOL this thread makes me happy 🙂
especially this:

Evidently a lot of profs just don't give a damn about things like clarity, conciseness, and other aspects of effective teaching.

On average they're much worse communicators and educators than my undergrad profs.

I think the idea they have, and the philosophy of med schools in general, is that since we all did so well in undergrad and on the MCAT, they can just throw all this horsesh*t information at us and expect us to sort it out on our own, which is basically true, but it's a sad approach given that we actually pay for this stuff.

In terms of what is actually provided to students, med school is quite a swindle. Then again, so is residency for that matter.

sigh 🙁

 

[jwied73]

I'm not a medical student, but I am doing a masters program taught by med school faculty. I could not agree more with frustration about Power Point use in the classroom. The science faculty at my Ugrad institution were old-school faculty who rarely used a projector, much less power point. The main points and salient illustrations were drawn on a marker board. Archaic, yes, but very effective. My professors actually had to teach the information and make an effort to increase student comprehension- not merely read it off of a slide. After a few classes at the school I attend now, I have come to the conclusion that power point is a hindrance to proper pedagogy and often a channel through which professor laziness/apathy may be expressed.

 

[Cruzinman]

I agree 100% with no. 13. These days, students stay in their dorms and take online classes all day in their pajamas. Then they have the audacity to complain about fuzzy Powerpoint slides on their monitors when they were too lazy to come to class in the first place. I guess when the rents are paying $60,000/year for Junior to live in his dorm cave, they have the right to complain about whatever they wish.

 

[mmmcdowe]

What I really hate are slider changers. I pay 100 bucks a year to get my slides printed only to find out that the professor changed the slides within the 12 hours since they were printed. Where is my refund?

 

[ArcGurren]

I agree 100% with no. 13. These days, students stay in their dorms and take online classes all day in their pajamas. Then they have the audacity to complain about fuzzy Powerpoint slides on their monitors when they were too lazy to come to class in the first place. I guess when the rents are paying $60,000/year for Junior to live in his dorm cave, they have the right to complain about whatever they wish.

RABBLE RABBLE I'M OLD I DON'T LIKE YOUNGUNS RABBLE

How does the fact that people like to listen to lectures online excuse poor lecturing or badly made powerpoints? What an absolutely asinine post.

And whose parents are paying $60,000/yr for medical school pray tell? Aside from the occasional uber-rich kid nobody's parents can afford that, we're all living off of huge loan debt.