Using PowerPoint as a lens to focus on linearity in teaching

Abstract

As university lecturers select and sequence materials for their teaching, a linear structure emerges by default. Such a structure is made explicit within PowerPoint presentations and may even be amplified as PowerPoint invites the lecturer to reduce content to a bulleted format. Such linear sequences have been related to passive, surface approaches to learning. The application of concept‐mapping techniques can support the lecturer in making explicit the underlying expert structure of the information being presented to help the student to make the necessary transformations of knowledge structures that are required for meaningful learning. The authors suggest that PowerPoint provides a concrete arena in which lecturers can reflect upon the structure of knowledge that is being constructed within their classrooms.

Keywords:

• affordances
• concept maps
• university teaching
• PowerPoint

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by a teaching innovation grant from the College Teaching Committee, King's College London.

Notes

1. In the work of Harris and Cavaglioli (2003), their use of the terms ‘holographic’ and ‘linear’ are analogous to the use of the terms ‘network’ and ‘chain’ used in this article to describe the structure of concept maps.