My friend and colleague Gary @chemedlinks, chemistry teacher and learning technology evangelist, pointed me to a fabulous article in the Chronicle of Higher Education: ‘Teach Naked’ – When Computers Leave Classrooms, so does Boredom.

This is a fabulous read.

Gary will be presenting a Keynote at the ASLA NSW PD day this coming Saturday, on the topic of “Pedagogical Powerpoint”.  His message is really the same at Mr Bowen -Gary urges us to add pedagogical value to your classes if you are using Powerpoint.  The idea is that we  should challenge thinking, inspire creativity, and stir up discussion with a Powerpoint presentation – not present a series of dry facts.  Of added value is Gary’s work on hunting down research papers that shed light onto the whole notion of how to use Powerpoint well.

There is so much that we can get involved in if we want to in schools – whether it’s podcasting or ‘powerpointing’ – its about driving deep learning through deep investigation and discussion.

Meanwhile, enjoy reading the article, and perhaps take it to your next staff meeting as a discussion starter.

More than any thing else, Mr. Bowen wants to discourage professors from using PowerPoint, because they often lean on the slide-display program as a crutch rather using it as a creative tool. Class time should be reserved for discussion, he contends, especially now that students can download lectures online and find libraries of information on the Web.