Blog #8 Is MS Powerpoint still relevant?

I was just reading Tony Bates' Technology in the Digital Age (2015), one of the seminal coursebooks in the field of Educational Technology. Throughout the book Bates often zooms out and looks at the big picture that technology plays in teaching and learning. One way he does this is to refer to significant moments in Educational Technology throughout history, going so far as to posture Moses' stone tablets as a form of technology. 

During his musings on the above, Bates mentions that in 1990, a sea change went into effect with the introduction of a program called Powerpoint. This innovation was replacing the longstanding overhead projector as a fixture in the modern classrooms of the day. I was agape upon the realization that this presentation software was nearing its 30th birthday and wondered just how many major updates and innovations have been implemented into it to make it still hold its position at the top of the list for classroom tools. Indeed, another parallel statistic from The Greenbook Research Industry Trends Report (GRIT) in 2015, shows us that eighty-six percent of researchers used Powerpoint presenting their research results.

So what is the key? Why has Powerpoint been such a mainstay in classrooms and why does it continue to be so? Running through an evaluation, here are some reasons:

Familiarity:  as mentioned above, Powerpoint has been a common tool for the past 30 years. So at this point, it is multi-generational. It is also one of the premier software tools in the global software leading, Microsoft Office.

Convenience and simplicity: In a study done by Dataplay, researchers use Powerpoint because it is easy and simple to use. The toolbars are intuitive, well laid out, and also mirror the icons and functions known in MS Word and MS Excel.

Reliability: Over the past few years, I have been experimenting and asking my students to experiment with other presentation software including Google Slides, Prezi, Haiku Deck, and Canva. Whenever my students or I have had issues, it has not been with Poerpoint, but with the others. Whether it be issues downloading a hard copy (cloud based only), membership restrictions (freezing a file because of non-payment) or incompatibility, the other programs were to blame, and not Powerpoint.

Instructional Strategies: Powerpoint is just smart. They know what teachers inherently need for tools to deliver lessons, and they know what students respond well to. As most teachers and presenters know, the presentations can get boring sometimes. With the introduction of the touchscreen presenter, the ability to make the slides come alive with live notes and highlights using a stylus added a nice 'touch' to enhance the learning experience. 

Synchronous and Asynchronous: The ability to record the slideshow and voice of the lecturer into a Powerpoint is very easy to learn and execute. This allows instructors to upload their PPT lectures to LMS, YouTube, or other media for asynchronous viewing by students. With the introduction of MS Onedrive, students and teachers alike are also able to collaboratively and synchronously work on the same file at the same time. Excellent tools for today's blended learning or distance course.

There are a multitude of other features that are appearing on Powerpoint that make it as popular now as it was in 1990. It isn't a bad idea for teachers to check out what's new with Powerpoint before they take on the next new fangled presentation app.