While working on some PowerPoint slides - and yes, I keep them sparse - I was overcome by nostalgia for the days of the overhead projector.
Those blessed days!
I loved overhead projectors, especially when they had those big honking acetate rolls rigged up so I could crank up a fresh sheet and write and write with a wax pencil or an erasable marker.
I loved the spontaneity, the freshness, and the fact that I was liberated from slides. True, I carried a few printed acetate slides which I could pop up for various points but the clear acetate was always the star.
Permit me a brief pause so I can dab my eyes.
Since the decline of the overhead projector, I've noticed a greater distance between speaker and audience. By God there are prepared PowerPoint slides - holy writ - and the speakers seem determined to go through every damned one, oblivious to the dazed expressions from the audience. It is as if the speaker and the audience members are in different rooms.
Not so with the overhead projector. With that beauty came exchanges and debates, impromptu charts and daring hand-made graphics - all of which revealed that the instructor was truly listening.
I'll finish preparing the slides, of course, but not without memories of the machine which was the teacher's Camelot.
2 comments:
I agree powerpoint is mentally crippling to both the presenter and the audience. Have you tried something like a sketch tablet? There's a link here: http://www.amazon.com/Huion-Inches-Graphics-Drawing-Rechargeable/dp/B00DMZBCRA/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
If you have any experience with these let me know, I'm exploring going into teaching and would prefer something I can draw on if possible.
Daniel,
I've heard about the sketch tablet but have not tried it.
Will check into it.
Michael
Post a Comment