I have always believed that if you can’t handle a paper to do list and diary then the fanciest electronic organiser will not help you manage your time.

If you don’t understand basic maths then Excel won’t make you numerate.

If you are a boring public speaker, then you will be even more boring with PowerPoint.

So how about e-learning. Does the technology make it easier to learn?

I believe that all of those skills are trainable. In the process of learning to use the tool you may also pick up the fundamentals of the technique.

The good time manager can spend a lot less of that valuable time if they learn to use a good tool to manage appointments, deadlines and contacts. The great speaker, who is used to connecting with an audience, won’t abuse the slide-show technology to the detriment of the audience.

The mathemagician will make Excel models that dazzle one the tool is understood.

After a semester using e-learning technology to learn about e-learning my essential bias remains that if you can’t do it without computers, then computers won’t suddenly make it easier by themselves.

As a learning tool, though the learning has to take place on two fronts. First learn the technology, then learn the subject content. I found the technology we were given to work with very easy to use. we were asked to prepare a blog using Edublogs.org, asked to communicate through a social networking system – Ning.com and asked to prepare a wiki on wikispaces.com. The tools were new to all of the members of the learning team I joined, but we all had enough computer literacy to pick them up pretty quickly. Our comfort with the tools increased progressively, and this is evident when I scan the progressive contributions. in addition we found other tools that we picked up qickly. For me they were netvibes and aggregator taht I used as a portal and Jing a screen capture tool that i used for creating video demonstrations of software applications,

But learning to use a few bits of software is not masters level learning. It was the content, rather than the process that we were interested in. did using these tools teach us more about e-learning?

I would have to say a resounding yes. But it would not have happened if we didn’t have some basic study skills and high motivation.

An example of the course design was posting our assignments as blog posts. for the first time in many years of formal and informal study, I was able to see exactly what my class mates were learning. Not only did I know what they were reading – as might happen in a face to face class – I could also see what insights that they gained from it. The technology didn’t make it happen, it just made it possible.

So like the good speaker with PowerPoint where the audience’s experience is enhanced, or the good time manager with an electronic organiser, where contacts, appointments and tasks are brought together with a few keystrokes, the e-learning tools made the subject more beneficial for the students who did the work.

I suspect that many of us put a lot more effort into this subject than others we have done. I think the technology aided this for two reasons, interest and possibility. we were interested in the content, rather the process. The process just made it possible to satisfy our interests.

The person who made it possible was Anne Bartlett-Bragg, our lecturer from UTS. To her we owe a great debt, because she provided the tasks and the tools that helped us learn for ourselves. I’m suspect Anne is a great face to face lecturer. To reinforce my bias – she couldn’t have designed and facilitated the on-line course if she was not. But with the tools that she arranged for us to use our learning was exponentially greater. 

Thanks Anne. and a special thanks to my teammates, Prue, Heather, Mal, Nic, Debra and Michelle for taking advantage of the opportunity. I learned lots from you all.

I have yet to find a single person who hasn’t seen a poor PowerPoint presentation.

Yet even the most prolific complianers seem intent on perpetuating the visual abuse of bullets flying in all directions with none hitting the target.

I agree that PowerPoint is a valuable tool to enhance a spoken message. It is just that it is overused.

My first proposal is that Powerpoiunt should only be used when it provides information that cannot be given orally. 

Here is my complete list of times when PowerPoint enhances a presentation:

• to show an image  or object that is being discussed in a verbal presentation
• to attract the audience’s attention when it may have waned

Here are some times when PowerPoint detracts from a presentation:

• when the words being spoken are also displayed
• when the words being spoken are not the words being displayed
• when the image being displayed is not currently being spoken about
• when the image is not quite large enough to be read or seen

There are many myths about adult learning that suggest projecting words as they are spoken enhances understanding. I am unable to find any credible research to support this. If you have some, please leave the details as a comment.

What I do know is that an unsychronised reading confuses me.

Click this link to see what I mean: try-reading-this

Let me know what you find by adding a comment to this post.