PowerPoint Is Evil

Edward Tufte certainly shares his opinion on PowerPoint in his article, PowerPoint Is Evil.


I felt like I was reading a personal rant by the author instead of a well-thought (and well written) piece. I did not like the fact that he used the word, "damn" in his writing - it wasn't necessary as it was not crucial to the writing,and it did nothing to strengthen his argument.


I also find it rude that he compared PowerPoint presentations to school plays, stating that they are, "very loud, very slow, and very simple". Students work hard on their school plays- this statement was uncalled for.


About his actual feeling on PowerPoint...this seems like a personal problem. Maybe he has been forced to sit through some painful powerpoint presentations. If the software is being used properly (as a visual and written support for oral presentations) then the speaking taking place during the presentation should make up the bulk of the material, while the writing and visuals included in the PP provide supportive and appropriate visuals and notation. 


As far as PowerPoints in classrooms...the teacher needs to be sure to model effective and ineffective examples of PowerPoint slides so that the students have an idea of what they should be creating. Expectations (maybe provided through rubrics) should be clear and attainable. I don't think it is a bad idea to have the students write an essay, but present their writing through a PowerPoint presentation...so that they are still writing, and also incorporating a digital display to share their work through. Of course they could use another platform other than PowerPoint if they wanted.