Ban the Bullet-Point! Content-Based PowerPoint for Historians.

Abstract

Powerpoint arouses many strong feelings, but the debate over the popular program typically pits advocates against detractors: fewer people discuss how PowerPoint should best be used in the classroom. Howard Strauss of Princeton University has observed that "a lot of the stuff that people try to do in smart classrooms is done badly," but University PowerPoint guidelines, with their lists of "dos and don'ts," appear mostly to be the work of IT professionals, not humanities instructors. Drawing on my own experiences lecturing with PowerPoint, I suggest in this article that historians should use the program to display primary sources. They should avoid using PowerPoint as a summary of lecture notes, and abandon bullet points altogether. This advice apparently contradicts conventional wisdom; at least it contradicts the advice given at several major research universities. I will provide some sample lecture slides to justify my approach and end with a brief list of technical hints on designing PowerPoint presentations for history lectures.