“Presentation Design: Principles and Techniques”

I liked this chapter very much. It gave me some incite on what to do in my power points that I may not have known before. As well as the chapter is useful to my future students because if they follow these elements it will make for easy and smooth grading.

1. What elements were you already aware of?  Which elements were you not aware of?

I think I have been aware of many of the elements but it was never something I knew. It was more of a trial and error sort of thing I have figured out by the many presentations I have given that… frankly… were just bad. With this trial and error sort of method I developed I got to mess around with PowerPoint a lot, which allowed me to look as something and say “that doesn’t look right” or “That looks SO COOL!!”. Although I may was aware of the elements I do not think I knew any of them.

 2.  How can you incorporate this into your own work and that of your students?  Why is it important?  

This can be incorporated by all students and all teachers because we present. At some point in our lives we will present a power point with slides, and knowing how to create and design these slides to keep an audience’s attention can be very useful (and not to mention easier to grade). Using the elements stated in the article are some great ways to create a fun and interesting presentation.
3.  How do the Power Points that you have created over the years fit (or not fit) with these design principles?  You may also want to take a look at this blog posting on dodging presentation fatigue.

Many of the design principles fit into the power points I have done. I have used a lot of pictures, in fact one of my teachers once required only pictures. Along with not fitting into these principles, I have done many cluttered presentations, which made for a boring presentation for both me and my audience.