PowerPoint As a Teaching Tool: Engaging Students With Interactive Presentations

For teachers, a significant requirement for the job is passion. How else will you be able to meet the daily demands of teaching hundreds of students every month? Passion is also necessary because it can be the energy source that drives an educator to keep providing students with the best learning experience. Over the years, different teaching methods have been developed with the singular aim of engaging students. While some have been dropped, PowerPoint has remained one of the best ways to draw student attention. In this article, we go over 5 tips for making interactive presentations that keep students engaged.

5 Tips for Engaging Students With Interactive Presentations

There has been a lot of research into the average student’s attention span. While there is still a debate over the average time students spend concentrating in class, it is evident that educators have a role to play in getting students to pay attention. One of the ways to achieve this is by presenting coursework in an engaging format. In this section of the article, we go over 5 tips to help you do just that:

• Include A Story Element
• Use Simple Wordings
• Include Slides That Foster Discussions
• Include Multimedia Content
• Keep Clarity And Visibility In Mind

1. Include A Story Element

A long lecture can leave even the best-performing student waiting for the class to end. The reality is that while lectures can take up much time, the information they contain is often worth it. The challenge now is to use the same lecture time but make it feel shorter and more entertaining. A story element is an easy way to accomplish this, as it’s been proven that stories are an excellent way to keep people engaged.

For instance, a class presentation on the dangers of radioactivity can also include a story of how it was discovered in the first place by Marie Curie. If you need help with creating entertaining and informative writing, you can hire a WritingUniverse writer to do this for you. All you need to do is provide the topic, list your requirements, and sit back and relax.

2. Use Simple Wordings

Complex subjects don’t always need complex wordings, especially on PowerPoint slides. You don’t want to overwhelm your students, so make sure to keep things as simple as possible. Avoid using complicated terms and long sentences. Keep the structure of your text easy to digest. It is advisable to stick to bulleted lists when doing your slides. The words you put on your slides should highlight the main points and summarize the point or lesson you are trying to teach.

3. Include Slides that Foster Discussions

Speaking endlessly in a presentation isn’t the way to go if you are trying to keep students engaged and paying attention. Instead, it would also be a better idea to encourage student feedback. One way of doing this is to include slides that ask a question or offer a statement that should be discussed. This can be done between the informational slides to give students a break and engage them. You can foster discussion by asking questions that encourage feedback.

If you teach a multicultural class, doing a presentation can be extra hard. You can search for the best online certified translation services to make this job easier for you. With expert help you can create more unique and attention-grabbing presentations.

4. Include Multimedia Content

A picture can say a thousand words, so you can expect a short video clip to do more. While this may not always be possible, you should include multimedia content in your presentations. This type of content will draw students’ attention and allow them to take a break from reading the text on your slides. It is known that multimedia content is more engaging than textual content, so you can take advantage of that when creating your presentation.

5. Keep Clarity and Visibility In Mind

You don’t want to overload your students with bright, colorful slides. Simplicity and high visibility should be considered when choosing the color scheme for your PowerPoint slides. You should also note color blindness and make your slides as inclusive as possible.

Final Thoughts

Teaching is one of the oldest and most important professions in the world. A single teacher can be responsible for hundreds of students. This is why tools such as PowerPoint can and should be used to provide the best possible learning experience. If you learned something valuable from this article, consider sharing it with friends.

Author’s Bio

Mark Wooten is a writer and college professor. He loves teaching students and uses tools like PowerPoint all the time. Mark is an advocate for using various digital solutions in the classroom to boost student engagement. His goal is to ensure the best learning experience for his students. In his free time, he loves to share his insights in his educational articles.