points are powerful in power points

Dear blog....

How powerful do you think a power point can be? In this 3rd lecture of ICT in Primary Classroom, one lady has spoken behalf on power point....presenting........Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssss NG! Give her a big round of applause (clap here and there)

I was amazed by Ms Ng, small in size, but big and powerful in sound system... (clap clap clap again)

This class was solely dedicated to promote another product of Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Power Point...I believe Ms Ng is not in any way related to Bill Gates and associates, but all she try to do is to promote technology to ICT-challenged people, especially IT-blind person like me (look down in despair)

So much things were presented and explained by this talented Ms Ng. Should I explained each of it, I’m afraid of someone die while reading my post, so, to save life, let me put it in brief so that we all can benefits from it.

Ms Ng has provided us some principles, guidelines of Microsoft Power Point. She talked about pictures, simplicity, sources, fonts and many more.

Before this session, I thought I am well-equipped with knowledge of Microsoft Power Point. But this lecture is like a snapshot to my head and goes directly to my brain,huhu! It made me realized that I am too much of not enough. At the age of 22+, I am lucky to still have a chance of improving my poor-knowledge of technology.

Source(s) of pictures included in power points need to be cited below the picture (or anywhere applicable). It will prevent you from being accused of plagiarism. By putting pictures that is not related to the content/topic, it can be interesting in a way, but it may also trigger confusion and misunderstanding among your audience. According to Ms Ng, it can also reflect your immaturity; (I did it before, another snapshot in my head!)

She also mentioned that if you can, you may put the main title in every slides of your power point. The words must also be mixed with a correct choice of colour, emerge from the background. Don’t be too wordy (so many words) in your slides and minimize your number of words so that it will prevent your audience from reading the power points instead of listening to you.

Pictures are preferably real-life picture since it is more interesting than cartoons or unreal picture. You must also take into account about the pixel of the picture so that it can be seen clearly in the presentation especially if you are presenting if front of the large audience.
From my point of view, I don’t think these principles are meant to be closely followed. I believe it serves more as a guideline rather than a standard codes. As for example, real pictures may be good for adults, but for me as future primary teacher, I really think that cartoons will capture more interest from my young learners. Also, certain concept and theories need lengthy explanation and limiting the words from the slide for me, does not really help the lesson.

Based from my reading, I came across a nice fact of Microsoft Power Point which is it has replaced normal plastic transparencies during presentations. No more dull and uninteresting OHP presentations. Frank words, I didn’t realize that OHP presentation has become out of favour as a result of improvement of Microsoft Power Point until I read the above statement.
I also believe that Microsoft Power Point is one of, if not the most well-known presentation program in the world. Its user friendliness helps save time for people who would otherwise have to make use of other kinds of visual aid which sometimes can be very costly.

As a pro Microsoft Power Point person, Ms Ng doesn’t talk so much about weaknesses, or setbacks or disadvantages of this program. As for me, I tend to lean on the fact that Microsoft PowerPoint may also tend to oversimplify peoples' thinking, because most of the time information is given in bullet point form, which is obviously too simple. On the other hand, i feel that there may be poor typography and layout if the user is not competent enough in using it.

To encapsulate, I firmly believe that Microsoft Power Point is another proof of success in technology advancement and a very useful program for future teacher like me. Though I’m still hurting to the fact that I was ‘indirectly accused’ immature by her words, I would like to convey my gratitude to this lovely facilitator for a very beneficial session that makes another dull afternoon look not so monotonous at all. Till then, pen off, cheers!