Are you a skillful PowerPoint maker?

Yes, you can be, but by being a maker or even a designer only cannot make a qualified teacher, not to mention a good teacher.

In the recent Excellent Courseware Contest, it is unfortunate that the antiquated philosophy still haunted some panelists, and thus directed them to conclude a conservative award arrangement. Unluckily, the top contestants’ are all makers. Skillful as they might be, they are not supposed to implement the true education. Here are some thinking points concerning the issue.

First, teaching has been widely accepted as a dynamic process. It needs innovation, not only in the technology that teachers can adopt and employ to enrich the materials that are to be delivered in the class, but also in the philosophy and ideas that teachers bear as a solid foundation to support reforms to come in the new era. By telling this, I mean I agree on the contest sponsor’s announcement and code that inspire more forms of presentations so long as the essence and spirit of the course delivery are guaranteed. I sadly saw that alternative platforms were neglected. Perhaps the only enrichment they deemed proper is by inserting a few animation objects inside the slides. In this new era when people at their spare time watch Khan Academy lecture videos and follow MIT’s open courses, intentionally rejecting online courseware undoubtedly is stupid and unjustified because resorting to online courseware is the right path ahead of all who have been aware of the unbeatable tide.

Second, teaching must be audience-centered. By putting the students in a centric position, teachers must realize that all the pedagogic activities focus on the multi-lateral communications between students and teachers. To encourage these communications, proper channels are to be built in the whole process of teaching and of learning so that these channels of communication form an integral part of an entire education endeavor. With this in mind, slides constructing, clicking and reading in the classrooms seem to be redundant. It’s no use replacing the traditional blackboard with the modern projector just to show that you are always up with the tendency. The important thing is, or actually has been, adding some social elements beyond slides presentation. These may include twitter-alike media, such as weibo and bulletin board system to vitalize the whole courseware package. Thus, adding a forum for students’ discussion and communication should help earn extra credit for any courseware builders devoted wholeheartedly to business education.

Third, authenticity and originality are to be honored. With over ten years’ experience of building and preparing coursewares, I see most people are reluctant to put original ideas in the slides. Yes, slides can contain outlines only, but this does not mean that the outlines may not be creative or original. Keep in mind that putting every detail into the slides is like sculpting a vivid statue, or tailoring a delicate suit for your VIPs. I respect those who even do some video-cutting jobs within a simple but concise framework. The panelists should at least spend some time reviewing each set of slides and even elements within to ensure that the submitted works are done by the presenters, or even the makers, and this is called decency.