Impact of the provision of PowerPoint slides on learning

Abstract

PowerPoint is a basic tool for university teaching. Teachers use it extensively for presenting material. At times, it is used as a guide for organizing lessons, at other times it is used with the intention of summarizing essential curricular content. The way in which PowerPoint is used and the form it takes differs between faculties. The present article aims to evaluate the impact of the provision of slides on student academic performance and attendance (regardless of test scores). For this purpose, a quasi-experimental study was carried out with two intrasubject manipulated learning situations in which copies of slides created by teachers were, or were not, made available to students prior to class sessions. Additionally, student academic engagement and study strategies were assessed using two scales in order to analyse whether these variables modified the relationship between access to slides and academic performance. Outcomes revealed that access to slides developed by teachers had a negative impact on student performance and attendance to classes. Student academic engagement and study strategies were found to modify the relationship between academic performance and access to slides.