Towards the ‘informed use’ of information and communication technology in education: a response to Adams’ ‘PowerPoint, habits of mind, and classroom culture’

Abstract

PowerPoint, the widely‐used slide‐show software package, is finding increasing currency in lecture halls and classrooms as the preferred method of communicating and presenting information. But, as Adams [Adams, C. (2006) PowerPoint, habits of mind, and classroom culture. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(4), 389–411] attempts to show, users may not appreciate that PowerPoint invites and seduces educators to reshape knowledge in particular ways to the detriment of analytical thinking and interpretive understanding. Using Adams’ material as a stimulus, we argue that digital presentation tools (along with other items of information and communication technology) can be utilized to facilitate conversational dialogue between students, their instructor, and their peers without much additional knowledge or effort. The key that unlocks the affordances of PowerPoint is ‘informed use’. This concept is explained and illustrated with an example that shows technology being used in a particular context to achieve a particular set of instructional outcomes.