Power Point; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

All the advances in technology have made schooling and education much more interactive and convenient; easy and speedy e-mail contacts, online classes, lectures etc. The most popular use of technology I have seen is professors that write up their lectures on power point and require students to print them out each class.

I bought notebooks for each class this semester, only to soon realize that most of my professors would rather write the notes for me in power point. Now, power point IS a great assistant to presentations, especially in front of a large group.  But, requiring students to print out the exact lectures prior to class not only reduces the chance of keeping their attention, it allows the professor to get through the lecture and material at lightning speed. But, of most concern is the waste of paper that amounts from most students being required to do this. It is said that the average American uses more than 700 pounds of paper in a year (an EPA statisic). With about 40,000 students at Penn State, most who need to print lectures daily and assuming this large usage falls under the average 700 lbs/year, this would amount in 28,000,000 pounds of paper at the Penn State campus per year!

 I’m not suggesting power point be eliminated from the classroom (I don’t know how I’d learn anything in my 500 student physics class without it!) But, I’m sure this waste could be reduced. Allow students to take their own notes and then access the power points later online to add where necessary. Another alternative could be a simple one page outline and let students add in their own notes. This would require only one page of printing as opposed to the usual 5-6 pages for a presentation.

 Next semester I’m going to wait to buy notebooks until I learn whether I actually have to take notes or not. Until then, I’m glad plenty of recycling options are available; it makes this whole situation a little easier to digest.