Chapter Two, Creating Slides and Handouts

          Presentations are in the control of the presenter -- what information will be shared, how much time each slide will cover, and whether the presenter wants to share this information during the presentation by giving out handouts. Handouts are quickly becoming a thing of the past, partly because of new technology making on-line versions available via the internet, As Burmark stated in Chapter 2; “What a waste of paper for a handout! (pg. 27) Most times I have been able to provide a handout for students missing class or serving at a redirection center, but with technology today this is not much a problem when they can receive it via e-mail/Moodle. Another problem at our campus is that we have been limited on copies we can make per copier, which has teachers rething what really is necessary to share on paper with their students.

Burmark states that a handout should complement the slides to be used more for note-taking than a “follow-along as I read” handout.  (pg. 32) Most presentations should only give main points as the presenter “fills in” the information that needs to be shared.

The information being shared for presentation mode view needs to be both interesting and informative by adding not only words, but pictures that pertain to the words. Pictures can say a thousand words. (unknown) and as Mayer (2009) states in his book, Multi-Media Learning; humans process information in more than one channel, and the information-processing channels for verbal and pictorial knowledge are separate. (Pg. 9-10)      

                Keeping this in mind, I am getting ready for my students final presentations, I try to remind them  that they are the experts in their topic, thus, the less information they “read”, the more knowledgeable they have become. My students will not be giving out handouts, but will be required to complete a rubric on the presentations design, requirements and most importantly, the knowledge being presented. As Burmark put it, the handout is putting what the presenter thinks for the audience to decide what they think is important to remember or learn. (pg. 39)

Burmark, L. (2011). They Snooze You Lose: The educator’s guide to successful presentations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Mayer, R. (2009). Multimedia learning, (2^nd ed). New York: Cambridge University Press