When a teacher was entering his class, he asked the students, ‘Why there are very few students in the class?’

One of them promptly responded, ‘Sir, we could not have the earlier class, just wait, I would call others.’

‘What happened, why couldn’t you have that class?’ The teacher was curious to know the reason.

The students started seeing towards each other.  By this time some more students were entering the classroom.

One of them said, ‘sir, there was no electricity.’

‘So what.’

‘Sir the teacher could not use PowerPoint, so the class had to be called off. She said, she would take the class on another day.’

As this interaction was taking place, other students started settling down on their seats.  After this short chitchat the teacher took his class, discussed issues and interacted with students on the topic of the day’s lesson.  Though his class was over, he was still thinking of the reason, why earlier class could not take place.

While he shared this experience with me, I got thinking as to how a teacher could depend on the technology which is just a facilitator in the process of teaching and learning.

In the corporate world PowerPoint Presentations (PPTs) come very handy and primarily they were developed to provide an aid to the executives who were required to make presentations for clients as well as for internal uses.  It is an excellent tool to guide through given points and it is a professional way of putting things in order to look attractive as well as to develop interest in the receiver of the information.  With the use of Audio visual clips, graphics, charts, tables, pictures etc, one can really make an impressive presentation.  As communication is gaining prominence in business decisions, PPTs have become generic to any kind of presentations.

The use of PPTs is very common in the classrooms and it is really an important tool to plan and deliver the lesson.  However the emphasis given to this facilitating tool while delivering the lecture or teaching students in classroom settings has become so fashionable and convenient that many a times teachers tend to forget that until you have things in mind, you can not deliver the lecture; until you have gone through related literature and have planned things in mind as to what and how you are going to lead discussion in the class, PPT would not of your help.  For teachers generally PPTs are used for conducting regular classes, arranging case discussion, paper presentations in conferences and seminars, and may be at times to deliver some keynote addresses.

What amuses me most when a teacher is seen reading text from the presentation which somehow has become very common.  For such teachers, PPTs are a blessing. The same PPT that book publishers distribute to teachers or are downloaded from the websites get used while such teachers take their classes and since such teachers have not gone through related literature it becomes really difficult for them to stand in the class when the power goes off or when PPTs stop working.  My experience of interaction with the teacher that I mentioned in the beginning further allowed me to dig down and to look at the next generation which is getting taught by such teachers.  For them teaching becomes a very easy job. Recently I experienced the height of using PPT for even introducing oneself.  Have we gone so bankrupt that we don’t remember our degrees or diplomas; colleges and universities; the titles of our best paper or doctoral thesis; and the titles of journals and the impact factors.

I remember first time when I witnessed power point presentation by a Canadian lady while I was working in Bhutan sometime in 1995.  I found it fascinating and such an empowering tool that it helped me to learn how to prepare impressive presentations.  While I came to Shillong, I started using them in the class when we had LCD projectors installed in respective rooms.  The experience was excellent, though the slides were very few in numbers, yet I could take my classes in a very planned and engaging manner.  Many of my students to whom I taught in NEHU Shillong might remember and reflect how they liked or disliked the presentations in those formidable times of my teaching career.  Usually it was a regular feature that whenever the Academic Staff College at NEHU Shillong would organize any orientation program, I would have one or two sessions.  So every time I used to prepare PPT and take it to the teaching class.  Though many a times the topic would be repeated in different orientation sessions but the PPT would be different each time.  There would be stories, visuals, cartoons, graphics to engage the participant.  I remember once when I went to HRDC (erstwhile ASC) the power went off and the course coordinator said – ‘so sir should we cancel the session’. I said – ‘no, I would take the session as scheduled’.  I have no hesitation in saying that it was one of the best sessions.  I was to discuss Perception, Thinking and Action and with the help of anecdotes and academic readings it went very well.  I still remember that was the time when I had finished reading Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.  The learning from the book came handy and easy to discuss in the class and the feedback was excellent.  I remember another incidence.  In one of the refresher courses organized by the Department of Education, NEHU, I was to take a session on The Idea of Organizational Happiness.  It must have been sometime in 2008 or 2009.  It was the time when I was reading and thinking on the framework of Organizational Happiness and the ways through which an organization can be transformed into happy organization.  I prepared the PPT using all my skills of designing. It had appealing color combination and smooth slide transitioning.  It did not have many slides (10-12) but the effects were refreshing.  When I used that PPT in the session, there was high engagement seen in the class.  After few days of that session, one of the colleagues in NEHU who attended that session, came to me and asked me that sir could you share that software which you used to design the PPT.  I told him that I did not use any dedicated software but it was fully designed by me.

Today when I see the youngsters reading text from the PPT; when I see monotonous designs; when I see spelling mistakes; poor color combination; erratic transitioning schemes; and many such practices, I feel sad.  These youngsters have either not seen quality PPTs or they do not want to put efforts in learning the art of designing good PPTs.  Not to mention that all that I see is bad, I am happy that some of the students make excellent PPTs and I am still open to learn that, though I do not use PPTs often.  As teachers it is our responsibility to communicate to our students that PPTs are for their help to make a point effectively; not to read the text and lose the point.   When students of today see teachers being unable to take class due to non-functioning PPTs, they begin to learn that teaching can not be done in the absence of PPT or may be effective teaching can not be done without PPT.

For all of you, teachers or/and students, you need to revisit your thinking and instead of carrying physical memory stick, you need to carry memorizing and experiencing self along with knowledgeable and articulating self to the class to make a point, to deliver effective lecture or to present an engaging paper in a conference.