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In common with all of Microsoft Office, PowerPoint suffers from “familiarity breeding contempt” (“In praise of PowerPoint”, Opinion, 16 July). Yet I am always amazed by the functionality of such tools in the hands of people who really understand their capabilities.

In my undergraduate days, where I was probably one of the last generations to be taught by “chalk and talk” lecturers, the great advantage of “chalk and talk” was pace. With PowerPoint, it is easier to cram slides full of information and rattle through concepts without giving [students] time to embed some understanding. This, of course, backs up Philip Moriarty’s point that it is the bad workman that blames his tools.

People who approach the planning of presentations by clicking on PowerPoint and putting stuff on slides are probably not going to deliver the best presentations because they aren’t actually planning at all.

Christopher Satterley
Via timeshighereducation.co.uk