Came across an outstanding interview with Rich Mayer, a professor of psychology who’s got the chops to talk about PowerPoint as learning tool/learning hindrance.

And talk about it he does.

My favorite bit:

Bullets dont kill learning, but improper use of bullets kills learning. To create effective PowerPoint presentations, it is important to understand how people learn.

In particular, cognitive scientists have discovered three important features of the human information processing system that are particularly relevant for PowerPoint users: dual-channels, that is, people have separate information processing channels for visual material and verbal material; limited capacity, that is, people can pay attention to only a few pieces of information in each channel at a time; and active processing, that is, people understand the presented material when they pay attention to the relevant material, organize it into a coherent mental structure and integrate it with their prior knowledge.

The implications are that (1) PowerPoint presentations should use both visual and verbal forms of presentation; (2) filling the slides with information will easily overload people’s cognitive systems; and (3) the presentations should help learners to select, organize and integrate presented information.

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