The dismal state of higher education in Pakistan and the near absence of a research culture in all but few of the country’s elite universities has garnered much criticism in recent years. Prospective employers repeatedly point out that the average Pakistani university graduate is woefully ill-equipped to handle cut-throat competition and constant need for innovation which are hallmarks of the corporate world. Other critics highlight that Pakistan’s total expenditure on higher education remains very low – especially when compared to the country’s bloated defense and military budget. While such criticism is indeed warranted – less attention has been paid to what actually goes on in the university classroom.
A typical lecture in most universities consists almost entirely of the course instructor reading aloud ‘slides’, which have been prepared prior to class-time using the popular ‘Microsoft PowerPoint’ computer program. With his/her attention wavering between students and ‘bullet-points’ on the projector screen – the instructor goes through a single topic in each session and leaves the last few minutes for a ‘question-answer’ exercise. The PowerPoint format – compared to traditional lectures – is also preferred by students, as concluded by Levasseur and Sawyer in their extensive study of classrooms.
However, the reliance on PowerPoint comes with its own set of problems. First released in May 1990, PowerPoint was designed specifically to be used by business organizations for purposes of group presentations. Since then, the software has been employed across various sectors, most notably education.
As PowerPoint was initially intended to be used by the corporate sector, it suffers from inherent limitations which limit its effectiveness as a learning tool. In his book ‘The Congitive Style of PowerPoint’, Edward Tufte argues that the prevalence of the ‘bullet-point’ format in the software prevents the audience from establishing connections from the information processed, also known as ‘schema’. Another notable flaw is that the audience can finish reading the slide prior to the speaker. This makes the audience less interested in detailed discussion of a specific aspect as it is assumed that the ‘slide’ already contained the most important bits of information.
By far the most controversial apsect of PowerPoint is the software’s facilitation of the ‘bullet-point’ format. In a university classroom – where the exchange of conflicting ideas and lively debate should be encouraged – the ‘bullet-point’ format oversimplifies complicated concepts and lacks relational impact. In the developed West, the introduction of PowerPoint in higher education and the availability of complete presentations as preparatory material has coincided with declining student attendance in university lectures.
Most private sector universities in Pakistan have implemented compulsory attendace rules but students still sit passively through the lecture as they expect to eventually get complete presentations. Another related concern is that PowerPoint presentations in classrooms actively discourage students from development of ‘note-taking’ skills, which has significant cognitive impact. According to the ‘generation-effect’, students process information much better if they actively engage with it, such as writing it down. A tradtional lecture – which utlizes writing on the whiteboard – encourages note-taking as it slows the instructor down, which in turn gives students more time to write and process the information given.
There exists a middle ground between the traditional lecture and PowerPoint methodology, known as the ‘multimedia learning’ approach. The theory of multimedia learning – formulated by Richard Mayer, blends positive aspects of both the traditional lecture and PowerPoint approaches. Mayer stresses that textual content such as ‘bullet points’ should be kept at a minimum and that multimedia such as relevant pictures should be used in the classroom to assist learning. The lecture delivery style of the instructor – according to this theory – should be conversational and multimedia should be used simultaneously, rather than consecutively, with the text.
The correct utilization of software such as PowerPoint can be a powerful educational tool, if used in accordance with pedagogy (study of teaching) principles. Unfortunately, most academics in Pakistan have not had exposure to literature published in the discipline of pedagogy or educational science. One obvious solution to this problem is that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) can implement the study of pedagogy as a compulsory requirement in post-graduate courses all over Pakistan. On the other hand, private universities should actively discourage faculty from passive lecture delivery methods such as the PowerPoint bullet-text format and complete presentations should not be made available to students to encourage their participation during class sessions.
The writer, Ammad Malik, teaches Politics in Lahore and is a regular commentator on socio- cultural affairs. He can be contacted at ammadmalik@protonmail.com
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