Scoring Powerpoints

• What are your thoughts on this article?
  I enjoyed that this article not only tells us what not to have students do but also provides examples, alternatives, and images/tables that clarify their point.  I have not asked any students to make powerpoints but I imagine that they would prefer to copy and paste paragraphs or complete sentences from their paper onto slides- which is boring to have them read to us and prevents them from really exploring the presentation aspect of a powerpoint- it's not just a reading!
• What parts do you agree with?
  I agreed that rubrics are great for students so they know the expectations (reading & writing learners).  I also agree that some examples- on another topic- are good for students to see (visual learners).
• What parts do you disagree with?
  I think many students have a hard time presenting, even when they have what they are supposed to say right in front of them and it is probably (at least for my first-time freshmen) too much to expect them to be able to extrapolate from their own bullet points what they meant to say and needed to cover on each of their slides.  They get too nervous, even with the words right in front of them.  I would have to implement some sort of gradual process towards a real presentation, where students first have to make a presentation with large font and no more than 6 sentences per slide, with 1-5 pictures within their whole presentation, then progress later in the term to having more specific instructions that have the students create a product with less support and more preparation on their part in order to accomplish an engaging and informative presentation.  My grading criteria would initially not count eye contact but later in the year include these finer skills (that many adults never master on a public scale).  But I think that this idea is a great place to strive to end up- and reminds us what skills we should be modeling in our own powerpoints.