20 Students, 20 Slides, 20 Seconds

I am not a fan of power point. My eyes often begin to glaze over and drool slowly dribbles down my chin whenever a presenter begins a lecture by reading directly from the text displayed on his/her powerpoint presentation. Don’t get me wrong students need to know how to create power point slides and practice oral communication skills in order to prepare them for the business world, but why not have some fun with it and make it a bit more challenging? I read about an activity online that does just that. Basically, it consists of 20 slides where each individual slide is set to automatically advance after 15-20 seconds. You have probably already noted the challenge. Students must create 20 aesthetically pleasing slides (meaning limited text) where they will only have 15-20 seconds to talk about that slide prior to it automatically advancing to the next slide. Talk too slow and you find yourself onto the next slide… Talk too fast and you will find yourself listening to the crickets chirp as you wait for the 20 seconds to expire. This tactic also ensures that no presentation will last longer than 5-7 minutes. I definitely see this as an opportunity for teachers and students to have fun with.

Audio Podcast