Is PowerPoint killing the art of medical teaching and is the interactive board the way forward?

PowerPoint presentation (PPT) have been nothing less than a revolution in the field of communications – be it classrooms or a board meeting. It effectively brings out the message in a very expressive way that is limited by a traditional chalk and board method.^[1] It has made the teaching and learning process in classrooms, especially those in medical fields, extremely effective. The medical field is one where ideas and facts change quickly, and the same presentations are frequently out of date. That’s why a PPT from, say, 5 years ago might not be appropriate now. Thus, it may be undesirable to teach exactly the same PPT. Since PPTs are so simple to edit, updating them takes much less time. Furthermore, a lot of images and diagrams are used in medical education (or any subject). These may be utilized in PPTs very easily and effectively, which is not feasible with chalk and board.^[2] Even with all of its benefits, PPTs may also have drawbacks or restrictions.

When getting ready for this, a PPT is helpful because it saves an enormous amount of time. The authors have taught before, and we all share a common experience that we would like to share with everyone. Among the queries that come up are: How many slides should be used in an hour-long class? Sometimes, the total number of slides utilized during a lecture may convey an information.

The instruction gets worse the session when more slides are used. Therefore, how many slides are utilizing the time and share the knowledge is a dilemma? If on an average a slide is read out in 1 min, 60 slides for 1 h class can include in the session, though only read out the slides not the fulfill the teaching purpose, we have to include the discussion, explanation, doubt clearing, and question-answers regarding the topic with a small pause, 25 slides are good enough for the 1 h session.^[3]

Teaching effectively involves not only just imparting knowledge but also establishing continuity and relating stories. This usually suffers from an over dependency on PPT slides.^[4] Reading the slides obscures the meaning. Continuously reading slides dulls the lesson and might lead students to give up interest. The employing of dais, eye contact, speech modulation, and topic pacing all contribute to the lecture’s catching quality and help pique students’ interest.^[5] An effective lecture also involves making jokes, quoting anecdotes, asking questions, and rewarding pupil efforts. All these have been getting affected with PPT use.^[6]

A condensed PPT, in our experience, will provide the instructor more time to thoroughly clarify, reiterate, and summarize the material. Thus, 45 divided by two equals 23. That is supposed to be ideal for a classroom. A more compact PPT facilitates for both traditional and contemporary instruction.^[7]

There should be more lead words and fewer sentences. When a slide is overflowing with text, pupils become disinterested when they read and get disengaged in the subject or themes as well. Lessons will be more effective if lead words are explained, together with their meaning and context, instead of adding lengthy definitional sentences or paragraphs to PPT slides. Teachers do not feel satisfied with their work when they do not write or add anything. They also wish to use a board and chalk to discuss their topic and its meaning. These days, numerous classrooms have interactive whiteboards where instructors use them to convey an assortment of topics that they do not cover in their PPTs. According to a study by Gouzi, et al., at the Medical College of France, undergraduate students can learn test ordering and interpretation skills using interactive boards in their studies. Through the appropriate use of educational technology (such as PPT) and tried-and-true methods (such as interactive whiteboards), students were able to concentrate on the learning objectives.^[8] More use of these boards can also help to break the monotony of internet searches and play of videos which are interesting in the current time.