Some years ago I was a business consultant, specializing in small hi- tech companies, mainly.  Such companies wanted your report in easily digested sound-bights.  So you tried to get your points over to them using flip pads, with headlines and simple sentences that were digestible and  might be remembered.  At some point I realised that it wasn’t an effective method of persuasion.  And now we have PowerPoint, complete with bells and whistles.

PowerPoint is  bad news.  When I was at university nobody ever used flip pads, let alone flashy electronic aids.   The lecturer or tutor held forth and you made frantic notes. Later, you returned to your digs and tried to digest what you had heard.  What were the main points? What can I take from this and use in an essay?  Where does all this fit in in the grand scheme of  (say, European history). It was mind training, sorting out from an incoherent jumble some nuggets of gold.  Now the main points are chosen by the lecturer, who hands out copies at the end of the lecture.  He should not be surprised if the resulting essays are variations on the same theme, maybe using some of his exact words.  It may be convenient to students, or, indeed, businessmen listening to a consultant, but it trivializes what were intended to be subtle points.  According to Andrew Smith  in the Guardian Weekly, (o2. 10. 15) students demand PowerPoint.  Were I in charge I would tell them, ” Listening to my lecture is part of your education; crib sheets are not”.