Consigli per la didattica: l’utilizzo del PowerPoint

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the use of PowerPoint to create audiovisual material to support teaching in health professions education has registered an enormous increase. In literature, some advantages and disadvantages of the use of PowerPoint have been identified. The creation of a slide deck forces the teacher to structure his or her lectures, which constitutes a benefit for students because it facilitates the process of organizing their learning. In class, however, the use of PowerPoint can become problematic to learning when slides are projected in a fast sequence or when they contain too much information inducing cognitive overload. Based on research literature, this narrative review discusses the advantages and the disadvantages of using PowerPoint as instructional media in class, offers suggestions for creating slides and is intended to enable the reader to reflect on how to use PowerPoint in his or her own educational setting.