Interactive PowerPoint: A Magical Teaching Tool

I do Love PowerPoint. I use it frequently in my classes and it shows very successful results. But, talking about making these PPTs interactive sounds amazing! It is the first time for me to experience creating an Interactive PPT, it is really a very interesting chance.

After reading several articles about interactive PPT, I noticed the big difference between this later and the standard PPT that I used to apply in my classes before. Although the standard ones tend to be useful with some activities, but the interactive ones have much more utilities and advantages. The Interactive PPT is more advanced and supplies the students with more challenging skills, and activities, for it doesn’t follow a linear direction in presentation. It takes the attention from one slide to a previous one or even to the very first slides that seem relevant. This non-linear ability enriches the classes with more refreshment and interaction.  They seem helpful in my classes when reviewing knowledge, for it increases the interactive drill and practice.

For my classes, I think the interactive PPTs are very helpful. They get the students attention all the time and make them more engaged to the lectures. They function as magic, for me, as they enable both control and entertainment at the same time. They increase the tendency of the students to be more active and respond to the questions immediately.

PowerPoint presentation can be made more interactive by applying so many tools and methods, like clip arts, animations, quizzes, true or false questions, action buttons, and even video clips and sound tracks. Nevertheless, before determining the tool used to make PPTs more interactive, teachers have to think about the students’ levels and abilities, as well as the nature of the classes and the condition under which they are teaching. However, handouts tend to be so important for reinforcing the presentations. They give the students more information about what is presented, and give them the chance not only to be attached to what is provided in the PPT slides but also to the material under study.

Thus, using interactive PowerPoint is more professional and practical and brings a lot of fun to the classes.  But teachers have to be aware of the best ways to practice using them and what should they avoid during the presentations.

By: Khadija Muhammad Abdussalam

English Language Teacher

U of K

Sudan, Khartoum

khadijam.989@gmail.com