A white background with black bullet points or musical transitions between colorful slides?聽 CU Boulder Department of Communication Professor Matt Koschmann聽achieves a delicate balance between both styles of PowerPoint presentations.聽 Students nominated Koschmann聽for the Fall 2013 ASSETT Outstanding聽Teaching with Technology Award for his teaching of Communication 4600 Organizational Communication.聽 In particular, they acclaimed the seamlessness of聽his PowerPoint presentations.聽 One student wrote: "[The] best integration of slides in class I鈥檝e ever聽[seen] ... [Koschmann] ... Uses PowerPoint slides better than any teacher, really strikes the perfect balance between how much information he puts on the slides and how much information he puts into the lecture."
Koschmann spoke about his聽process of creating PowerPoint presentations for classes.聽聽Koschmann explained that聽he makes every decision about his PowerPoints聽with intention to effectively complement his lectures.聽 Koschmann carefully聽plans the progression of text and associated animations to highlight concepts explained through lecture.聽 Koschmann says聽that animations in a聽presentation聽should be,聽"... Attractive - not distracting.聽 The animation should help the progression of ideas.聽 It's more dynamic than staring at a list on the screen.聽 A visual representation ..."聽聽He聽also posts his slides聽to D2L聽before class.
The Outstanding Teaching with Technology Award nomination is not Koschmann's first recognition from ASSETT.聽 In 2010, he received an ASSETT Development Award that he used to create educational animation聽videos聽through聽.聽聽Koschmann continues to聽create聽animations for his聽teaching through Videoscribe software.
Finally, Koschmann says:
I enjoy the classroom environment ... Where you can talk through ideas and ask questions.聽 I'm always looking for things that solve a problem ... [and]聽... Ways to enhance the learning environment ... Students have a higher standard and expectation now.
