I find critical shortcomings in the use of PowerPoint as an instructional tool, especially when used for lecture notes. Many students tend to copy only what is written on the slides and then tune out during my elaboration. Similarly, these lecture notes on PowerPoint encourage what I would describe as “bullet-style thinking.” Only content that can be put into neatly packaged sound bites is deemed worthy of mentioning in the presentation. More complex issues have to find their way into class discussion through other means than the slides. Yet, there are distinct benefits of using PowerPoint in teaching, especially for classes in which I am not conversant with the material. The slides provide an outline of what I want to say in class, and thus ensure that I do not skip important aspects of my lecture. Consequently, they also provide students with a coherent structure and key points for the topic covered. The possibility to incorporate visual material such as photos, sounds, and clips into the presentation allows me to have access to various media without switching technical equipment. I also often make us of PowerPoint to spell out the assignments for the next class session.
In order to decrease negative side effects I do not put the slides on Blackboard. Students know that they have to pay attention to what they see and hear in class. Moreover, I try to trim down the size of the bullets on each slide. Slides must not become a substitute for the lecture. They should be concise and conform to the “6x6-rule” (i.e., each slide should not have more than six bullets each containing a maximum of six words). I also heed the advice to only reveal one item of a list at a time (which is greatly facilitated by the software creators at MS). For particular class sessions I thus still utilize PowerPoint. Below are the PowerPoint slides for five units with additional comments on how they are being used for instruction.
The following lecture notes
are taken from one of the earlier sessions in the semester. Students are just
starting with Said’s Covering Islam. In a lecture on the history of the field of Islamic
studies I provide them with an overview of key developments and changing
perspectives in this area of study. With
this lecture I am able to provide a historical context for the students’
understanding of Said’s criticism. My choice for a
fairly in-depth lecture at this point in the semester echoes
Islamic Sacred
Practices – The Five Pillars
During this class session I
introduce the students to Islamic sacred practices. A theoretical reflection on
the relationship between faith and practice in Islam launches class discussion.
I collected a number of photos which I use for a conversation on the five
pillars. Time allowing, I also show a brief segment from the DVD Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet in which
Michael Wolfe talks about his experiences on the hajj. The question on the final slide asks students to reflect on
what they have learned about the five pillars and to apply it to a new context
– Muslims living in the
After an initial class (Mon)
in which we discuss the concept of mysticism and mystical experience I give
students an overview of the historical developments in Sufism (Wed). It is for
the latter session that I employ the following slides. Two short video clips as
well as an audio-track complement the presentation. The week
on Sufism usually ends (Fri) with student presentations of Sufi poetry from
which we are able to derive the major elements of Sufi worldview and mystical
practices – all of this without PowerPoint.
Islamic Calligraphy
– Slide Presentation and Creative Project
For a class period on Islamic art (calligraphy) I
developed a slide show presenting various calligraphic styles. I started out with
the “Eid” stamp and discussed the controversy that
had centered around its release in the wake of 9/11.
The stamp was designed by Mohamed Zakarya. I showed
the brief clip (2 min) from “Legacy of the Prophet” about him and his work. We
discussed a few things mentioned in the clip: why calligraphy and no pictorial
representations etc. Afterwards I showed them a number of slides with different
Arabic scripts and various examples of calligraphy. Students already had a
number of questions about Arabic and wanted to know more about the language
itself. I ended after ten minutes with the slides from an earlier class in
which we had concentrated on sacred texts in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
and explored a number of ways to appropriate sacred texts (among which was
calligraphy).
For the second half of the class session I had
prepared the students’ names in Arabic script on the computer and gave each of
them their printout along with makers and paper. Twenty minutes I allocated for
them to work with their name: either copying the script or exploring
alternative ways of rendering their names calligraphically. Students generally
enjoy this creative break. I always have engaging conversations walking through
the room. Students often ask about the meanings of their names in Arabic. The
last minutes I spend on asking them about their experience with the Arabic
script. I end class by describing Islamic calligraphy as a sacred practice. It
is more than mere decoration but exhibits strong iconographic qualities.
Democracy, secular systems of law, human rights: I
would have liked to discuss all of this with the class. Instead, I decided to
tamper my impulse and not cover all that could be covered. In their reading
journals the students had come up with pertinent questions concerning the
relationship between religion and state in Islam. Islam in contemporary debate
is often characterized as a complete way of life which does not allow for the
separation between religion and state. I decided that students should engage
some of the questions that their peers had raised on this topic before we would
get to an evaluation of this problem. With a few more than twenty students in
class, I felt it proper to experiment with the “concentric circle” format. Students
formed an inner circle of ten people facing outside and an outer circle around
the inner one facing inside. Thus two students would always sit opposite one
another. I mainly utilized PopwerPoint for brief
framing statements and for the questions from the students’ journals. For every
question I had them rotate so that students talked to a different classmate
every two/three minutes. I had six questions. The seventh question I posed the
whole class: Why is there a lack of democratic structures in the Muslim world?
With the previous discussion students were in a good position to voice their
perspectives on the matter. Towards the end of class I briefly summarized the
discussion re-emphasizing students’ contributions that much of the present
situation in the Muslim world goes back to distinct historical circumstances of
colonial and post-colonial times.