Hit or Miss: Ruled or Set PowerPoint? A Philosophical Discussion (Critic Part 2)
Some arguments about Powerpoint in Widia article, which comes from The Conversation, Business Insider, Ratna, Mella Katrina, and Nuswantoro are indeed a personal preference. However, I want to introduce two perspectives about PowerPoint as an educational media. There are Ruled and Set by PowerPoint to answer those articles subjectivity.
Ruled by PowerPoint explain how PowerPoint as an educational media gives impact and values to their user, while Set PowerPoint explains how user gives impact and values to the software. These philosophical discussions correlate with this question:
Is technology value-neutral or not?
I tried to find two perspectives from Strate (2012) and Wiley (2012). With his work entitled “If It’s Neutral, It’s Not Technology,” Strate attempted to explain how technology gives value because every technology has a bias that affects the way people behave. I give spoon example to illustrate the technology perspective. This tools (technology) teach us about the way we eat, so we do not have to dirty our hands. Indirectly, the use of spoon affects the eating culture.
What if the spoon function is being used perversely? Cases example of different ways of using spoon uncommonly as it was meant to be created was, e.g., spoon bending magic trick and carrying marbles race using a spoon (In Indonesia, sometimes during independence day, there is this kind of competition). Strate called this as an invention. He wrote that invention is something that is inevitable because the technology will always develop their function (values).
Wiley had a different perspective with his work entitled “Is Technology Neutral? Some Personal Reflections.” He assumed that value-neutral statement is not in accordance because the value in technology comes from the user and designer (a person who invented the technology) so that we learn and understand the function of technology from another people, not from the technology itself.
With the spoon case example, the spoon function to be used as an eating tool comes from the spoon maker or people who use a spoon as an eating tool. Because of that, the spoon itself is neutral-value technology that has a given function (value) from the people. Another example is handphone which the function (values) not come from the phone itself, but we learn the function (values) from how people use it and the phone designer who explain the feature.
With this spoon analogy, I want to explain about the various perspective, whether the function (value) of spoon comes from the spoon itself or the people who use the spoon.
Then, what about PowerPoint?
As a software that is used for businessman, especially consultant and sales (Bent Meier Sørensen, 2015), PowerPoint was experiencing a vast development so that the academics are also using it. Sørensen also criticized that the use of PowerPoint in a learning environment is not suitable because this software makes teacher as if he/she is a salesman who tends to sell the knowledge, rather than developing the student knowledge comprehensively.
Paul Ralph (2017) through his article in Business Insider (that cited The Conversation) agreed with Sørensen perspective about PowerPoint. However, their view makes PowerPoint functions (value) is tended to be taken for granted, and I would like to term it as Ruled By PowerPoint.
In Widia article, I agreed more on the Nuswantoro statement that didn’t blame PowerPoint. Instead, he saw PowerPoint as an educational media that help the learning process. Then, I would like term Nuswantoro Perspective as Set PowerPoint, and many scientific articles in Indonesia discuss some technique that can improve the PowerPoint such as the use of animation (Ayatullah Sealian, 2014), talking stick (Bela Mardiastuti, 2017), and so on.
I agreed that PowerPoint gives a certain function (values) that change the way student and teacher learning. However, both teacher and student could improve the PowerPoint function because the software is only a tool that its function actually can be developed and improved. #SetPowerPoint
Finally, relying on PowerPoint can make your student stupid is an inconsequent argument because some research still approves the evidence that PowerPoint is effective and could improve learning result. However, it’s no doubt that there will be a different argument about the use of PowerPoint in education.
Cetta Adhipurusa
Founder & Project Manager Magic Presentation
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