{"id":46032,"date":"2023-02-28T14:29:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T19:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/?p=46032"},"modified":"2023-03-02T18:36:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T23:36:02","slug":"blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: A lesson learned – A Story from TLS’ Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS<\/em><\/p>\n

As indicated in the November 2022 TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary<\/a>. To help recognize this milestone, we thought we’d share stories of teaching and learning from our past. This story is the third in the series. Catch up on the previous one, Student Technology Assistants<\/a>, here.<\/em><\/p>\n

A Lesson Learned<\/h2>\n

Workshops have always been one of the ways that TLS has helped support the teaching and learning community’s development. It’s a service offering that continues with a substantial set of sessions across various topic areas.<\/p>\n

In the early days of the Educational Development Centre (a precursor to Teaching and Learning Services), workshops included pedagogical and technological topics. These included assessment, fostering discussion, Photoshop, and PowerPoint for Teaching.<\/p>\n

The technology workshops were popular with instructors \u2014 regularly filling the EDC’s computer training room with 10 to 15 faculty members. The PowerPoint for Teaching workshop was particularly popular as many instructors were adopting the tool as more and more classrooms at Carleton incorporated data projectors. This workshop mixed the mechanics of using PowerPoint and techniques to use it effectively for teaching.<\/p>\n

The session would start with an example of a brutally awful presentation: mixing fonts, terrible contrast, too small text, too much text, slide transitions, and cheesy animations. We would read the slides, face the screen, and power through a 20-slide presentation in 3 minutes or less. I would demonstrate some of the worst things about using PowerPoint to teach.<\/p>\n

After this deliberately terrible demonstration, there would be a debrief with the group. Then we’d navigate some of the potential issues with teaching with PowerPoint \u2014 touching on simplicity, not rushing through slides. Invariably, we’d get a question around “how much time should I dedicate per slide? Or how many slides should I plan for a class?”. Usually, we would answer “it depends” \u2014 on why, what, and how you use PowerPoint. Then we’d talk about different ways PowerPoint could be used: as a framework for a lecture, a way to collaborate and share ideas, to organize information and ideas, to show visuals, etc.<\/p>\n

In one workshop session, I went off script. It seemed instructors just wanted a number. “Just tell me how many slides I should have for an hour of the lecture?” I stated something to the effect, “No more than 15 slides. An instructor should spend 3 to 5 minutes on each slide in an hour-long class.”<\/p>\n

Immediately a comment came from the back of the room. “That’s ridiculous. Where did you get that number?”<\/p>\n

I replied, “Well \u2014 it takes time for students to process and read what’s on the slide, and the slides should only be there to support what you are doing in class \u2014 they shouldn’t be the focal point of your lecture.”<\/p>\n

The instructor: “Not in my class. The slides are the message, the focal point, and the reason I want to use PowerPoint.”<\/p>\n

The instructor caught me off guard. I was about to interrupt and challenge them on why they thought the slides were the most important of their teaching, but the instructor continued (thankfully!) and stated:<\/p>\n

“I teach journalism and photojournalism. The photo is about emotion, and it needs to convey an impact. I need to demonstrate and show impact in a few seconds and \u2014 ideally \u2014 create a lasting impression. I plan to use PowerPoint to show examples of photos and will flip through maybe a hundred pictures to teach students about impression and emotion. Are you telling me that I shouldn’t do this?”<\/p>\n

“Uh\u2026 no\u2026. you are exactly right. The teaching case that you’ve described makes perfect sense.” (At this point, I seem to recall my face turning red from embarrassment.)<\/p>\n

“Let’s back up and learn more from each and why you chose to participate in the workshop…”<\/p>\n

That was my introduction to Professor Joe Scanlon. Professor Scanlon was a remarkable, dedicated, renowned journalist, researcher, and teacher at Carleton. While my interaction with Professor Scanlon was brief \u2014 an hour or so workshop on PowerPoint \u2014 I was reminded not to make na\u00efve assumptions, to check my ego, and learn from these experiences. Professor Scanlon taught thousands of journalism students in his career at Carleton \u2014 his impact and legacy are significant. He also taught me some much-needed humility.<\/p>\n

While we no longer offer PowerPoint for Teaching, TLS continues to provide extensive professional development opportunities for the teaching community. Check these out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS As indicated in the November 2022 TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help recognize this milestone, we thought we’d share stories of teaching and learning from our past. This story is the third in the series. Catch up on the previous one, Student Technology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBlog: A lesson learned - A Story from TLS' Past - Teaching and Learning Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS As indicated in the November 2022 TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bryangagnon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/\",\"name\":\"Blog: A lesson learned - A Story from TLS' Past - Teaching and Learning Services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-28T19:29:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-02T23:36:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#\/schema\/person\/988d2d2c5aca2b356ccda11f0dc68c57\"},\"description\":\"By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS As indicated in the November 2022 TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/category\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Blog: A lesson learned – A Story from TLS’ Past\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/\",\"name\":\"Teaching and Learning Services\",\"description\":\"Carleton University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#\/schema\/person\/988d2d2c5aca2b356ccda11f0dc68c57\",\"name\":\"bryangagnon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/865998395722a9c356ffcc4b0da064ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/865998395722a9c356ffcc4b0da064ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"bryangagnon\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blog: A lesson learned - A Story from TLS' Past - Teaching and Learning Services","description":"By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS As indicated in the November 2022 TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"bryangagnon","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/","name":"Blog: A lesson learned - A Story from TLS' Past - Teaching and Learning Services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-02-28T19:29:16+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-02T23:36:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#\/schema\/person\/988d2d2c5aca2b356ccda11f0dc68c57"},"description":"By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS As indicated in the November 2022 TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2023\/blog-a-lesson-learned-a-story-from-tls-past\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/category\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Blog: A lesson learned – A Story from TLS’ Past"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/","name":"Teaching and Learning Services","description":"Carleton University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#\/schema\/person\/988d2d2c5aca2b356ccda11f0dc68c57","name":"bryangagnon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/865998395722a9c356ffcc4b0da064ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/865998395722a9c356ffcc4b0da064ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"bryangagnon"}}]}},"acf":{"Post Thumbnail Icon":"","Post Thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46032"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46072,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46032\/revisions\/46072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}