Using IT in the undergraduate classroom: should we replace the blackboard with PowerPoint?

Three studies were performed to investigate the efficacy of digital PowerPo int lecturing in undergraduate classrooms. In the first study, students' op inion about PowerPoint lectures was surveyed after receiving all their lect ures in one module in PowerPoint. Grades of one cohort were then compared w ith the grades of another taking the same test one year earlier. No signifi cant differences were found. In another study, students received a mock tes t 1 week following: (1) an overhead lecture, (2) a PowerPoint lecture and ( 3) a PowerPoint lecture with lecture notes. There were no significant diffe rences between the two PowerPoint lectures both of which resulted in higher grades than the overhead lecture. In the third study, two cohorts had two identical lectures, in a counterbalanced order, presented either with Power Point or by using overheads. The results revealed that the lecture difficul ty, but not the method of lecturing, contributed to the grade differences o n two mock tests. It is suggested that the efficacy of PowerPoint lecturing may be case specific rather than universal. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.