Page 10 - The Managed Learning Environment Strategic Gain_

Diagram 3

However, it soon became obvious to the lecturer that the provision of stand
alone materials, at the minimum a bank of PowerPoint slides, and the
provision of online support were not satisfying the wants and needs of the
student body. Unfortunately, having surveyed the last two years' MBA classes
it became apparent that the students were PowerPointed to death. Tufte
(2003) rails against PowerPoint for diluting the sensible transfer of ideas
between presenter and audience. Essentially, bullet points are fine but they
need to be explained and the nuances and linkages drawn out. The
conscientious lecturer does this but, it is all too easy to rely on the slide to
provide the educational input rather than the more demanding discursive
interchange within a classroom.

It became rapidly apparent that problems associated with online delivery
manifested when cases studies were introduced (Diagram 3). These
highlighted the feeling that problems were inherent not in the case studies
themselves but rather in the online teaching methodology. As Dede
comments, “Although presentational approaches transmit material rapidly
from source to student, this content often evaporates quickly from learners'
minds. To be motivated to master concepts and skills, students need to see
the connection between what they are learning and the rest of their lives and
the mental models they already use…….most people don't know how to apply
the abstract principles they memorized in school to real-world problems.”