As a student at university, I was put off by the amount of PowerPoint used in class. Whilst I appreciate that many students are ‘visual learners’, and therefore enjoy slide presentations in which notes are presented to them in bitesize, good-looking format, I missed the days of sixth form college when my legendary Sociology teacher, Norm, would give out masses of typewritten pages of notes, then wade through them bit by bit. Admittedly, the class tended to descend into a debate between me and him; the other students getting bored and texting/IMing/etc.; but I found it a brilliant way of learning. My (always handwritten) notes were comprehensive and more than sufficient for revision. I always did (and, now that I’m in the world of academic research, still do) resent the fact that everything must be word processed, even in first draft; it leads inevitably to me typing up Take#3 or #4 of whatever piece I’m writing, instead of submitting the actual first draft, which I have to handwrite if I want to feel at all in touch with the work.
Whoops, bit of a rant there. Sorry!
