When I taught strategic planning to advanced undergraduates at a four-year university I required that each student prepare a PowerPoint presentation on the subject. I told them that they should assume that the CEO of their company had tasked them with preparing an "overview" of the strategic planning process for the board of directors.
The students were to assume that the members of the board knew little about the subject; further, the students were limited to 10 slides. The presentations were to be complete without being bogged down with excessive details.
I was impressed with the quality of most of the presentations, and I graded them accordingly. Interestingly, many students later told me that they anguished greatly about the assignment. Up to the day it was due they were unsure of their work. Was there too much or too little detail? Were the slides attractive and interesting? Was the subject covered adequately?
It is part of the learning process to face such assignments squarely and to labor over them until they are completed. Students may not get them 100% right the first time, but mistakes are okay. Students learn from mistakes.
With all of this in the back of my mind, I was surprised and pleased to read an Associated Press story that the University of Chicago's school of business will now require applicants to submit a four-slide PowerPoint presentation that will allow them to show off a creative side that might not reveal itself in test scores, recommendations and even essays.
Rose Martinelli, associate dean for recruitment, is quoted in the article as saying, "We wanted to have a freeform space for students to be able to say what they think is important, not always having the school run the dialogue."
Are you good at PowerPoint presentations? Microsoft offers help at its website.
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