Enough with Powerpoint already!

Ok, I will do my best not to bash Powerpoint really hard on this post. Believe me, when it comes to e-learning, I find this difficult. In fact when used in a sentence that has anything to do with e-learning, the word "Powerpoint" is one of the two words that makes me frown with obvious discomfort. The other one is "Templates" (I'll save that for another post). So to at least try to avoid bashing it for the beginning, I'll let you in on a little story.

Back in the day when I was a really really young boy with a lot of energy and no responsibilities, I used to frequently buy and, even more frequently, record cassette tapes as a hobby. So I used to hang around those specialty music stores that would record your playlist on a cassette for you (yes, it was effectively piracy, but at least it was romantic; I was about twelve). So I would typically create a playlist containing the newest US/UK Pop/Rock singles of that month, then hand it over to the store owner who would then record those for me. The recording part was the most exciting. I couldn't wait until I got home to listen to my selections.

That was all great until one day CD Recorders arrived and I realised I had a HUGE STACK of cassettes that absolutely had to be transferred over to CD's "because they'll sound way better".

Only, the sound was never better. It was exactly the same as a cassette. Major, MAJOR dissapointment there... All I could do, is brag to my friends that all of my music was on CD's.

You may be wondering why I'm telling you this.

Once I realised that transferring content from a lesser medium to another didn't raise quality, I stopped doing it altogether. I just couldn't see the point. It didn't sound any different than before. If anything, it made the whole experience worse because I KNEW this is a cassette I was listening to. Not a CD.

Why can't we do the same with Powerpoint?

Are we done using Powerpoint to create canned e-learning? Are we done branding Powerpoint presentations as e-learning material? Are we done offering "unbeatable PPT to HTML5 services"? Granted, everyone has to make a buck. From clients (directly or indirectly) to e-learning Developers. So do we. But lets not kid anyone here. Enabling or transferring Powerpoint-created content to "just work" on the Internet does not make that content e-learning!

All it does, is change the medium in which it is being delivered.

Yes, I know, it's easy. You've been using Powerpoint for almost 20 years now. But easy doesn't make it right.

Creating or even basing the core of your curriculum on Powerpoint is probably the biggest disservice you can do to your e-learning project.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think you can actually do a lot with Powerpoint to be able to create superb looking, ahem, presentations!!!

OK wiseguy, what's your point?

Question:

Would you hire your Internet savvy accountant to implement, say, your social media strategy? I hope not. You'd probably hire a social media consultant for that.

What I'm trying to say is that it is time to start using the tools made available to us for their intended purpose, not try to fit our purpose to the tools. And it is our duty as designers, developers, analysts, who are advocating for e-learning, to push for that change.

"But I can't force my client to change!"

No, you can't. We can't! And you/we don't have to. What we can, and should do, is present alternatives. Highlight the advantages of those alternatives. And then present some examples to support our case.

Stakeholders are not as short-sighted as we tend to think. More often than not, they will evaluate our proposals with an open mind. And then they will make a decision - 'cos that's what stakeholders do.