There are lots and lots of articles giving advice on slide deck construction for instructors.  These are seven rules I think get missed all the time.

The slide deck is a roadmap

The slide deck should serve as a “road map” to a lecture. Think of the lecture as a journey, and the slides as the map to where we’re going. Each slide should assist us down the path.

The slides are all connected to each other

When the instructor lectures, the slides are not a series of topics that are listed without relationship to each other, they are tied together as part of the narrative. What is said between each slide is many times as important as what is said when on each slide. When developing slides, and order, consider the relationship, and how the instructor is going to segue from one slide to the next.

Timing is everything

In an instructor led course, a typical slide should include between 2-5 minutes of discussion.  When you create the slide, ask the question “What is the instructor going to talk about for at least 2 minutes?” Remember two minutes can be a long time (Take a watch or a timer, and measure two minutes). If a slide does not have two minutes or more worth of lecture content, it better be incredibly important content that cannot be included on another slide.

The slide is an intellectual trigger to the instructor

The Slide should serve as a trigger to the instructor to remind him or her what needs to be discussed next. In general, the title of the slide serves as the trigger. Multiple slides with the same title don’t assist the instructor in reminding them what to talk about unless the image is extremely compelling (which, it never is)

Illuminate, don’t complicate with graphics

Graphics on a page should be directed towards the topic being discussed at the time.  Extraneous graphics are more likely to confuse the student and instructor, rather than assist them in understanding the topic. When you look at graphics on a page, ask the question. “How does this relate to the topic in the title?”

Repeating is a good thing, as long as it isn’t sequential

The rule of teaching is that you have to show a student something three times in order for them to absorb it.  While we don’t explicitly count for this, repeating a given concept, particularly with a different context, helps the student learn. However, don’t just do it three times in a row.  If you do it three time in a row it gets dull, and the student shuts dow

Organization is key

It is much easier for students to process and remember information, if, when we present it, we give it context.  Take the following list of words

• Orange
• Five
• Scott
• Smith
• Anomoly
• Television
• Twelve
• Car
• Red
• Sam
• Lincoln
• Difference
• Clock
• Cards
• Six

 

Trying to memorize this list can be pretty challenging, but if we organize it and categorize it, it becomes easier to remember

 

Colors	Names	Objects	Numbers	Words
Orange Red	Scott Smith Sam Lincoln	Television Car Clock Cards	Five Six Twelve	Anomoly Difference