Effective Use of

Teaching Aids

Session 1
Basic Teaching Skills Course
for Recently-Appointed Academic Staff
TASK - Introductions

Stage One Stage Two

 Find a partner, preferably
someone you don’t know.
 Find out a few things about
them, e.g.:
 Who they are,
 Which school/unit they work
in,
 What they do.
 Time for task - 5 minutes
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 Prepare a brief presentation to
introduce the person to the
group, and illustrate it with
with either:
 flipchart, or
 overhead transparencies.
 Time for task - 10 minutes.
Stage Three
 Make your presentation to the
whole group.
and Learning 2
Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

 Choose the most appropriate visual aid for your purpose
and context,
 Use the black-/white-board effectively,
 Make the most of the overhead projector,
 Produce a basic presentation with MS Powerpoint,
 Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of other
media.

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Why use teaching aids?

Teaching aids are useful to:

 reinforce what you are saying,
 ensure that your point is understood,
 signal what is important/essential,
 enable students to visualise or experience something
that is impractical to see or do in real life,
 engage students’ other senses in the learning process,
 facilitate different learning styles.

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We Learn and Retain:

10% of what we READ

20% of what we HEAR

30% of what we SEE

50% of what we HEAR and SEE

Higher levels of retention can be achieved

through active involvement in learning.
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WHITE-/BLACKBOARD

Advantages
 No advanced preparation
required,
 except when displaying a
complex table/chart/ diagram.
 Technology is not dependent
on electricity or other possible
glitches.
 Can be used by students for
problem-solving, etc.
Disadvantages
 Time-consuming if you have a
lot to write.
 Handwriting may be difficult to
read (legibility, size, glare,
etc.).
 Turn your back on audience.
 Cleaning the board (chalk
dust, permanent marker, etc.)
 Can’t go back to something
you’ve erased.

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WHITE-/BLACKBOARD

TIPS
 Get to the lecture hall early to make sure that the board
has been cleaned.
 Bring your own chalk/markers and eraser.
 If you have problems with keeping your writing level,
draw horizontal lines in advance using a pencil and
metre stick.
 Draw complex diagrams, charts, etc. in advance and
cover with a piece of newsprint until needed.

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Advantages
 Allows you to prepare all your
slides in advance.
 Particularly suited for complex
diagrams, charts and
illustrations.
 Can build up information
point-by-point through the use
of overlays.
 Don’t have to turn your back
on the audience.
Disadvantages
 A blown bulb or power failure
can spoil all your hard work.
 Image quality can also be a
problem.
 Can be disorienting to
manipulate transparencies on
projector plate.

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Preparing Transparencies
 By hand, or
 Computer application (eg. MS PowerPoint, MS Word,
HTML documents)
 Printing - colour or B/W
 Printer (laser or inkjet), or
 Photocopier

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Selecting Text
 Avoid overcrowding
 Avoid continuous prose
 Bullet or numbered points preferred
 KILLS
Keep It Legible, Lean and Simple

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Keep words to a minimum:

Please observe the rules
prohibiting the
combustion of vegetable
material and the NO SMOKING
exhalation of noxious
fumes in this auditorium.

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Tables are best avoided:

1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr.

East 20.4 27.4 90.0 20.4
West 30.6 38.6 34.7 31.5
North 45.9 46.8 45.0 43.9

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Use Charts/Graphs instead:

200

150
North
100 West
50 East

0
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Choosing a Font Examples:

 14 pt Tahoma
 Size - minimum 20pt
 20 pt Tahoma
(5mm high)
28 pt Tahoma
36 pt Tahoma

 Times New Roman

 Sans serif fonts preferred
 Arial
 Comic Sans
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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR

Style Notes for Transparencies

 Allow a margin of 5 cm (2”) all round.
 Avoid TOO MUCH UPPERCASE TEXT
 For emphasis, use bold or underlining instead of italics
 Keep titles systematic and consistent
 Justification - left or centred
 Avoid light text on dark background.

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OVERHEAD PROJECTOR
Beforehand
 Get to the room early to
make sure the OHP is
working.
 Check the aim and focus.
 Walk to the back of the
room to see whether the
smallest print is readable.
 Relax (if possible).
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During the Lecture
 Keep used and unused
slides in separate piles.
 Cover the slide with a
piece of cardboard and
slide it down to reveal
text as you go.
 Use a pen on the OHP
glass rather than pointing
to the screen.
and Learning 16
DATA PROJECTOR (portable)

How to connect your Laptop to a portable

data projector:
 Attach one end of the data cable to the serial port of the
laptop.
 Attach the other end to the RGB IN port of the data
projector.
 Switch the data projector on followed by the laptop.
 Press the 'Fn' and the appropriate function key to
display.