<p>I’m with original and tsdad on this one. Powerpoint is the most abused and misused program I can think of.</p>
<p>I think this is a great idea. Not only does this new format measure creativity, it also plays the role of an essay.</p>
<p>The problem is a Power Point presentation is just as easily ‘coachable’ as an essay (probably even easier).</p>
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<p>There’s no arena for special effects as the slides are printed out.</p>
<p>I really hope this doesn’t catch on. It’s an interesting idea on Chicago’s part, but if other schools hop on board or start asking for videos or podcasts, there will be yet another segment to the industry that aims to assist students in packaging their applications.</p>
<p>I can see it now. Psst…I know a comp sci major who can cook up a few flashy slides for $100.</p>
<p>The reasons you list for not liking PowerPoint are partially why I’ve attempted to make presentations using what is now Adobe Flash. It wouldn’t help in this case, but Flash is a pretty cool program to play with. We had it had my high school. I wish I could get a copy of it for using at home, but the cheapest version I’ve been able to find was something like $699! I think I’ll stay with PowerPoint instead;)</p>
<p>I’m surprised somebody actually claimed that students right now are computer illiterate…did I actually read that or am I mistaken?!?</p>
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<p>This is exactly why it’s a bad idea. </p>
<p>PowerPoint slide = form
Essay = substance</p>
<p>I imagine that that there are a good number of students out there who are “web savvy”, but who might not be completely computer literate. I would color them illiterate, though.</p>
<p>I build alot of Powerpoint presentations as part of my job…and I rebuild alot of powerpoint presentations because everyone in our company has Powerpoint and it’s just so darn easy. The shows can run different from Mac to PC. People try to imbed music,videos and animations that might run on one PC but not another. I’ve actually had “problem Powerpoints to diagnose” that I loaded onto 4 different machines that theoretically were configured identical and the show ran on one but not the other three… people drop photos into them without resizing the photos before inserting into powerpoint so they end up with these huge, huge files that they then try to e-mail. Oh, all the best to the college that decides to go this route and pity to the kids that try to put abunch of bangs, whistles and art that run “just fine” on their home machine. My 15 year old was in tears this year because he spent hours and hours building a powerpoint for an art history class (without my help because he wanted to do it by himself) and when he got to school it wouldn’t show a single one of the inserted jpegs on the school machine, just those pesky little boxes with an x in them. Don’t get me wrong, I love Powerpoint and am so glad the days of slides are gone, gone, gone as well as keypunching a computer program, but I’d love to be a fly on the wall when these presentations come in to be viewed…or not!</p>
<p>Oops! Typo! I meant that I wouldn’t color those students illiterate.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine an MBA candidate to UofC not being able to put together a simple PPT “or similar” (from the article) presentation. By the time they apply they’ve probably put together at least dozens.</p>
<p>And, I vote for no animation, no music/sound effects, weenie’s rule of a cutoff at 10 slides (the college has it cut at 4), no ‘eye charts’, and NO READING the slides as the presentation - they should be just an outline and the presenter should speak, present, expound, explain, be dynamic, etc.</p>