Interactive Effects of PowerPoint and Note-taking as a Function of Lecture Pace Among UW-Eau Claire Students

Abstract

PowerPoint is a widely-used but little researched lecture aid. A few previous studies have suggested that PowerPoint may facilitate comprehension of lecture material because of its abilities to free cognitive load. Other studies have also argued that PowerPoint will interfere with a lecture because it will overload cognitive space with its redundancy. We hypothesized that note-taking benefits would be augmented by PowerPoint when students heard a normally paced lecture, but PowerPoint would interfere with note-taking benefits at a fast pace.