Student's attitude towards the role of PowerPoint in education at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences

PowerPoint TM software is the major component present in the lecture halls, conference rooms and classrooms. Many studies have been done about PowerPoint in classrooms. Given the conflicting results of studies, this study has examined the attitudes of students about the role of PowerPoint in their learning. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 196 students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using Mann- Witney, Kruskal- Wallise test and Spearman correlation tests. Of all students, %81.6 found written summaries of PowerPoint slides useful. Also %53.6 of all students tended to provide slides both a summary and fall details. Almost half of students disagreed that the PowerPoint slides encourage them to be passive. Indeed, %68.4 of students tended to be more involved in classes. Students (%46.9) opposed with the claim that PowerPoint TM sessions are predetermined. However, they believed according to available facilities, educational materials should be provided for effective learning. Correlation analysis showed that increasing age and the number of terms passed made most students to believe that PowerPoint encourage them to inactivity. This study indicated that students were not agreed with the existing criticisms about PowerPoint.