The Use of Feedback to Help College Students Identify Relevant Information on PowerPoint Slides

Higher education continues to be dominated by teacher-centric strategies for conveying information to students, especially in content-rich courses, despite empirical evidence for the superiority of active learning strategies (Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Doyle, 2011; Felder, Woods, Stice, & Rugarcia, 2000; Fink, 2003). One of the most common teacher-centric scenarios is the traditional lecture method during which the professor lectures while the students listen and note what they believe to be relevant information. Indeed, note taking seems to be the most common strategy used by students to capture information as most students believe it to be beneficial and important to their academic success (Bonner & Holliday, 2006; Dunkel & Davy, 1989; Palmatier & Bennett, 1974; Williams et al., 2013). Due to the high frequency of note taking in college classrooms and the importance placed on such a strategy by students, researchers examined its effects on retention of information and there is a plethora of empirical evidence to support both the use and encouragement of note taking. Early researchers hypothesized two beneficial aspects of note taking for students' retention of information. One hypothesis was that note taking aids the retention of information through an encoding function. In other words, the simple act of taking notes allows students to actively engage with the presented material and elaborate the information by translating it into their own words (Di Vesta & Gray, 1972, 1973; Hartley & Davies, 1978; Howe, 1974). The other hypothesis stated that note taking is beneficial because it provides students with a record of information which may be reviewed later, the so-called external storage function (Barnett, Di Vesta, & Rogozinski, 1981; Bui, Myerson, & Hale, 2013; Carter & van Matre, 1975; Dunkel, Mishra, & Berliner, 1989; Fisher & Harris, 1973; Hartley, 1983; Kiewra, 1985). Despite empirical support for both beneficial aspects of note taking when examined individually, other studies suggested that retention performance is best when students engage in both the encoding and external storage functions, which is, in reality, the most probable way students use the note taking strategy (Knight & McKelvie, 1986; Williams et al., 2013). Ultimately, however, both functions of note taking may only be beneficial if students are capable of effectively using limited cognitive resources during a lecture. Specifically, students need to engage their working memory to actively process incoming information (encoding function) and get that information into their notes for later review (external storage function), which certainly taxes the cognitive system (Bui & Myerson, 2014; Bui et al., 2013; Peverly et al., 2007). One way professors may help students reduce cognitive load during a lecture is to accompany the lecture with PowerPoint slides. With the ever-increasing technological advancements in classrooms, educators frequently use PowerPoint to enhance their lectures (Buchko, Buchko, & Meyer, 2012). Proponents of accompanying lectures with PowerPoint argue that it helps students sustain motivation, interest, and attention during a lecture, which are all integral parts of effectively processing information (Hidi, 2001; Perry, 2003; Tang & Austin, 2009). For instance, Susskind (2005) found that student motivation declined when the instructor discontinued the use of PowerPoint slides after the first third of the course. Furthermore, students not only prefer lectures with PowerPoint, they also believe that PowerPoint assists them as they take notes and attempt to comprehend information presented during the lecture (Apperson, Laws, & Scepansky, 2006; Clark, 2008; Frey & Birnbaum, 2002; Susskind, 2005). The question of whether lectures accompanied by PowerPoint technology are truly helpful is an important empirical question. For instance, despite students' perceptions that having PowerPoint slides with a lecture enhances their motivation, interest, note taking, and comprehension of information, results are mixed (Apperson et al. …