Voting technology, PowerPoint and interactivity: problems and possibilities

The development of voting technology within the framework of PowerPoint presentation software has added further weight to the claims that ICT makes possible the reality of ‘interactive’ learning in education, interactivity generally being regarded as ‘a good thing’ in education. The paper examines the use of PowerPoint and voting technology in the context of recent research and a range of case studies on the use of PowerPoint and voting technology systems in the UK. Drawing on the outcomes of these studies, and the work of Walsh [1,2], who has recently conducted a Historical Association funded project on the use of voting technology, the paper considers some of the problems commonly encountered by teachers in their use of PowerPoint and voting technology, and some of the possibilities of using this software in ways that can help to promote genuinely engaging and beneficial forms of interactive learning. The outcomes also provide some food for thought on what constitutes genuine or high quality interactivity in the teaching and learning process.