I strongly believe that 'Presentation Skills' should be the base of Modern teaching methodology.
Times have changed.This is an age of graphics and digital technology.Learners find new dimensions in approaches, wider scopes of knowledge base and varieties of techniques in writing and recording. Therefore Presentation method should be taken seriously.
In Pakistan lecture method is still popular .It is simple easy and the blackboard or white board support is commonly available. Technical support of IT is expensive and thus discouraged.
Yet I believe if the teachers start adopting presentation form of imparting transfering and communication information to the learners, this will enhance the level of literacy among all grades.
Multimedia equipment is costly.Its operation needs skillful handling. Instructors need technical support.In Pakistan electricity is affecting education economics and society from various angles and causing serious cuts.Progress is slow and then old traditions get the chance to reign supreme.
Presentation method leads to research , infact it provides opportunities to bring in new items, themes and approaches.
This method should be adopted and encouraged.
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I beg to differ on this point. An effective teacher is one who has the courage to be innovative and be obsessed to ensure that the delivery of modules be made as interesting as possible. When we talk about innovation, we inevitably talk about presenting the subject to the students in an interesting and humorous way so that students enjoy the sessions and also get a strong conceptual understanding. Innovation and use of technology are in no way related.
Coming to your point of teachers using technology as part and parcel of the delivery process, I can say with conviction that your audience will not pay attention to what is being said. The moment you make a power point presentation and start your session, using a mix of technology with your speech, it ends up in a disaster. Being part of the audience, I have inevitably seen this delivery system to be totally ineffective. When you use a PPT presentation, the audience percieve you to be a person who is not confident and very unsure. Another danger is the audience will get distracted because there is bound to be a gap of few seconds when you keep on changing your slides. We always stress on the importance of listening skills. Once you lose out your audience, it is virtually impossible to get them back.
On the other hand if we are talking about using technology for listening skills or any specific purpose which is not a regular affair, then it is a different ball game altogether.
The power of the spoken word cannot be replaced by any kind of technology. It is ultimately your ability to hold your audience throughout the training process, which reflects your class. Technology can only be an aid to teaching and can never replace it.
I have to say that I think I agree with both of you - in part.
Teaching presentation skills to first-semester students has often made me reflect on my own teaching practice. We always teach students to introduce their topic fully, explain its relevance, present the key points logically and to summarise and conclude their presentations fully at the end. Coupled with presentation skills, such as not turning away from the audience whilst speaking, using diagrams etc to illustrate points, and not moving around or fiddling with things whilst speaking. All of these aspects are surely also relevant to good teaching - and in this point I thoroughly agree that presentation skills are parallel with teaching skills.
However, the big debate seems to be about using power point and other presentation technologies. We teach students only to use visual aids and realia when it's really effective, useful and somehow enhances their presentation, and I think this applies to teaching as well. However, I think that the chalk board or OHT can be just as effective a visual aid as a power point slide. The bonus of power point, of course, is that you can prepare the slides in advance and so don't use up classroom time with writing/drawing on the board. If used correctly, i.e. effectively (and usually sparingly!), a powerpoint presentation can really enhance a presentation and a language lesson. It's easier to present pictures and quicker to show example sentences / tables / and so on, on a power point slide than it is using a chalk board or OHT. That said, many people (students, teachers and other presenters) overuse their power point slides - and that causes some of the effects that girishseshamani mentions. Overfilling slides with almost everything that you're saying is pointless, and loses the attention of the students/audience, since they simply read the slides and don't focus on what you are saying. Some teachers/presenters tend to rely too heavily on their powerpoint, behaving then as if the slides were more important than the speech itself - and this is when the audience may start to perceive the speaker as unsure or incompetent. I should add, though, that the use of powerpoint alone doesn't (in my experience) automatically lead to this reaction from the audience - although this is probably a culturally specific attitude - but only the misuse / overuse of the slides. If used well, any visual aid is useful - whether it involves technology or writing on a chalk board. And I think these visual supports are highly valuable in any classroom, since some students are visual learners and will not absorb all of the information if they only get to hear it and not see it.
In summary, I'd say that effective use of presentation software can be highly enriching for any lesson or speech - and my emphasis here is on "effective". However, I don't think teachers who don't have access to such technologies need to worry too much - the good old chalk board / OHT works just as well!
CMF