"The slides are part of the cake"

PowerPoint, software literacy and tertiary education

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings from a two-year funded research project exploring software literacy - how it is understood, developed and applied in tertiary teaching-learning contexts and how this understanding serves new learning. MS PowerPoint was selected as an initial focus as it is widely available and commonly used. Two disciplines (Media Studies and Engineering) were case studied and data collection obtained through student interviews and an online survey. Findings revealed that students tend to draw from informal learning strategies when learning to use PowerPoint, they have the functional skills and understanding of the software, and were able to identify some of its key affordances and constraints. However, they were only able to critique these at a superficial level, suggesting a need for formal recognition of software literacy as a means to empower students to engage with software and its use at a more critical level.