Early in the morning, some students said it is not uncommon to rise and question if they need to attend their lectures for the day, weighing the benefits of class attendance versus a day of relaxation and enjoying the spring air.

Anything, even something small or negligible, can deter a student from his or her academics for a day in conjunction with great weather.

Many students say one reason for this is the use of PowerPoint presentations and their subsequent release and availability on the Internet and on the campus drives.

“PowerPoint accessibility for classes that do not involve a large amount of participation, testing or quizzing can make it difficult to want to attend class sometimes,” sophomore Gary Crabtree said.

Lack of classroom attendance can be combated through teaching interactively and teaching information not available on PowerPoint presentations, computer science professor Daniel Stevenson said. He added he believes his classroom attendance has not been reduced by PowerPoint and that he finds its use to be extremely beneficial.

For Stevenson, the release of his presentations online does not decrease his lecture attendance because his lectures are not solely focused around PowerPoint. Oftentimes, there will be a large amount of white-board use and student interaction in combination with the PowerPoint slideshows, he said.

The specificity of information in a slideshow can also determine how much of a lecture deterrent it can be. Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Interim Dean of Graduate Studies Andrew Phillips said he used exceptionally detailed presentations in his classes and students would look ahead at problem solutions instead of thinking themselves.

Phillips said his “attempt to engage (the students) in the actual critical thinking and problem-solving process was wasted – or rather, was circumvented – by (his) own solutions.”

The resolution to this problem was then maintaining two sets of presentations – one detailed set to use during class and the other set without solutions, which was released to students, Phillips said.

Not to be discounted is the ease of note-taking through release of more generic PowerPoint presentations prior to lecture. Sophomore Erin Johnson said seeing a slideshow before a lecture helps to “focus on the lectures and take notes without having to worry about getting all the information down.”

Reviewing is also easier through the convenience of online lecture materials, senior Kayla Lorenzen said. She added students can view the notes of a professor’s lecture and possibly recall information more easily without having extensively detailed notes of their own.