I have never been a fan of it: in school, it always felt like a waste of time. In Uni, I barely ever did them, but my professors did and – the quality was… fluctuating, to be diplomatic. But oh, has my mind changed:

Big shout out to the OG digital tool: Powerpoint! (Or rather, apple’s Keynote)

The switch from co-teaching 75min to 50min was rough. Especially, given that I was teaching a seminar aimed at freshmen in their first semester of uni. There was so much to say! Encouragement, motivation, guidance and help for being a successful student, introductions and general remarks on philosophy, anecdotes, examples, and most importantly, the content itself, clear and understandable, patiently presented to have room for questions and discussion.

It doesn’t help that on top of that, I am a passionate talker and teacher that has no problem lecturing or free styling for a while. (I always worry I talk to much. Students never complained, but then again, they are all very kind and eager, and, strangely enough, I was the authority figure in the room, which brought certain power dynamics with it.)

In any case, thanks to Keynote, I was able to plan my lessons pretty well and also, in advance, build in jokes and shenanigans and interesting stories and examples to keep my students focused and motivated. I could then comfortably walk through my content and do my thing in a much more relaxed way once I got the hang of teaching with slides.

I also think that the slides, of course designed to look pretty, with their moving background and engaging but not disturbing colors had an overall relaxing, almost calming effect on the class. Of course, I can only speak for myself, but right before I opened my classes, I would always take a tiny moment to watch the gentle movement of the waves or the smooth transition of the background colors.

As someone stuck right between being a young millenial and an older gen-z, I grew up on the internet and have been around for so many evolutions of memes. So employing humor and memes was indispensible for me! We were talking about serious, sometimes dry, sometimes challenging, oftentimes abstract concepts and problems, so by making them laugh here and there I hoped to ease the tension in the students‘ heads. I also hoped to dispel a little bit the air of seriousness and prestige that come with some figures and problems. Take Descartes for example! I remember when I first engaged with him, I was very scared to even dare to criticize him. He is this big, important philosopher, brilliantly smart, who am I, a silly little student, to point out a flaw! Well, it is less intimidating to argue against him if this AI augmented picture is looking at you:

Another noteworthy mention is this slide on the return of Y-2k fashion. You’re probably thinking: What on earth does Y2-k fasion have to do with epistemology? We were talking about epistemic resources and controlling images, especially the one of the Jezebel, the hypersexual black woman. I explained to them that black girl bands in the 90s and early 2000s reclaimed the image of the Jezebel, as can be seen in countless sensual, sex and body positive RnB and Pop songs of girl bands like TLC and Destiny’s Child. Embracing the aesthetics of the Jezebel became an act of empowerment and liberation, given the long history of exploiting, controlling and hypersexualizing Black women’s bodies. For White (super)stars, influencers, and it-girls on the other hand, this revolutionary act was merely a ride on yet another wave of aesthetics. It was a costume to put on and put off afterwards, they could enjoy the looks of the hypersexual Jezebel without facing the actual repercussion that come with it.

I know that incorporating images and media doesn’t seem like a big deal. Sure, one can easily just open the desired webpages in the browser. But I have always appreciated all professors that came to class already fully prepared. Being a student myself I know that even the few moments it might take to switch from the presentation to the desired media can cause students to lose focus, not to mention that it generally gives off the impression of being less prepared, if not full on being unprepared. And oh, let’s not forget about all the many things that can go wrong: what if suddenly the wifi acts up and you’re left hanging, unable to show the students your media? What if they unintentionally end up seeing your laptop background that might be a picture of you and a loved one? Or of something … naughty? (I’ve seen both cases happen, both in real life and in tv shows/movies, and in any case it was an uncomfortable situation). And do you really want your students to see the gazillion tabs you have open in your browser window? Let alone to see which sited you’e been visiting?

Sure, all of these are small things that can be avoided with a tiny bit of extra attention. But why do that if I can have everything I need right there on a lecture slide, the media right next to the content?

I will probably update this post and add a little gallery with more fun slides below. In any case, thank you Keynote for keeping my thoughts organized, my classes streamlined, and my students entertained!