Enlivening Presentations ...

Question: Any hints on an application like powerpoint, but that lets you interact more during the presentation, e.g., typing in notes on the screen? Am looking for something for presentations in class, where ppt makes for nice image presentation but sucks all interaction and spontenaiety from class...

The quick answer is to turn off the powerpoint periodically - ie it guides to a certain point and then, pause (or block the projection).

Edward Tufte makes the same point, perhaps with more diatribe and authority than I might. What he is saying is 'form follows function' and we often use powerpoint when we really want to present a detailed argument better served by text ... I'd figure out what I was trying to do - show images, present an outline, make a coherent argument etc

So ... Not sure what you want to do ... Presumably brainstorm ideas with students about a particular point ...

Writing down the points, using the students own words on a flipchart, is very good (much better than just letting them hang in the air) - you could do this in ppt or another application, assuming you can type fast enough. (I find different parts of the brain are involved and so its hard to reflectively question the students and quickly write down their ideas.)

But maybe you have something else in mind for them? I keep in mind the adult learning cycle - experience (which could, at least some of the time, be a lecture), reflect (thinking about, ideally in conjunction with others - aka the small group discussion), generalization (connection to previous work, life experiences, etc.), application (opportunity to use - a formula in math class applied to a problem) - application to other, new situations which now fit the expanded or moulded paradigm. Etc. Ideally this cycle is created for each learning point.

You could browse both Course 1 and 2 at SCI Training quite a bit of material available therein.