Power, Play and Pedagogy through the PowerPoint Performance-Lecture

What could a visual-led approach to the learning and teaching of complex issues look like for a short online synchronous session? Through a playful performance-lecture exploring concepts in diversity, interdisciplinarity and social change entitled What could a neurodiversity-led 2050 look like?, this paper outlines the possibilities of visual-centred approach, using the ubiquitous Microsoft software PowerPoint (or open-sourced equivalents like Google Slides and Prezi). It seeks to contribute to discourses and practices around role of visual approaches in Higher Education (HE) to address ‘difficult’ topics like power and inequality in an engaging manner, and to empower learners as active participants, including those who may be think visually, such as dyslexic learners. Such approaches will be urgent in a reality characterised by profound socio-political injustice highlighted by Black Lives Matter (BLM), and amid a global pandemic, where teaching occurs online, and where learners and teachers alike may be short of time, attention and resources. Highlighting techniques and perspectives from art, film and neurodiversity, it invites the consideration of the PowerPoint performance-lecture as a simple yet engaging and responsive process for higher order learning and creative thinking. A secondary point of the article to call for HE to itself apply a degree of critical and creative thinking about its own position, to use self-knowledge to do better, in order to move forward. It welcomes feedback and challenges, and calls for the creation of yet more playful, innovative, visual-led approaches in the learning and teaching of complex issues in Higher Education.

lecture as a simple yet engaging and responsive process for higher order learning (Marton and Säljö, 1976) and creative thinking, requiring the application of 'multiple theories and concepts', 'a variety of skills, techniques and methods' and 'using self-knowledge and personal cognition' (Hanna, 2007: 9-10). A secondary point of the article to call for HE to itself apply a degree of critical and creative thinking about its own position, to use self-knowledge to do better, in order to move forward.
I welcome feedback and challenges, and call for the creation of yet more playful, innovative, visual-led approaches in the learning and teaching of complex issues in HE.

The visual in HE: an inferior and illegitimate cousin to words?
Globalisation and digitisation have led to the 'visual turn' in the last twenty years, which has profoundly transformed communication (Roberts, 2017). This affirms the power and poetry of the imagery that can enhance or surpass spoken or written words (Figure 2). Emojis-cutesy ideograms that originated on Japanese mobile phone in the 1990's -now speak the thousands of words that we struggle to use to convey our emotions (Stark and Crawford, 2015  The photograph is of the autistic climate activist Greta Thunberg (Hellberg 2018 have the capacity to support discussion, and convey meaning and engagement around the learning and teaching of complex subjects, including politics in the global south, peace and conflict studies and international history (Roberts, 2017).
Visual tools can be a short cut to play and metaphor, which is known to nurture higher order learning and creative thinking by encouraging reflecting, opening up and sharing (Nerantzi, 2018), and provides the learner with insights into complex situations, the understanding of self and others (Marton and Säljö, 1976

Tricky Topics
If HE is insecure about a non-threat like MML, it is not difficult to gauge its level  But what I wish to discuss is a simpler, 'old school' and even bland MML tool -the PowerPoint, which has entered offices and classrooms since 1987 (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020) -for an online audience, through an example of a recent commission.

The Performance-Lecture
Drawing on pedagogy, performance art, theatre, protest art and activism, and coopting the conventions and materialities of the classroom (such as blackboard, chalk, slide projector, podium, and even students, as well as performers assuming the role of student), various forms of the performative pedagogy, 'performance-lecture' or 'lecture-performance', have been around as an artistic device since at least the 1970's (Firunts, 2016). Exposing and critiquing the mechanisms and politics of the traditional lecture format and, more generally, how knowledge is constructed and communicated, and aligned with the art historical tradition of performance art, the performance-lecture, which is the term that I will use here, can be understood as not 'just' a lecture, but a mode of meta-lecture that is highly self-reflexive. Blurring the lines between disciplines, and between art and discourse about art, the most interesting instances are those on institutional critique, and are created by artists also believe in power of learning and teaching for socio-political change (Milder, 2011).  participants, including those who may be neurodivergent, or are visual thinkers ( Figure 6). Inclusive pedagogy and the role of irony in learning and teaching are yet other key elements to add to this discussion. I have not had the time in this paper, but welcome others to do so. issues such as racism abound that it must address and not avoid. Multimedia learning and visual tools present creative tools to help this culture change. As a simple yet versatile and responsive format, a PowerPoint performance-lecture is well-suited for an online interface, by learners and teachers with reduced resources, and to raise questions around difficult topics. I welcome feedback and challenges, and call for the creation of yet more playful, innovative visual-led approaches in HE to encourage reflecting, opening up and sharing, and to provide the learner with insights into complex situations and the understanding of self and others.