The Power of PowerPoint: The Conduction of A Faculty Development Workshop at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

Background: Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation software used in many medical schools. Its popularity comes from its user-friendly nature, widespread popularity, and how it can save time for both educators and students. Through the past years, many criticisms have been directed at the software. These included the excessive use of bullets which make the presentation more like presenter notes, the content overload, and absence of evidence- based practices. Aim: To improve the faculty members’ knowledge and skills in developing PowerPoint presentations in order to enhance students’ engagement, thus improving the educational process. Materials and Methods: A Quasi-experimental study design was conducted in the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, for the conduction of a PowerPoint workshop, then evaluating its effect on the knowledge acquisition of faculty members (pre-test/post-test. Results: the results of experts’ opinions towards the PowerPoint workshop content were positive reflecting the well-construction, easy-to-follow, and practical nature of the workshop. The evaluation of faculty members’ satisfaction with the PowerPoint workshop was high, with a total mean score of 4.89, indicating how relevant, useful, and important the workshop was. There was a statistically significant improvement in faculty members’ knowledge in the pre-test/post-test (P < .001). Conclusion: The PowerPoint workshop was well-structured and practical as evaluated by medical education experts. It improved faculty members’ knowledge regarding the effective use of PowerPoint and was perceived as being valuable by the faculty members.