Do Students Learn Better with Pecha Kucha, an Alternative Presentation Format?

Abstract

Oral presentation assignments help students develop and engage multiple learning skills. In the process of preparing a presentation, students search and evaluate information (evidence-based engagement), decide whether to include it (content relevancy), organize information in an engaging manner (audience engagement), adhere to the presentation instructions (logistics), and attempt to appear credible (credibility). The final product is often a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation. In this study, we introduced students to the Pecha Kucha presentation format: 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each. While previous studies claimed that Pecha Kucha is pedagogically superior to traditional formats, particularly in the presentation and communication competence, its impacts on learning have not been examined. This study, which involved students in three classes, was designed to do so. All the students presented twice in a semester, but in one class, the first presentation was in Pecha Kucha and second in the traditional format and in the other two classes, the first was in the traditional format and second in Pecha Kucha. Five decision-making categories were assessed: evidence-based engagement, content relevancy, audience engagement, logistics, and credibility. Also assessed were the students’ confidence levels in presentation. The statistically significant differences between these two formats mostly reflected the intentional selection of presentation material to meet the time constraint of the Pecha Kucha format. However, all were slightly more confident in presentation after the second one. Students also reported that they preferred listening to Pecha Kucha than to traditional PowerPoint presentations.

From Concept to Publication

“…The ALERT Presentation templates are deliberately brief to assure a low barrier to application and an expedient presentation. This structure is consonant with the Pecha Kucha approach referenced previously 16,19 . Slide content includes the following items:…”

“…These earlier efforts deliberately incorporated "Speed Dating" and "Pecha Kucha" (a Japanese term meaning "chit chat") oriented approaches to project idea presentation. [16][17][18][19] Core to both processes is the rapid sharing of ideas in a structured, visually engaging, time-limited format. It was hoped that the adoption of this low-overhead style would encourage the involvement of those with less research experience.…”

Differences in Instructor, Presenter, and Audience Ratings of PechaKucha and Traditional Student Presentations

“…Although evidence points toward the strengths of PechaKucha, there are a few notable gaps in the literature that necessitate additional research. First, most studies on the effectiveness of PechaKucha were descriptive in nature and lacked experimental control (e.g., Abraham et al, 2018; Allen, 2018; Anderson & Williams, 2012; Baskara, 2015; Carroll et al, 2016; Christianson & Payne, 2011; Dredger & Beach, 2016; Lehtonen, 2011; Levin & Peterson, 2013; Liao et al, 2020; Lucas & Rawlins, 2015; Mackiewicz, 2008; McDonald & Derby, 2015; Morrow et al, 2018; Murugaiah, 2016; Nguyen, 2015; Robinson, 2015; Tomsett & Shaw, 2014). Second, although studies have explored immediate and delayed retention for audience members, no study to date has explored whether presenters themselves experience any measurable gain in retention with PechaKucha.…”

“…The time constraints and ample rehearsal common to PechaKucha may also reduce public speaking anxiety, as students can focus on the shorter time frame rather than on how long they must talk (Berkelaar et al, 2017; Coskun, 2017; Lucas & Rawlins, 2015). Although some students may report being uncomfortable with the new format (Liao et al, 2020; Nguyen, 2015), students’ anxiety surrounding the time constraints and text-free slides appears to be facilitative rather than debilitative anxiety (Coskun, 2017).…”

“…Various research has explored whether PechaKucha promotes learning outcomes like written and oral communication, collaboration, creativity, and topic knowledge. For example, the constraints of the PechaKucha format require that students focus solely on points that convey the main message, and remove tangential or unessential material (Anderson & Williams, 2012;Beyer, 2011;Gries & Brooke, 2010;Klentzin et al, 2010;Liao et al, 2020;Nguyen et al, 2017). In doing so, student presenters must overcome the challenges of determining the main points of their presentation and wording those points clearly (Mackiewicz, 2008).…”