A Seven-Step Technique on PowerPoint Slide Preparation for Anatomy Lectures: A Cognitive Load Theory Approach

Lecturing remains a main teaching method in anatomy education, despite being argued as ineffective in promoting understanding and higher-order cognitive skills. Designing and preparing anatomy lecture slides is a challenging task, as anatomy is a content-driven subject that involves complex threedimensional diagrams. Overly wordy, overcrowded slides and poor organisation of text and pictorial materials are among the problems related to anatomy lecture slide preparation. These unorganised and problematic slides impose a high cognitive load on students and thus hinder learning. Hence, this paper elaborates on the strategies for lecture slide preparation that were formerly mentioned by the authors in a lecturing guideline known as the cognitive load theory lecture model. The strategies were organised into seven steps: (a) step 1: select plain background slides; (b) step 2: use headings and subheadings; (c) step 3: use visual cues and signals; (d) step 4: select a proper font type and size; (e) step 5: use text treatment; (f) step 6: choose a suitable colour scheme; and (g) step 7: synchronise all sub-elements. This paper also provides tested examples for each step to facilitate comprehension of the lecture content while applying the strategies.