If you have never heard of Pecha Kucha, you will be completely unaware of its power and how it can transform your teaching style for the better. Now is the time to learn all about it and use it to your advantage going forward. Teachers all over the globe are leveraging it to optimize student engagement and to convey ideas concisely. Here is what you need to know.
Understanding Pecha Kucha
So, what is Pecha Kucha presentation? The Pecha Kucha approach to presentation originates in the world of architecture and was created because “architects talk too much”, according to the official Pecha Kucha website. The crux of the approach is to ensure that one gets to the point as quickly as possible, eliminating ‘fluff’, rambling, and useless information that could ‘water down’ the most important details. It revolves around crafting presentations that last no more than six minutes and 40 seconds – or a total of 20 slides, each with 20 seconds’ worth of explanation.
The benefits of Pecha Kucha
Think back to your own time spent at school or college and how many lessons you were forced to sit in that seemed to drag on for hours. Did you learn anything during those particularly tiresome classes? Were you engaged? Can you recall any information that was relayed to you? Probably not.
The beauty of Pecha Kucha is that students are likely to feel more excited and engaged during a lesson because they know that the main learning portion will only last around six to seven minutes. They will be more inclined to dedicate their full concentration during that period and soak up a lot more information in the process. This is also true because there are sure to be fewer distractions. With each slide being replaced with a new one every 20 seconds, it is endlessly easier to grab and hold your students’ attention.
Another wonderful benefit of the Pecha Kucha approach to presentation is that teachers who have mastered it themselves can pass along the skill to their students. Considering that Pecha Kucha boasts such a constrained format, students will have no choice but to practice their presentations multiple times and fully immerse themselves into their oral projects. There will certainly be no more room for reciting bullet points copied from Wikipedia!
Remember – the art of Pecha Kucha will help them excel not only at school and in college, but in the working world, too!
How to learn Pecha Kucha
There are a few good YouTube tutorials detailing how you can get the hang of Pecha Kucha. However, if you are serious about embracing this teaching resource and art form, it is highly recommended that you enroll in a short course to help you along. A great example of one of these courses is the online, three-module Teach with Pecha Kucha Presentations course offered by Fresno Pacific University.
The reality is that once you discover the many wonders of teaching with Pecha Kucha, you will never look back.