Since presentation graphics are used heavily in business, students are motivated to acquire these skills. Throughout the semester, my students learn the good and bad points of these techniques. By the end of the semester, they must give their term project presentation using presentation graphics. We support both Freelance and PowerPoint on the computers in the classroom. PowerPoint is often pre-loaded on new computers, so many students have that program available to them on their own computers.
Freelance is available on our network and can be put on a disk to use in class.
The computer presentations have required more forethought from a majority of the students and have resulted in incredibly good presentations. My notes are also available on our local network in outline form. The students can download the notes to paper either before or after class. To those professors who have wondered if the students in computer-based classes would still show up, the answer is Yes. The students do come and they do take notes on the printed notes.