I have been thinking about how different lecturers leave an impression in my mind when they choose not to use slides. The eye contact, the heightened awareness of communication with our bodies, and the increased engagement it is asked of us in this format.
Timothy Snyder reflected about this in his book On Freedom:
I never use visuals, and people report that, to their own astonishment, they actually remember what I have said from year to year. i once had the rare pleasure, at Davos, of taking part in an event with two other historians, both of whom shared my attitude and refused to use slides and screens. The outcome was a rapt audience. In boardrooms as well as classrooms, elite and less so, machines stupefy. When the lights dim and the first slide goes up, we relax into zombified calm, knowing that nothing lively is expected of us.
I wonder if the future of instruction belongs to those who rely less and less on technology.