The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film in which humans experience a world that is not real. Morpheus explains to Neo that his perception of the world is computer simulated and the true world is The Matrix. He explains that nothing in the existence Neo believes he inhabits is real. The same is true of our education world.
In our dystopian reality we firmly believe that reading out powerpoint is teaching; that a list of facts on a set of slides is a presentation; that a document (doc) may simply be transferred into powerpoint (ppt) and that the purpose of a presentation is a data download. In The Matrix, Morpheus offers Neo a choice of two pills. If he takes the blue pill he can go on believing in his distorted personal unreality. If he takes the red pill, he will enter Wonderland and experience a completely different world, freed from the computer generated nightmare.
The matrix in education is no different. Right now dear reader, you have a choice. You can take the blue pill and go on believing that presentation of lists or data, read out verbatim from bullet-pointed slides is education. Or, you can take the red pill and enter an alternative reality where the audience is the purpose of a presentation; that learning is valued ahead of teaching and that presentation is about sharing a message not a data download. This is The Matrix and you have to make a choice. Take the red pill.
I feel privileged to have seen Ross give this presentation. Amazing, thought provoking, funny, engaging… I definitely choose the red pill.