Psychology Studies Mat

The idea for Psychology Study Mats came to me while idly browsing Pinterest and chancing upon Emily’s blog.

I was initially struck by what may well prove to be some of the neatest and well-organised Psychology Notes I’ve ever seen and while exploring further I came across an interesting idea in the Printables section: a Study Template students use to summarise the studies they need to know in detail.

The Template, however, was in pdf format and I guess the basic idea was to print the file (hence Printables – very little gets past me) and complete it by hand. Alternatively, it’s possible to enter text directly into the Template using something like the Acrobat Reader, but personally I find this a clunky method, particularly if there’s a lot of text to position and enter.

So, while the basic structure and content seemed sound, I thought I might be able to add something to the Template by adapting it slightly to fit it the format I used for the PowerPoint-based Sociology Learning Mats I’d previously developed:

Firstly, recreating the Template in PowerPoint means teachers can change the design relatively easily in a way that’s not possible in a pdf file. If you don’t:

• like the size of the boxes, for example, it’s a simple matter to resize them.
• want your students to cover a particular topic, simply remove the box.
• want to use the headings I’ve suggested they can be easily renamed.

Secondly, the PowerPoint format allows teachers to add text / pictures quickly and easily if they want to walk students through the ins-and-outs of a particular study.

Thirdly, PowerPoint provides a simple and flexible way for students to enter text directly and easily into the Template. While, as I’ve noted, it’s possible to add text to a pdf document I always think it’s better to make the process as simple and seamless as possible if you want students to use this type of resource.

Finally, for students who prefer to print and complete the template on paper it’s very easy to save a pdf document from a PowerPoint file using the “Export” function.