Students’ Fixation on Tables in PowerPoint Slides

In this research, we reveal the way students read slides. We intimately record the interaction between the students and the slides by an eye-tracking device. From the data, we trace the students' gazing points from one word to another word, sentence to sentence. The study involves 30 sophomores and junior students learning materials presented on 52 slides. Some notabled results are the following. Most students gaze to all words on each slide on the first 20 slides only. Afterward, the number of gazed words decreases quickly and linearly with time. In some cases, 50% of students scan the information with improper order, potentially leading to an incorrect understanding. However, the proportion is reduced by 17% on the average when the slides are designed with a zebra-striping pattern.