PowerPoint: Help or Hindrance?

Ars Technica reports on a new study that concludes that PowerPoint animations can actually hinder comprehension:

"The problem ... is that PowerPoint made its way into the classroom well in advance of our understanding of how best to use it. The authors point out that we've actually got a well elaborated set of theories of learning, meaning we understand how children absorb and integrate knowledge, and we can use that to help determine how best to teach. But the early technology adopters aren't always the ones who understand educational approaches, so we tend to have to clean up messes after the fact."