Effective Lecturing

1. Effective Lecturing Facilitated by Dr Kate Exley

2. Overview • Introduction • Purposes - Why do use ‘lecture’style teaching? • What are the important features of a large group session? • Selecting and structuring the content • Interaction in lectures • Delivery and managing the process • Final remarks

3. What has changed?

4. Why Lecture? • History • Traveling scholars seeking rare information • Scholars would copy word for word • Derived from the Latin - Lectare - “to read out loud” ….transmission model. (picture University of Bologna 12th Century)

5. Why Lecture? • Consistency • Efficiency • Community • ? • ? • ? • Please add 3 other reasons?

6. The Lecture format(adapted from work by Noel Entwistle) • Map v Coverage x • Illustration v Detailed information x • Attention span concerns • The Lecture as a communication

7. Holding attention in Lectures "Extensive exposure to television and video games may promote development of brain systems that scan and shift attention at the expense of those that focus attention.” Peter Jenson

8. The Lecture as a communication Lecturer Student Student Giving out Receiving Acting upon

9. Practical Focus 1. Selecting and structuring content 2. Devising engaging tasks for learners 3. Delivery and managing the process

10. 1. Selecting Content Must Should Could

11. Structuring Content2. Sequencing material (Baume) Develop your lecture moving from the :- • Simple to Complex • Big picture to Detail • Concrete to Abstract • Practice to Theory

12. 3. Common Lecture Structures George Brown • Classical • Problem centred • Comparative • Serialistic • Progressive - story telling

13. Classical • Introduction • Section 1 • Section 2 • Section 3 • Conclusion

14. Problem-centred • Introduction - description of the problem • Strategy / alternative 1 • Strategy / alternative 2 • Strategy / alternative 3 • Conclusion - “I am taking approach 3…”

15. Comparative • Introduction - comparing A and B • Comparison of feature 1 • Comparison of feature 2 • Comparison of feature 3 • Summary

16. Serialistic • Introduction • A, then A goes to B • B, then B goes to C • C, then C goes to D • Etc • Final remarks

17. Progressive - story telling • Personal connection • Setting the scene • Unfolding the narrative • Concluding the story • Emphasising learning points (Care - can appear unstructured)

18. Why have ‘interaction’ • To keep attention • To check understanding • Try things out in practice • To compare different views • Feedback to the lecturer • Accommodate diversity • Foster Deep learning • Give the lecturer a minute • etc

19. Why have ‘interaction’ e.g. from literature Mulligan, D. and Kirkpatrick, A. (2000) How much do they understand? Lectures, students and comprehension, HE Research and Development, 19 p311-335 Steinert, Y. and Snell, LS (1999) Interactive Lecturing : Strategies for increasing participation in large group presenations, Medical Teacher 21, p37-42 Stuart, J. and Rutherford, R.J.D. (1978) Medical Student Concentration during Lectures, The Lancet, 312, P 514-516

20. The debate…(Educationally aware Staff and Learning (not just activity) breaks needed to see results) e.g. Andrews, T.M. et al (2011) Active Learning Not Associated with Student Learning in a Random Sample of College Biology Courses. Cell Biology Education – Life Sciences Education, 10, P 394-405 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228657/ Butler and Dee (2013) Active Learning Requires Learning – Not just activity, 120th American Soc. for Engineering Education Conference and Exposition, Atlanta, USA http://www.rose-hulman.edu/media/1011238/ASEE_Active_Learning_Revised_2.pdf

21. Some suggestions • Buzz groups • Mini-quizzes • Deciding, e.g. voting • Individual tasks • Demonstrations • Video & other Visuals • Interactive handouts • Instant summaries • etc

22. Handouts • PowerPoint slides • Skeleton notes • Gapped handouts • Interactive handouts

23. Quick tasks in handouts e.g. • Answer a question or problem • Set a question • Represent information differently (e.g. graph) • Order, prioritise, sequence, ideas or concepts • Estimate, predict, classify, justify an outcome • Draw and label diagrams • Complete the table etc • Find an example of..

24. Handout Tasks - Example 1 Please work with 2 colleagues to • List the three most important points from the lecture. • Why have you selected these points • Please work in pairs List the 3 most important points in the lecture Why have you selected these points?

25. Handout Tasks Example 2 Please work with 2 colleagues to • List the three most important points from the lecture. • Why have you selected these points Please work with three colleagues to Describe the symptoms of a cat with a kidney infection How might you test for this? 3. What treatment would you prescribe?

26. Handout Task - Example 3. Please work on your own for 2 minutes Plot the given data on the graph provided Identify the point of intersection What does this tell you about consumer preferences

27. Handout Task - Example 4. Read the extract provided (interview with parent) and discuss with a colleague 1. What are the main fears this mother expresses about her child starting school? 2. As a class teacher, how could you address her concerns? 3. What School policies/practices could reduce her worries?

28. Handout Task – Example 5. • In pairs discuss • What are the 3 most common skills asked for in graduate job adverts? ------- 2. Explain how your course has helped you to develop one of these skills 3. Explain how you developed one of these skills through your extra-curricula interests & activities?

29. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it.

30. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it. • How will they work?

31. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it. • How will they work? • Alone or in pairs? • For how long? • When in the lecture will the interaction be? • Will everybody do the same thing? • Etc What CLEAR instructions will you give to your students

32. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it. • How will they work? • Alone or in pairs? • For how long? & when in the lecture? • What will the end point be?

33. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it. • How will they work? • Alone or in pairs? • For how long? & when in the lecture? • What will the end point be? • An answer? A decision? An example? etc

34. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it. • How will they work? • Alone or in pairs? • For how long? & when in the lecture? • What will the end point be? • An answer? A decision? An example? etc • Do you need to hear back from the students?

35. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it. • How will they work? • Alone or in pairs? • For how long? & when in the lecture? • What will the end point be? • An answer? A decision? An example? etc • Do you need to hear back from the students? • No? (I will show them the answer.)

36. The practicalities • Know why you want students to ‘do’ it. • How will they work? • Alone or in pairs? • For how long? & when in the lecture? • What will the end point be? • An answer? A decision? An example? etc • Do you need to hear back from the students? • No? (I will show them the answer.) • But if you do, how will you manage that?

37. The Big Problem is.. Students don’t want to answer questions and talk to you, in Lectures

38. Encouraging students to take an active part • Provide ‘low stress’ thinking time • Give non-verbal cues to show this isn’t a rhetorical question! • Write up the question • Model an answer • Start a list.. • Get them to write before speaking • Clearly value the answers you do get • Buzz groups • Pyramids etc

39. Alternative approaches for getting student responses • Voting and reverse voting • Nominated spokesperson • True/False, Yes/No cards • Acetate sheets to display written response • Quick posters • Roving reporter! • Electronic response handsets

40. Using electronic handsets • Distribute a handset to each student • Receiver attached to pc • Design ‘MCQ’ style questions in ‘PowerPoint’ style software • Students can respond anonymously • The distribution of responses can be displayed visually in a variety of formats How have/could you use these in your sessions?

41. Evidence for practicee.g.s - • Patterson, B. et al, (2010) Evidence for teaching practice : The impact of clickers in a large classroom environment. Nurse Education Today, 30, P603-607 • Mayer, R.E. et al (2009) Clickers in college classrooms: Fostering Learning with questioning methods in large lecture classes, Contemporary Educational Psychology 34, p51-64

42. Quick re-cap • To be clear about • What you are trying to achieve? • Consider how you can • Use questions and tasks to encourage active learning • Plan any interaction / activity thoughtfully • Use a range of approaches to maximise participation e.g. interactive handouts • Have a go and review

43. To find out more “Giving a Lecture : from presenting to teaching” Kate Exley & Reg Dennick 2nd edition (2009) Key Guides for Effective Teaching in Higher Education RoutledgeFalmer : London