Making the Lecture a Learning Experience Chapter 14 Notes

1
Making the Lecture a Learning Experience Chapter
14 Notes

• Effective College Teaching
• AHE 6103 UTSA
• Rachel Benavides, Katie Kelly and Melissa Trevino

2
Learning, Motivation and the Lecturer

• What about other criteria? Like attitude
  change
• Development of thinking problem solving
  skills,
• Transfer knowledge to new situations
• Student satisfaction with the course
• Motivation for further learning and
• Post-course retention of knowledge and most
  importantly
• Lecture falls short of more student active
  methods such as discussion.
• Lecture is as effective as any other method of
  conveying factual knowledge

3
Motivation

• A lecture can be highly motivational, but its
  success depends on the lecturer. An expressive,
  enthusiastic instructor can ignite students
  interest in the material.
• Weve heard them all, practice effective verbal
  pacing and pausing, gestures and movements,
  facial expressions, eye contact, vocal quality
  and variety, lectern, microphone use, visual aid
  display.
• Acting or not, like it or not, these public
  speaking techniques have a powerful impact on a
  students motivation and learning , as well as
  their course and instructor evaluations.

4
Time and Attention Spans

• According to studies in Bonwell and Eison (1991)
  and Bligh (2000) a lecture begins with a 5 minute
  settling in period, which students are fairly
  attentive.
• This attentiveness continues another 5 to 10
  minutes, after which students become increasingly
  bored, restless and confused.
• Focus and note-taking continue to drop some
  students effectively fall asleep until the last
  several minutes of the period when they revive in
  anticipation of the end of class.
• Bligh (2000) reconfirmed this pattern using
  student heart rates as a measure of arousal.
  Even medical students display a similar pattern
  of concentration an increase over about 15
  minutes followed by a sharp decrease.

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Time and Attention Spans

• So when we must lecture, what can we as
  instructors or facilitators do?
• In one word P A U S E
• One study supports the practice of pausing at
  least 3 times each lecture to allow pairs or
  small groups of students to discuss and clarify
  the material (Rowe, 1980).
• Another recommends pausing for 2 minutes every 15
  to 18 minutes to permit students pairs to
  compare and rework their notes (Ruhl, Hughes, and
  Schloss 1987).
• GRADED OR NOT, QUIZZES AT THE END OF A LECTURE
  DRASTICALLY ENHANCE STUDENTS RETENTION OF THE
  MATERIAL.
• From research dating back to the 1920s, lectures
  have an infamous reputation for being utterly
  forgettable.
• Their much replicated forgetting curve for the
  average student is 62 immediate recall of the
  material presented,
• 45 three to four days later, and only 24 eight
  weeks later.

6
To Lecture or Not to Lecture?

• It is most effective efficient according to
  McKeachie, et al, 1994 and Bligh 2000
• To pique student curiosity and motivation to
  learn if your style is very expressive
• To model an approach to problem solving or a
  style of thinking
• To give a background knowledge summary that is
  not otherwise available
• To adapt very sophisticated or theoretical
  knowledge to your students level and needs in a
  way that no other available source does.
• To present a particular organization of the
  material, one that clarifies the structure of the
  textbook or the course or that helps students
  organize the readings.
• To add your personal viewpoint on the material
• To present up-to-date material that is not yet
  available in printed form.

7
Preparing an Effective Lecture

• Class objectives
• What precisely do you want your students to
  learn that day? How will you express your
  objectives to the class?
• Overview
• When possible limit one classs lecture to one
  major topic. Bear in mind that the two most
  common lecturing errors trying to include too
  much material and delivering the material too
  fast always pause at major points.
• Major topic should be divided into 10 to 15
  minute chunks then plan 2 15 minute chunks
• Always allow two to five minutes for some kind of
  recap.
• Theoretical
• This includes a statement that frames the lecture
  in the context of course objectives
• A statement reviewing material covered in
  previous class
• Effective attention-grabbers include all
  intriguing question the lecture will answer.

8
Preparing the Effective Lecture

• Body
• Should contain one and only one topic
• An organizational outline, this will ensure
  students are following the lecture without giving
  it all away and it allows them to fill in the
  blanks
• Research shows that note-taking has learning and
  retention benefits.
• Visuals are critical to students with a visual
  learning style
• Examples that include vivid, current, common in
  everyday life convey abstract concepts and
  relationships. This is important for kinesthetic
  style learners.
• Conclusion
• The facilitator should plan and direct student
  activity, but the students should do it.
• Examples of recap activities are free-recall
  writing or a classrooom assessment technique such
  as a 1 minute paper.

9
Preparing the Effective Lecture

• Lecture notes
• Should be outlined graphically in flow charts,
  tree diagrams, Venn diagrams, network models,
  bubbles and arrows.
• Some instructors like to color code.
• If the above suggestions dont appeal to you make
  a sketchy outline.
• Use bullets to discourage reading which cause
  loss of spontaneity, expressiveness, flexibility,
  eye contact and most important the psychological
  contact with the class.
• Options for Student-Active Breaks
• This ensures students interact with material for
  brief, controlled periods.
• Let students know you are available to assist.
• Pair and compare, helps students fill in the
  missing blanks
• Pair, compare and ask the facilitator fields
  questions the students cannot answer themselves.

10
Options for Student-Active Breaks

• Periodic free-recall, with pair-and-compare
  option
• Students put away notes and write down the most
  important points in the lecture. This activity
  makes students review and mentally process
  content lecture.
• Working in triads or pairs enables students to
  answer each others questions.
• Listen, recall and ask then pair and compare
• Without taking notes, students listen then write
  down important points as well as questions they
  might have. Instruct students to leave space in
  which to fill in the blanks.
• Recommended time 3-4 minutes for individual
  note-taking, 2-4 minutes for pair fill-ins and
  question answering.

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Options for Student-Active Breaks

• Solve a problem
• Put a problem on the board, overhead or a slide
  to make class debriefing easier giving 4 multiple
  choice options.
• This activity developed by Mazur (1997), makes
  students apply content while its fresh in their
  minds, and is an indicator to facilitator how
  well they understood the lecture.
• Quick Case Study
• Students can apply lecture content to a realistic
  problematic situation,
• Facilitator can add specific questions for
  students to answer.
• What is the problem(s)?
• What is the remedy(ies)?
• What is the prevention(s)
• Recommended time 3-8 minutes depending on case
  length plus 10-15 minutes for class
  discussion/exchange.

12
Helping students take notes

• Note-taking fosters deeper cognitive processing
  more thoughtful and active listening involving
  paraphrasing, interpreting and questioning as
  well as integrating new material into ones bank
  of knowledge. It also helps students process the
  knowledge for far transfer meaning the ability to
  apply it in new and different situations.
• Note-takers perform better on both objective and
  essay tests.
• Research shows students will learn more, remember
  more, and perform better on all kinds if tests if
  they review their own notes.
• How can the instructor help by organizing their
  lectures clearly and simply making this
  organization explicit to students and
  highlighting important material.
• Facilitators can encourage students to take notes
  of arguments, examples of applications , the
  meanings of technical terms and symbols or
  information related to demonstrations.

13
Tips on note-taking

• Students learn better by taking notes, rather
  than recording a lecture. The latter is
  considered passive learning.
• Avoid cramming your notes or writing them too
  small. Leave a generous left margin, as you may
  want to use it later to write in key words and
  abbreviations for important material.
• Follow instructors introductory, transitional and
  concluding words and phrases, such as the most
  important consideration, in addition tl, on the
  other hand. These signal structure of the
  lecture cause and effect, relationships,
  comparisons and contrasts, debates and
  controversies and general conclusions.
• Whenever possible draw a picture, it is easier
  for most people to recall a picture than a
  written description.
• Learn to abbreviate words such as btw for between
  , for and , b/c for because, rel for
  relationship df or for definition, and for
  condition, nec for necessary, T4 for therefore,
  or for more and less, up and down arrows, two
  opposing arrows for conflicts and a delta
  triangle for change.

14
Tips on note-taking

• Separate notes from comments, write your thoughts
  in the margin or corner of the page.
• Review, edit, clarify, and elaborate your notes
  w/in 24 hours of the lecture, again one week
  later and again a month later, even for a few
  minutes.