September 2008 - Effective lecturing

This month we are examining lectures and how to make them active and engaging. Research has shown that active learning increases a student's understanding of concepts. While active learning techniques can be easier to implement in smaller classes, large lecture classes are more of a challenge. This newsletter provides some research and strategies for better lecturing.

Podcasts - Effective Lecturing

An podcast interview with Dr. Chris DiCarlo by Maureen Wideman

Play it / hear it - MP3 - 14.5 minutes

Adoption of Active Learning in a Lecture-based Engineering Class
by Steven R. Hall, Ian Waitz, Doris R. Brodeur, Diane H. Soderholm, and Reem Nasr

This article describes the processes used to adopt more active learning techniques into traditional engineering lectures at MIT. It is interesting to note that they found changing how they taught was more of a challenge than changing what they taught.

Transforming the Lecture Hall Environment: The Fully Interactive Physics Lecture
by David E. Meltzer and Kandiah Manivannan

This article reports on seven years of research on active learning techniques used in physics lectures. The data shows strong gains in student learning and recommends more widespread use of these techniques. Available from the UOIT Library.

8 Steps to Active Lecturing
Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development
Ferris State University

Lectures should be used and are most effective when they present information students cannot learn on their own. Information that is complex and difficult to understand that needs to be organized in ways that make it clear and reasonable for students to grasped should be lectured. This site provides eight basic steps to improve lectures

Other Resources:

A Survival Handbook for Teaching Large Classes
Center for Teaching and Learning, UNC Charlotte

This website provides tips and strategies for some of the issues surrounding large classes such as attendance, anonymity, and exams. Parts 6, 7, and 8 discuss lecturing, active learning and the use of technology.

Faculty Development Resources - http://www.developfaculty.com/online/index.html

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