SUGGESTIONS
FOR EFFECTIVE LECTURE
PREPARATION AND DELIVERY
Lecturing refers to both planning and delivering a
classroom presentation rather than a formal speech. While
both oral presentations have certain elements in common,
a classroom lecture places greater emphasis on the
importance of presenter-audience (instructor-student)
interaction. The following list of suggestions for
effective lecture preparation and delivery are arranged
under one of the three phases of a lecture--the
introduction, the body, and the closing.
- Use an introduction that will catch the
listener's interest.
- Suggestion: Raise a question to be
answered by the end of the lecture.
-
- Example:"By the end of the hour, you
should be able to answer the question,
'Are essay test questions better than
objective test questions?'"
- Suggestion: State an historical or
current problem related to the lecture
content.
-
- Example: "It was conjectured by
Gauss that the number of primes up to any
point x was less than a certain smooth
easily calculated function of x. This
conjecture was supported by extensive
numerical evidence. However, in 1914,
Littlewood proved that, in fact, the
relation becomes false for an infinite
sequence of large x's. Let's take a look
at Littlewood's reasoning."
- Suggestion: Explain the relationship or
relevance of lecture content to
laboratory exercises, homework problems,
professional career interests, the
"real" world, etc.
-
- Example: "Today's lecture is about
the cost of living indices, a topic in
macroeconomics which should help you
understand the recent discussions in
Congress related to inflation."
- Suggestion: Relate lecture content to
previous class material.
-
- Example: "For the past few weeks,
Skinner, Osgood and others who take a
behaviorist view of language acquisition
have occupied our attention. Today, let's
look at a different perspective on
language acquisition and learning. We'll
spend the rest of this week and the next
of understanding this view and comparing
it with the behaviorist position."
- Provide a brief overview of the lecture's content
either verbally, with a handout, or through an
outline on the chalkboard.
- Example: "In Victorian England the
conflict between religion and science was
well reflected in the literature of the
time. Today we'll look at two poems, 'In
Memorium' and 'Dover Beach,' which
illustrate this conflict."
- Tell students how you expect them to use the
lecture material.
- Example: "Today, I'll offer a
specific model of evaluation and
illustrate its applicability in several
kinds of settings. When you meet in your
discussion groups this week, you'll be
asked to apply the model as you discuss
the Brown vs. the Board of Education
decision."
- Define or explain unfamiliar terminology.
- Example: "In physics, the term work
has a precise technical meaning. The work
done by a force F when the object on
which it acts moves a distance [delta]s
[instructor puts a diagram on the board]
is defined by [delta]W=Fs[delta]s. It is
assumed that F does not change much
during the motion through the distance
[delta]s. Fs denotes the component in F
in the direction of the motion and can be
positive, zero, or negative. Now let's
look at this diagram and see how well you
understand the definition of work."
Organization
- Allow for some flexibility in the amount of
content to be presented in order to respond to
student questions and comments.
- Determine the key points to be developed during
the class session. When every nuance, detail, or
instance of a topic is discussed, or when too
many ideas are presented and not well developed,
students often lose sight of the main idea.
- Organize material in some logical order.
Suggested organizational schemes include:
- Cause-Effect: Events are cited and
explained by reference to their origins.
-
- Example: One can demonstrate how the
continental revolutionary movements of
the late 1700's affected British politics
at the turn of the century.
- Time Sequential: Lecture ideas are
arranged chronologically.
-
- Example: A lecturer explaining the steps
in a clinical supervision model, talks
about the initial steps to be taken, the
second steps, and so forth.
- Topical: Parallel elements of different
discussion topics are focused on
successively.
-
- Example: A professor lecturing about the
differential features of common diseases
in canines and felines speaks about their
etiologies, typical histories,
predisposing factors...
- Problem-Solution: The statement of a
problem is followed by alternative
solutions.
-
- Example: A lecture on the Cuban missile
crisis of 1962 may begin with a statement
of the foreign policy problem followed by
a presentation of the alternative
solutions available to President Kennedy.
- Compare-Contrast: A two-sided discussion
of a given topic is presented.
-
- Example: A lecture is organized around
the advantages and disadvantages of using
the lecture method of instruction.
- Ascending-Descending: Lecture topics are
arranged according to their importance,
familiarity, or complexity.
-
- Example: In a lecture introducing
students to animal diseases, the diseases
of primary importance may be discussed
first, followed by discussion of diseases
of secondary importance, and concluding
with coverage of diseases of tertiary
importance.
A chemistry lecture may
begin with a definition first of atoms,
then elements, next molecules, and
finally compounds.
- Rule-Example-Rule: A rule is stated,
followed by an example; then the rule is
restated.
-
- Example: A chemistry lecture may begin
with the rule that atoms of unlike
charges (anions and cations) are
attracted to each other. The rule would
then be illustrated using sodium (cation)
and chloride (anion) which make common
salt (NaCl). The rule that cations and
anions are attracted to each other would
then be repeated.
- Example-Example-Rule: A model or rule is
preceded by appropriate examples.
-
- Example: The American, French, and
Iranian revolutions are described,
followed by discussion on one model of
revolutionary development.
- Prepare examples to clarify and emphasize key
ideas.
- Provide transitions which show the relationships
between key ideas.
- Effectively incorporate audiovisual or support
materials. See "Practical Suggestions for
Using Visual Instructional Aids: Chalkboard,
Slides, Transparencies."
- Throughout the lecture check on student
understanding by:
- Asking students to answer specific
questions.
-
- Example: "Okay now, who can describe
in his/her own words the theory of neuron
transmission?"
- Asking for student questions: State
structuring question(s) or cues that help
students formulate questions about what
they don't understand.
-
- Poor Example: "Any questions?"
- Good Example: "Did you have any
questions about the application of
Kirchoff's rules in problem 6?"
- Presenting a problem or situation which
requires use of lecture material in order
to obtain a solution.
-
- Example: "Over the last few days we
have been discussing regression analysis.
How can we use this information to
predict your final grade in this course
when given your midterm scores and the
correlation between midterm and final
scores?"
- Checking on student understanding by
watching the class from nonverbal cues of
inattention, confusion or
misunderstanding...
-
- Example: Look for puzzled expressions,
loss of eye contact, talking, clock
watching, frantic notetaking, and so
forth.
- Answer any questions raised at the beginning of
the lecture.
- Provide closure for the lecture. Suggestions
include:
- Briefly summarize lecture material and
preview what lies ahead.
-
- Example: "Today I have identified
five phases of the reflective thinking
process. Tomorrow we will see how these
phases can be useful for our
understanding of human learning."
- Relate lecture material to past or future
presentations.
-
- Example: "During the next lesson,
you will form discussion groups and get
some experience applying the evaluation
model discussed in class today to the
first three case studies in your
file."
- Ask a student to summarize the lecture's
key ideas.
-
- Example: "Who can summarize the key
issues developed during today's
lecture?"
- Restate what you expect the students to gain from
the lecture material.
- Example: "As I stated in the
introduction, given the appropriate data
you should be able to plot the
appropriate supply and demand
curves."
- Ask for and answer student questions.
Do you:
- Vary speech rate, volume and pitch? Cue important
ideas by slowing down and leaving pauses?
(Usually students take notes at less then
one-fifth the rate at which most lecturers
speak.)
- Speak to students and not to the blackboard,
walls, notes, or floor?
- Stop writing and talking at intervals to check
for student understanding?
- Enunciate clearly?
- Let your sense of humor show?
- Avoid repetition of pet words or phrases (e.g.,
okay, uh)?
Do you:
- Establish and maintain eye contact with
your students?
- Use gestures and physical movements which
complement your verbal statements and
teaching style (e.g., looking at students
while asking for student questions)?
- Avoid using distracting gestures or
physical movements (e.g., grooming,
pacing)?
Do you:
- Adjust windows and doors for
comfort?
- Practice in advance with
audiovisuals?
- Set up audiovisual equipment
prior to class? Come prepared
with an extra bulb for overhead
and slide projectors?
- Set time aside prior to class to
review your lecture material?
- Prior to class, make certain that
there is chalk and an eraser in
the room?
CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Advantages and
Disadvantages of the Lecture Method
- Suggestions for Effective
Lecture Preparation and Delivery
- The Beginning of the Lecture
- The Body of the Lecture
- The Closing of the Lecture
- Questions to Consider
- Delivery-Vocal
- Delivery-Physical
- Other
- Practical Suggestions for
Using Visual Instructional Aids
- Three Methods for
Assessing Lecturing Skills
- Videotape Self-Review
- Colleague Review
- Student Evaluation of Lecturing
- Suggestions for
Interpreting Collected Assessments
- References for Further
Reading
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