1. Centre for Educational Development
Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
ORHEP Project
Large Group
Teaching
Centre for
Educational Development
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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2. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Session Outline
• Expectations
• Starting Points – Definitions etc.
• Practical
• Ideas
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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3. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Learning Outcomes
• To have an understanding of the basic
principles of working in a lecture room.
• To have resources which you can follow
up to learn more.
• To have some ideas of how to push the
boundaries of your current practice.
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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4. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
What messages does the lecture
room give?
• To learn is to acquire information
• Information is scarce and hard to find
• Trust authority for good information
• Authorized information is beyond
discussion
• Obey the authority www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
From Wesch (2009) ALT-C Keynote
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5. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
• What comes to mind when thinking of
teaching a large group lecture?
Notes:
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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6. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Definitions
• What do we mean by large group?
• Over 30 = , over 50 = , over 100 =
– The number which places a constraint on
what we think we can do? My own comfort
– The number which places a constraint on the
types of activity we can do? What is actually
possible. www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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7. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Definitions
• What do we mean by lecture?
– Write you definition on a piece of paper.
– The way we deliver?
– The content we deliver?
– The physical space we are in?
– Can it be whatever you want it to be?
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8. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Delivery
“The classroom lecture is a special form of
communication in which voice, gesture,
movement, facial expression, and eye contact
can either complement or detract from the
content. No matter what your topic, your
delivery and manner of speaking immeasurably
influence your students' attentiveness and
learning.” Barbara Davis. www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/delivering.html this website also includes
some really useful tips for delivery.
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9. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
The Dr Fox Effect
“In a critique of student evaluations of teaching, professor of law Deborah Merrit summarized
the Dr. Fox Effect as it was observed in the first experiments, in which American actor Michael
Fox gave a lecture to a group of ten under the guise of "Dr. Myron L. Fox": "The experimenters
created a meaningless lecture on 'Mathematical Game Theory as Applied to Physician
Education,' and coached the actor to deliver it 'with an excessive use of double talk,
neologisms, non sequiturs, and contradictory statements.' At the same time, the researchers
encouraged the actor to adopt a lively demeanor, convey warmth toward his audience, and
intersperse his nonsensical comments with humor. ... The actor fooled not just one, but three
separate audiences of professional and graduate students. Despite the emptiness of his
lecture, fifty-five psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, graduate students, and other
professionals produced evaluations of Dr. Fox that were overwhelmingly positive. ... The
disturbing feature of the Dr. Fox study, as the experimenters noted, is that Fox‟s nonverbal
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
behaviors so completely masked a meaningless, jargon-filled, and confused presentation.”
(Wikipedia)
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10. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Student perspective 1
• 59% of students find their lectures boring half the
time and 30% find most or all of their lectures to be
boring. (Mann & Robinson, 2009)
• „And how many times have we students heard
“unfortunately this is quite a boring part of the
course, but it really is important”‟
• What makes a good lecturer? Enthusiasm,
approachable, understand the learning perspective
of students, give their time after lectures, www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
open-
minded, motivated, engage in a process of sharing,
passion. (Rieutort-Louis, 2009)
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11. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Student Perspective 2
• For new students: contrast with school /
college
• More self-reliance is required, e.g. What to
do, note taking, information overload
• Depersonalised / anonymous
• Peer factors
– „fear factor‟ of speaking / asking questions in a
large group www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
– behaviour
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12. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Starting
• Talk to students before you start, establish
rapport
• Grab their attention. Signal the start
• Announce the objectives.
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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13. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
During
• Voice: vary tone, conversational style.
• Language: simple, concrete, use
anecdotes
• Well Organised Material (but don‟t overdo
the prep!)
• Enthusiasm
• Clear visual aids www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
• Vary activity...
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14. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Finishing
• Finish forcefully – don‟t let it fizzle out
– “Make sure you have finished speaking before
your audience has finished listening.”
Dorothy Sarnoff
• Summarise / conclude
• Be prepared to talk to students afterwards
(if you have time). www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
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15. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Activity
• Quizzes / Questions (show of hands, team, paper
based...)
• Short writing activity
• Short reading activity (e.g. read an article)
• Debate / student presentations (prepared in
advance for a particular session) See Davis, SEDA Special 13
• Write own exam question based on material
presented earlier in lecture.
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
• Pair discussion, Buzz groups, Snowballing,
syndicate groups. (Gibbs & Habeshaw1989)
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16. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Resources for the lecture
• Demonstrations
• Models
• Video
• Images
• Case studies
• Worksheets
• Journal Articles
• Videos on large group teaching at Nottingham
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pesl/resources/largegro
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
up/
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17. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Planning & structuring the lecture
• Think: What learning are you trying to
stimulate? How does this lecture link to
others? What added value is there in your
presence?
• Do: Break the lecture up into sections,
provide opportunity for student –lecturer &
student – student interaction, be explicit.
• Remember: what are you doing? What are
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
students doing?
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18. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Theory
• Underpinning is based on constructivism,
e.g. Piaget, Bruner, Biggs
– learning is an active process in which learners
construct new ideas or concepts based upon
their current/past knowledge.
• Reflective practice
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19. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Pushing the boundaries
• Wesch - vision of students today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=PlayList&p=3D942C2F6C
BAE121&index=0&playnext=1
• Student response systems for Q&A, quizzes.
• Use of Twitter / SMS / email etc. for getting student
Qs or feedback during the session.
• Think outside of the walls: use the campus as a
learning space & Simulations e.g. Anthropology 101
class:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mwesch?blend=7&ob=4#play/uploads/4/JgbfMY-6giY
• Replacing lectures using technology, e.g.www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
podcasts
and have seminars instead.
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20. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Summary
• Teaching a large group is NOT just about
delivering non-stop for 50 minutes with the
students being passive.
• Students need to engage through:
– the way we deliver,
– the resources we use
– the activities we integrate.
• Teaching is as much an art form as www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
science, it
is very close to acting - so enjoy it!!
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21. Centre for Educational Development
ORHEP Project
Bibliography
• Davis (nd), Practical Ideas for Enhancing Lectures, SEDA
Special 13
• Gibbs & Habeshaw (1989) Preparing to Teach, Technical and
Educational Services Ltd, Bristol
• Mann & Robinson (2009) Boredom in the lecture theatre: an
investigation into the contributors, moderators and outcomes of
boredom amongst university students, British Educational Research
Journal, 35(2) pp. 243 – 258
• Rieutort-Louis (2009) What Makes a Good Lecturer? Academy
Exchange Issue 8
• Smith (nd), Lecturing to Large Groups, SEDA Special 1
• Young, Robinson & Alberts (2009) Students pay Attention!
www.orhep.brad.ac.uk
Combating the vigilance decrement to improve learning during
lectures, Active Learning in Higher Education, 10(1) pp. 41–55
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