FCTE Lecture/PowerPoint Presentation from Cutting Edge presentation on Friday Dec 6, 2014.

1. Effective Lectures
• When lecturing can be an effective pedagogical tool and how to build it into
course design
• What cognitive principles should be considered (e.g., attention, cognitive load
theory) when creating PowerPoint slides
• Effective principles for utilizing PowerPoint slides

2. Lecture as a tool

3. The Lecture
• According to McKeachie, the
lecture is the oldest teaching
method and still the most
widely (badly?) used in
universities throughout the
world.
• Don’t believe it is the oldest?

4. The Lecture
• Effective lecturers combine the talents of the
scholar, writer, producer, comedian, entertainer and teacher to
promote student learning.
• If you are one dimensional so is your teaching when using the lecture.
• No, the lecture is not the most effective teaching method available
to teachers but when a curriculum is focused on covering the most
content in the shortest amount of time, the lecture tends to be the
pedagogy du jour. So, lets’ focus on it.
• For future reference, discussion methods are superior to lectures in:
•
•
student retention of information after the end of the course;
transfer of knowledge to new situations;

5. The Lecture
• Strengths of lecture according to Cashin:
• Some other advantages attributed to lectures are
perhaps more relevant to graduate
instruction, especially for majors. Lectures can show
how experts in a field think, how they approach
questions, and how they try to solve a problem. A
lecture can summarize scattered material, or describe
latest discoveries or issues.

6. The Lecture
• Limitations of lecture according to Cashin:
• However, lecturing also has some serious limitations
when it becomes the primary means of instruction. The
most serious is that lecturing is not suited for higher
levels of learning: comprehension, application,
analysis, synthesis, evaluation (Bloom et al., 1956),
and creativity (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001).
• Perhaps equally limiting, in a traditional lecture, the
students are mostly passive. This results in learners’
attention waning quickly. If a lecture consists solely of
the teacher talking, lack of student feedback can be a
big problem.

7. Try those first 4 slides
again

8. The Lecture: the oldest and most used
teaching method

9. The Lecture: Most common but not most
effective Teaching method
Discussion
Lecture
Higher in
retention &
transfer
Lower in
retention &
transfer

10. The Lecture
• Strengths of lecture according to Cashin:
•
•
•
•
•
Lectures can show how experts in a field think,
How they approach questions
How they try to solve a problem
Summarize scattered material
Describe latest discoveries or issues

11. The Lecture
• Limitations of lecture according to Cashin:
• Not suited for higher levels of learning:
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evalu
ation and creativity
• Passive student
• Waning attention

12. Think-Pair-Share
Compare & Contrast the two styles

13. How are most lectures Given
today?

14. What do student think of
this?

15. Things people would rather do than
encounter a PowerPoint
• Forego sex tonight
• Do their taxes
• Go to the dentist
• Work on Saturday

16. Things to Consider
Cognitive
Brain
Effective
Lecture Design
Presentation
Techniques

17. Cognitive Considerations

18. “Whatever you think about, that’s
what you remember. Memory is
the residue of thought.”
-Cognitive Psychologist Daniel
Willingham

19. Cognitive Considerations
Learning
Attention
Active
Processing
Cognitive
Load
Working
Memory

20. Sweller’s Cognitive Theory
Limited
space in
working
memory!

21. Sweller’s Cognitive Load
Theory
Type
Description
Extraneous
Cognitive processing that does
not serve the instructional goal;
caused by confusing
instructional design.
Intrinsic
(Sometime
called
Essential)
Cognitive processing required to
represent the essential material
in working memory; cause by the
complexity of material.
Germane
(Sometime
called
Essential
Generative)
Cognitive processing required for
deeper understanding; caused
by motivation of the learner.
Germane
Load
Intrinsic
Load
Extraneous
Load
Total Cognitive Load

22. Brain Considerations

23. Brain Likes Novelty
Are your
lectures
engaging or
sleep
inducing?

24. Brain Considerations
• Passive brains + Passive body
learning
• Brain Guru John Medina explains

25. Presentation
Considerations

26. Death by PowerPoint
• Dead Words on Screen
• Black and White
• Lots of text!
• Read most or all dead words to your
student
• Student 17-30 years old easily bored
and impatient

27. Lecture or Target Practice?
Learning

28. Conclusion

29. Problems with Lectures
• Why don’t students read the text?
• It will be “covered” in lecture
• Flawed Assumption: I have to “cover” the
material or students won’t know it.
Passive learning equals superficial
learning
• Active learning = lasting learning

30. Any Use for Lectures? Yes
• Mini/micro lectures – 10-15 min. long
• Clarification, examples
• Separate with engaged learning activities
• Brain Guru John Medina again

31. • Targeted lectures – not to “cover”
material
• Purpose: to expand, address
confusions, or illustrate applications
• Test comprehension and promote critical
thinking
• E.g. present case study, scenario, realistic simulation

32. Techniques to make
Lectures more engaging
Next Time
Friday January 17
“Core Services: Engaging Lecture”