Learning Enhancement Service > How Can We Use the Lecture Format to Improve Student Learning?

How Can We Use the Lecture Format to Improve Student Learning?

This is about lectures, so you are all planning on sitting there and listening, right? No stress, no need to do anything but jot down a note or two if something seems interesting. Well, sorry to mess things up, but I’d like to start by asking you to take a little test.

It’s just 21 true/false questions.

Statements about Lectures and Student Learning (mark True or False)

1.		Lectures give the instructor control over course content.
2.		Lectures, once prepared, save the instructor time.
3.		Lectures can supplement the text and/or allow the presentation of unpublished material.
4.		Lectures can reveal the professor’s enthusiasm and commitment to the subject.
5.		Lectures are as effective as other methods in transmitting information.
6.		Lectures are less effective than other methods in promoting thought.
7.		Lectures are less effective than other methods in changing attitudes.
8.		Lectures are relatively ineffective in inspiring interest in a subject.
9.		Students learn information better if they recognize it as important.
10.		Students learn information better if it is effectively organized.
11.		Students grasp information most efficiently when it is related to their pre-existing organizational structure.
12.		Students need to construct their own interpretations of information if there is to be effective love term storage and real understanding.
13.		The act of recalling information from memory makes that information more recallable in the future.
14.		Students with a mastery orientation (improving skills rather than simply having the right answer) do better in the long run.
15.		Attention to and absorption of material begin to decline dramatically after about 15 minutes of lecture.
16		In a 50 minute class, student notes contain twice as much lecture content from the first 15 minute segment as they do from the third 15 minutes of class.
17.		Many students last the ability to take accurate notes.
18.		In general, very little of a lecture can be recalled afterwards except in the case of listeners with above average education and intelligence.
19.		Students retain factual material better when present in shorter sentences.
20.		Students retain more from lectures that contain fewer points but which provide additional examples and opportunities to respond.
21		Long tern recall is enhanced if information to be learned is delivered in segments rather than taught in a single block.

Ok, let’s see how you did.

All of these statements are true, at least according to various studies published in peer reviewed journals, .

Given that, what are the implications?

Questions 1-5 and 9-10 all contain arguments for lecturing:

1.		Lectures give the instructor control over course content. Full comfort ... control
2.		Lectures, once prepared, save the instructor time. Time/preparation
3.		Lectures can supplement the text and/or allow the presentation of unpublished information. Supplement
4.		Lectures can reveal the professor's enthusiasm and commitment to the subject. Show dedication, attract students
5.		Lectures are as effective as other methods in transmitting information. Good for transmitting information
9.		Students learn information better if they recognize it as important. Identifies material as important
10.		Students learn information better if it is effectively organized. Good lectures are clearly organized

On the other hand,

6.		Lectures are less effective than other methods in promoting thought.
7.		Lectures are less effective than other methods in changing attitudes.
8.		Lectures are relatively ineffective in inspiring interest in a subject. If goal is something other than transmitting information, then 6, 7, and 8 suggest that lecturing is not an effective technique. Makes you wonder about sermons as a way of altering behavior, doesn’t it?

Not quite so apparent, but questions 11-14 all suggest that traditional lecturing might get in the way of retention of information as well.

11.		Students grasp information most efficiently when it is related to their pre-existing organizational structure.
12.		Students need to construct their own interpretations of information if there is to be effective love term storage and real understanding.
13.		The act of recalling information from memory makes that information more recallable in the future.
14.		Students with a mastery orientation (improving skills rather than simply having the right answer) do better in the long run.

If I had asked you when you walked in to write down the key reason for using lectures, my guess is that most of you would have written something about allowing you to cover the material you need to cover.

What do questions 15-21 suggest?

15.		Attention to and absorption of material begin to decline dramatically after about 15 minutes of lecture.
16.		In a 50 minute class, student notes contain twice as much lecture content from the first 15 minute segment as they do from the third 15 minutes of class. 15 - 16 We may be covering the material, but they aren't getting it. Please don't read this as just another indictment of modern students. Researchers go pretty much the same results on attention span and retention in the 1920s. We succeeded in this system because we were the weird ones.
17.		Many students last the ability to take accurate notes. This is partly lack of experience/practice, but more to it. Research suggests that our ability to remember a string of non-connected words we have heard begins to fade after about 2 seconds. For example, “boardroom, big, into, his, on, a walked, leash, Ralph, the, dog, with.” doesn’t make much sense, and really hard to remember. Now, if the words have meaning for us we do a lot better. Now, how about “Ralph walked into the boardroom with his big dog on a leash.” We can handle that a lot better because the sentence fits into a pre-existing organizational structure in our brains. This is another reason why items 12 and 13 matter – we can hear, digest, take notes on something much better if we have begun to develop some framework – some scaffolding or a structure – for organizing it. Imagine you are a student hearing something that is completely new to you. I hope it isn’t as nonsensical sounding as my jumbled word string, but I fear that that may often be the case. Let’s make it a little better and say only that you as the student aren’t sure of the significance of what you are hearing and realize that you don’t really understand it. What are you going to do? Give up, tune out? Try to copy every word as spoken? The net result is going to be pretty garbled notes – and little understanding of the real meanings conveyed. And what is going to happen when the professor stops after 30 or 40 minutes and says “Are there any questions?”
18.		In general, very little of a lecture can be recalled afterwards except in the case of listeners with above average education and intelligence. In general, very little of a lecture can be recalled afterwards except in the case of listeners with above average education and intelligence. Will depend also on complexity of material naturally, and on the hearer’s ability to fit it into some pre-existing organizational structure in their heads. We can help here by giving rhetorical clues that show what we are doing. Are we doing compare and contrast, are we providing a sequential list, etc. For me the really interesting thing here is that retention goes up if the hearer has an immediate opportunity to apply in information or “rehearse it” as the psychologists call it. Evidently this triggers a neurological response that really enhances long term retention. In one study a group remembered more sixty days later than did a group checked just one day after hearing the lecture. The difference was that those in the first group had been asked to “rehearse” the lecture material on the day they heard it by discussing it and taking a short test.
19.		Students retain factual material better when present in shorter sentences. They simply can’t remember stuff long enough to copy if down. Another reason why not to deliver lectures that have been written out unless you are very careful to move from a written mode to an oral pattern
20.		Students retain more from lectures that contain fewer points but which provide additional examples and opportunities to respond. Covering the material doesn’t mean that they are learning it.
21		Long tern recall is enhanced if information to be learned is delivered in segments rather than taught in a single block. Most of us see it as perfectly logical to spend a day or two on one issue, and then move on to the next topic. Experimental psychology, however, has shown that this isn’t the most effective way for people to learn. Better if we introduce a subject, and then bring it back in more complete chunks several times later in the semester. Get better retention, better development of complex skills, and more ability to really work with the material.

So, if students lose focus after 15 minutes, don’t take adequate notes, and don’t retain much, what can we do if we want to lecture but do so in a way that is more effective in terms of student learning.

What have people tried? What has worked?

Possible Modifications to Traditional Lectures that Improve Student Learning

Better Techniques

Spacing Information (deWinstanley/Bjork)
Students learn key concepts better and retain more if they are presented in smaller pieces and spread over a longer period.

Help Students Organize Material (Sviniki; Bligh)
By emphasizing the key points, by providing examples that connect with student experience, and by helping them to develop organizational structures that connect new information to prior knowledge.

Use Visuals and Props (Lyons)
Can enhance learning by providing visual cues for mental organization; beware of making learning harder by distracting attention and/or providing meaningless stimuli (for example, fancy power point).

Use Board (Lyons)
An effective way of focusing student attention and signaling significance.

Conclusions (Race)
Clear conclusions/summaries reinforce and clarify message.

Place lecture in context (Race)
Remind students of how this material connects with what they learned earlier and how it will fit with what comes later.

Watch student body language (Lyons)
If they are tuning out, find out why (they don’t understand, the lecture is too elementary, you are digressing), and fix.

Keep checking (Race)
Record yourself on video periodically to check for mannerisms. Be observed and observe other.

Enhanced Engagement

End of lecture quizzes (BonwellfEison)
Students asked to take a short exam after lecture retained twice as much information after eight weeks as did the control group

Demonstrations (Bonwell/Eison)
Demonstrations help understanding, especially if questions asked in advance to prompt thinking (“What will happen if...”). HOWEVER, doing creates more learning than watching

Alter ego (Lyons)
Play both student and professor, with “student” asking questions. Enlivens class, demonstrates expectations

Checking for Understanding

Wait longer (Sviniki)
It takes a minimum of six seconds for a good student who has kept up with the lecture to review notes and formulate a question

Short Summaries (Sviniki)
Pause in lecture, have students write a one or two sentence summary of what has been presented, ask one or two to read out loud to check for comprehension

Whole Class Questions (Lyons)
Ask the entire class a question based on point made in lecture; ask for answer from all via thumbs up/down

Generating Better Notes

Limit what they need to copy (Race)
Keep them focused on key issues by providing handouts rather than having them copy complicated material from power point, overheads, or board

Provide outlines (deWinstanley/Bjork, Bligh)
Helps them see key points; too much detail is counterproductive
Once they understand idea, force them to produce their own outlines

Teach Note Taking (Race)
Show them notes you would take on a portion of your lecture
Help them understand the underlying organizational structure
Ask to see their notes

Guided Notes (Heward)
Instructor generated notes that provide background information and cues in the form of blank spaces to insert key facts/concepts and answers to questions
Produces better notes, more questions in class, and higher grades
Encourages faculty to prepare more carefully and to stay on task

Fragmented Lecture

Change up (Lyons)
Ways of re-setting 15 minute attention clocks
Can be longer: shift to video clip or small group discussion
Can be shorter: Whip Around Questions, Graffiti Boards, Quick All-Write, Note Review with partner

Pauses (Bonwell/Eison)
Pause for two minutes every 10-15 minutes
Students work in pairs during breaks to review and correct notes
Students did better than control on both immediate recall at the end of each class and on test at end of year to measure long term retention. Mean scores were two letter grades higher

Feedback lecture (Bonwell/Eison, Bligh)
Do two 20 minute mini-lectures, broken by a small group session on focused on a question that requires use of readings and lecture materials

Guided lecture (Bonwell/Eison)
Provide objectives for lecture in advance, and then lecture for half the period while students simply listen
Students spend five minutes writing down all they can remember from lecture
Students in small groups reconstruct the lecture conceptually
Instructor answers questions/clarifies
Students end with better notes and more ability to use the material

Lecture-Discussion (Bligh)
Start with general questions based on reading
Teacher writes key points on board/overhead as students provide
Teacher questions to get detail/depth
Teacher adds information as appropriate
Mini-lecture/scenario from teacher
Repeat process above in light of new/additional information

Student Generated Direction

Class devoted to student questions (Bonwell/Eison)
Once a week rather than instructor controlled lecture
Students pose questions on any aspect of course and explain why see as important
Class as whole ranks questions they most want addressed
Instructor works through as many as possible

Check understanding and adjust (Race)
Professor lays out objectives for the day, and asks which people feel they can already do.
Don’t lecture in areas where most understand and expand time elsewhere
Depth of understanding can be checked with series of questions

Sources:
Bligh, Donald, What’s the Use of Lectures, Jossey-Bass, 2000

Bonwell, Charles and James Eison, Active Learning, ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, No. 1, 1991

deWinstanley, Patricia, and Robert Bjork, “Successful Lecturing: Presenting Information in Ways that Engage Effective Processing,” in Diane Halpern and Milton Hakel, Applying the Science of Learning to University Teaching and Beyond, New Directions, #89, Spring 2002

Lyons, Richard, Teaching College in an Age of Accountability, Allyn and Bacon, 2003

Svinicki, Marilla, “Implications of Cognitive Theories,” and “Theories and Metaphors We Teach By,” in Robert Menges and Marilla Sviniki, College Teaching From Theory to Practice, New Directions, #45, Spring 1991

From “Tomorrow’s Professor” Listserv:
William Heward, “Guided Notes: Improving the Effectiveness of Your Lectures”
Craig Nelson, “What is the Most Difficult Step We Must Take to Become Great Teachers?”
Phil Race, “Practical Pointers on Preparing and Giving Lectures”
Phillip Wankat and Frank Oreovicz, “Breaking the 15-Minute Barrier”

Four parting thoughts

1.		Any movement away from a traditional lecture is going to decrease the amount of material you can cover in the course, which really challenges the way most of us were socialized. When you confront this, here are some things to think about. First, ask yourself what your goal is: do you want to expose them to the material, or do you want them to learn it? Second, ask yourself if you could cover everything that people in your field see as important by talking really fast. If the answer is no – which I bet it is – then it is time to acknowledge that you are already failing to provide “coverage,” and do some serious thinking about how to help them grasp the basic concepts and ways of learning that they will need to grow in the future on their own.
2.		Do what feels right to you. We aren't carbon copies, so what I do may not work well for you.
3.		Experiment, but do it in small increments.
4.		Whatever you do, remember that the research literature shows over and over again that doing/producing/manipulating/working with the material creates both better understanding and longer retention than simply listening to someone provide the material. If we don’t encourage/force students to make the information their own, we are simply encouraging bulimic learning, and I don’t think that is what any of us wants.

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