Effective Teaching

Jay D. Hunt, Ph.D.

CSRB 4D1

568-4734

Overview of Lecture

• Preparation

• Delivery

• Examinations

• Course Evaluation

Preparation

• Know your audience’s level of knowledge– Undergraduate

• Need to know facts and principles

• Foundation for future learning

– Graduate• Need experimental design and interpretation

• How to gain knowledge

– Professional• Need previous facts in context

• Much more goal-oriented

Preparation

• Organize your thoughts before you work on your lecture.– Create an outline of what you want your

students to know.– Generate learning objectives:

• Good: “Be able to recognize and draw the structure of each of the nucleotides.”

• Poor: “Know the nucleotides.”

Preparation

• Generate supplemental handouts when appropriate.– Particularly important for professional students

– Do not replicate information in the textbook.

– Examples of useful handouts:• Lecture outline

• Learning objectives

• Sample test questions

• A review of your lectures

• For graduate students: articles

Delivery

• Two types of learners– Visual

• Need to see slides, black board, overhead transparencies

• Learns from reading the text and handouts

– Aural• Need to hear you speak the lecture

• Will ask more questions than the visual learner

• May not even own the textbook

• Tend to join study groups more than visual learners

Delivery

• From the outset of the lecture, let the students know:– What you are going to teach them (outline)– What they are expected to know

• Only the topics covered in the lecture, or

• The topics covered in the lecture plus the textbook

– That you encourage questions and interruptions– How to reach you if they have questions

Delivery

• Questions from the students– If one student has a question, others in the class

probably have the same question.– One can judge the class’ comprehension of the

material from the questions received.– Questions sometimes point out weaknesses in

one’s delivery.– Use questions to extend the lecture’s content.

Delivery

• The same principles for giving a good seminar apply to giving a good lecture.– Pace your delivery to the class– Project your voice and do not talk to the board

or screen– Do not read to the class except in rare instances

where appropriate– When appropriate, involve the class

Delivery

• When leaving a topic and moving to the next topic, always:– Briefly review the take home message– Tell the students what they are responsible for– Place the topic in context with the next topic

(this may include, “What we will discuss next has nothing to do with what we just discussed.”)

Examinations

• Prepare test questions immediately after giving a lecture (so that the information that you discussed is still clear in your mind)

• Prepare the test questions before you give the lecture (so that you will cover the material covered in the questions).

Examinations

• The types of questions will depend on the class size and the type of student

• Multiple choice test knowledge of facts and principles

• Essay questions test facts, principles, and application of same

Examination

• The best college football team on the planet is the:

A. Boston Celtics

B. Chicago Cubs

C. Dallas Cowboys

D. Pittsburgh Penguins

E. Tennessee Volunteers

The best type of multiple choice question is the type in which thestudent must complete the sentence.

Alphabetizing the answersensures there is no bias towardusing certain letters.

Examination

• Each of these teams is not a college football team except:

A. Boston Celtics

B. Chicago Cubs

C. Dallas Cowboys

D. Pittsburgh Penguins

E. Tennessee Volunteers

Avoid using negatives and confusing syntax in the question.

Examination

• Which of the following is a college football team?

A. Boston Celtics

B. Chicago Cubs

C. Dallas Cowboys

D. Pittsburgh Penguins

E. Tennessee Volunteers

A better way to phrase the same question

Examination

• All of these are college football teams except:

A. Boston Celtics

B. Michigan Wolverines

C. Ohio State Buckeyes

D. Tennessee Volunteers

E. None of the above

Avoid “All of the above” and “None of the above.”

Examinations

• Design essay style questions to test more than just facts. Essay questions with no one correct answer are fine:– Which college football team is the best in the

world? Describe the process by which it became the best. Contrast the team’s strengths with last year’s weaknesses.

Course Evaluation

• Always evaluate your course!– Ensure anonymity by using standardized, non-

identifying questionnaires.– Encourage comments.– Do not collect questionnaires yourself. Have them

mailed to a collection center (preferred) or have them placed in an envelope at the end of the final examination.

– Use the data to constructively modify your course!– Do not take negative comments personally.