Chapter 10
Teaching Your Own Class

Teaching your own class can be a daunting experience at first. If you served as a teaching assistant, the supervising instructor established the course content, created assignments and developed themes. The recitations and labs you taught, although sometimes involving original material, often followed a preset lesson plan. Now, as a teaching fellow and course instructor, you are the ultimate authority on what will be taught and how the material will be presented. Do not worry; we have some advice.

With careful organization your first teaching assignment can be a success. In this chapter we offer some guidance on teaching a class for the first time. We discuss how to structure a course, write a syllabus, take advantage of online course software and present a lecture. Yet this chapter can only outline the basics of teaching your own class. As a first-time instructor, you should consult with faculty in your department, other teaching fellows, academic and professional journals in your field, and the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education.

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

Many college classes—especially survey classes—are structured around content. Traditionally there is a body of information that each course is expected to address; once the student has heard (as a lecture) this material and demonstrated some mastery of the facts (in an exam), the course is thought to have fulfilled its purpose.


Increasingly, instructors feel that content should be only one of many factors considered when designing a course. Focusing only on content can lead to an excessive emphasis on memorization of factual information rather than the mastery of higher-level thinking skills and the exploration of larger themes that make a discipline meaningful. Students in classes in which content is the only consideration sometimes complain that their instructors rushed through material in a race to make it to the end of the syllabus. Moreover, as disciplines grow each year and new theories and approaches are introduced, the challenge of "covering" content becomes more difficult.

An alternative model addresses these problems. Rather than focusing on content, the instructional design model places the emphasis on students’ mastery of intellectual skills. With this approach, the stress is on students gaining the skills in problem solving, analysis and critical thinking that they need to make sense of the discipline they are studying. These skills become a central component of the instructor’s teaching objectives. Content is still very important, but students are taught how to engage the content.

What is it that you want your students to learn? What questions are posed by your discipline or what abilities do you want your students to develop? These goals are the starting place for developing a course. In a Spanish class, for example, you might want your students to develop the language and cultural skills necessary to spend a week in Mexico City. In a sociology class, you might want your students to analyze how gender has influenced the development of home life. In an engineering class, you might want students to think creatively about how physics is applied. These "big" questions are your course objectives and they help to determine your learning activities (teaching methods and strategies) and how you evaluate the progress that students are making in the course. In other words, your course objectives, assessment techniques and learning activities should all be closely related to one another.

  Even if you, as a first time instructor, are not designing your own course, establishing objectives will help to make your teaching more coherent and will establish goals by which you can measure the success of your teaching and your students’ learning. In the next section, we offer you some assistance with developing your course objectives and applying the instructional design model.

FOCUSING ON OBJECTIVES

What are your course objectives? Answering that question begins with thinking about your discipline and ends with thinking about your students. Ask yourself, "What role will the course I am going to teach play in my students’ university education?" At one level, this means thinking about how the course fits into the curriculum. Is it an introductory class? Is it a prerequisite? What skills and knowledge should a student who is majoring in your discipline gain from taking the class? What skills and knowledge should a student who is not majoring in your discipline gain from taking the class?

At another level, asking yourself what role the course you are teaching will play in a student’s education requires that you think about your students’ intellectual development. How can your class contribute to the University’s mission as a teaching institution? How will students use the information your class will teach them? How will it improve the quality of their lives? These questions challenge us to think about why we teach—and why students have come to the University of Pittsburgh for an education.

Do not answer these questions hastily. Think about classes that you took as an undergraduate, particularly those outside your current area of interest. Which have had a lasting impact on you? What do you remember learning? These were probably courses that taught you how to think about a discipline or to see the world a little differently. You may not be a film major, but ever since you took that class on film composition you have not been able to go to the movies without considering lighting, sound and camera angle. The course taught you to think differently about film.

FOCUSING ON SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Once you have established your broad course objectives, you need to think about how best to achieve those objectives. The students in your classes may come from a variety of majors and their academic experiences may vary greatly, but to teach your students and to meet your objectives you need to assess those students. What skills and abilities do they have? What skills will need to be developed so that your students are able to understand, apply and evaluate the material you will present? In an introductory Spanish class, for example, it is probably reasonable to expect that most of your students have had very little experience with Spanish language or culture (although some of the students may have studied a different language in the past). If your class objective is to prepare your students to spend a week in Mexico City, you are going to have to teach them basic grammar, help them to develop a traveler’s vocabulary, and ensure that their pronunciation of words is accurate. You will also need to introduce them to the culture and customs of Central America so that they can use their language skills effectively and appropriately, and also understand the subtleties of the language as it is spoken in everyday life.

Talking to experienced faculty members in your department is a good way to get a sense of what to expect from your students. Once you are aware of what your students already know, it becomes clearer what you will need to teach them. One way to think about skills and abilities is Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s Taxonomy outlines a hierarchy of thinking skills that are observable and measurable. The taxonomy helps instructors to think about the learning process and to develop goals; it also helps them to think about how students’ achievements of those goals can be evaluated.

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY

 Levels of Thinking Thought Process Verbs
1. Knowledge Remembering by recall/recognition; requires memory only. Define, identify, recall, recognize. - Who? Ask what? Where? When?
Example: Define the film term establishing shot.
2. Comprehension Grasping the literal message; requires rephrasing or rewording. Describe, compare, contrast, in your own words.
Example: Compare an establishing shot to a close-up.
3. Application Requires use or application of knowledge to reach an answer or solve a problem. Write an example, apply, classify.
Example: Give an example of an establishing shot from a movie.
4. Analysis Separate a complex whole into parts, identify motives or causes, and determine evidence. Analyze, support, draw conclusions.
Example: Analyze a clip from a movie to determine the effect of an establishing shot.
5. Synthesis Produce original communication or solve a problem (more than one possible answer). Write, design, predict, develop.
Example: Given a film story plot, design the appropriate establishing shots.
6. Evaluation Make judgments and offer opinions. Judge, decide, evaluate, assess.
Example: Evaluate the effectiveness of the use of establishing shots.

If your course objectives are challenging, you will find that in order to achieve those goals you are going to have to encourage students to think at a high level. Students come to college to develop their thinking skills and abilities. Often the best courses are those that not only expand our knowledge ("What is film composition?"), but also teach us to employ the knowledge ("That was a good plot, but the camera work was distracting.") and sometimes to employ the knowledge in some very sophisticated ways ("If I had shot that opening scene, I would have used a wider camera angle so that I could have captured the squalor of the neighborhood.").

Which skills in Bloom’s Taxonomy are necessary for your students? How can you develop those skills and prepare your students for analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating the material that you will present to them? As you begin to think about developing your students’ skill levels, you should find yourself thinking about your class differently. Instead of worrying about what you have to do to cover the material, you will begin to think about how the material will be learned and applied by your students, and what you will have to do to make sure that your students’ learning experiences are a success.

FOCUSING ON CONTENT

As important as it is to think about how your students will learn, you will have to think about content as well. Considering both your course objectives and the skill development of your students can help you make tough decisions about what content to include and how that content should be presented. What material needs to be introduced in order for students to meet the course objectives? What knowledge is required for the students to gain mastery of the subject you are teaching? How will the students use the information you are giving them?

Decisions about the content that you cover are discipline specific. Ask your colleagues for copies of their syllabi and course notes (or check out the growing number of syllabi collections on the Internet including, for example, The World Lecture Hall). Also consider the role of your course in both your department’s and the University’s curriculum. Some departments have specific guidelines (especially for introductory classes) that must be followed. Even if you are not bound by such regulations, you should think carefully about the material that has been traditionally covered in a class and make informed decisions about what students need to be taught.

FOCUSING ON STRUCTURE

The structure of your course ties together the learning skills and course content that you wish to teach. Presenting material in a logical and organized form makes it easier for your students to synthesize the material and to recognize the interconnectedness of the content you are presenting. Recognizing such connections, of course, is one of the higher skill levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

A strong organizational structure is also helpful for you as you consider what material is appropriate for your class and how best to communicate your material to your students. Types of organizational structures include the following:
 

Chronological Organizes a sequence of events in time; for example, a history course that moves in temporal order (United States History to 1877)
Topical Deals with a limited number of topics and sub-topics (Abnormal Psychology)
Conceptual Focuses on the concepts of a discipline (The Political Economy of Developing Countries)
Survey Provides extensive coverage of a topic, touching upon a wide range of content (Foundations of Biology)
Process Emphasizes skills and methods of a discipline (Spoken Arabic)

Every class must have some structure. As we have noted, the structure you choose helps you organize and select material, and makes it easier for your students to learn. But in addition to a dominant structure that organizes the class as a whole, you may also want to use a variety of substructures to meet certain course objectives. A literature class, for example, might follow a generally dominant chronological organization introducing Chaucer before Chekhov, and Wharton before Walker. The lectures might reflect this structure. But concurrently, weekly class discussions may be conceptually sub-structured, focusing on how literature has addressed social class, cultural conflict, race and alienation.

FOCUSING ON EVALUATION

Your course objectives will also determine how the class’s progress is evaluated. In the Spanish course in our previous example, it would be unfair to ask students to demonstrate knowledge of Castilian Spanish if you have been preparing them for a trip to Mexico City. Similarly, you do not want to evaluate your students’ ability to compose a letter in Spanish if your class has focused exclusively on spoken Spanish. These are obvious examples; however, not taking into consideration how evaluation corresponds to course objectives is a common mistake for first-time instructors. All too often we ask our students to compare, contrast, analyze or explain without modeling these skills in our lectures or encouraging them in discussions and other activities. Students need to practice using the course material and thinking about the course content before they are asked to demonstrate higher-level skills on an exam. The learning activities you use in teaching (lecture, discussion, demonstration, practice, etc.) should provide students with an opportunity to develop the skills they need to demonstrate their mastery of the material.

DEVELOPING A COURSE PLAN

Once you have established your course objectives, considered the skills students will need to meet those objectives, determined what material needs to be presented and how, and decided on the best way to evaluate your students’ mastery of the course objectives, then it is time to get busy with the practical necessities of compiling a rough syllabus or course plan. At the most basic level, this requires that you check the academic calendar to determine when your class will meet, and that you divide the material you want to cover accordingly. At a more sophisticated level, this requires that you establish a plan for developing your students’ thinking skills while introducing new course material so that ultimately the class will have achieved its objectives.

A course plan can be as formal or informal as you like, but it needs to address four factors:

A course plan must divide the material to be taught into class units. The structure you have chosen (chronological, topical, etc.) should create natural breaks in the material. For example, in a chronologically structured class, decades or centuries may create natural (or traditional) breaks. When possible, these natural breaks should fall just before weekends and holidays so that new material is presented when the students return to class. Experience suggests that it is a bad idea to introduce new terms, concepts and ideas on the day before spring break begins. In addition, consider these breaks when scheduling exams and other assignments. Evaluation and assessment should be scheduled at these natural breaks so that students are encouraged to review the old material before you introduce new material. It also gives you a chance to assess how you are meeting your course objectives and whether your students have developed the skills necessary to successfully move on to the next unit of instruction.

A course plan must use your course objectives. Course objectives must be employed to be useful. Consider each session: what progress toward achieving the course objectives can you make in that session? Just as each class will address the course content and develop the material you are presenting, each should also address the course objectives.

A course plan must indicate how the class will be taught. What types of instruction will you use? How will the teaching techniques you select contribute to your students’ understanding of the material and mastery of learning skills? Lectures, discussions, practice and demonstrations may all have a place in your course plan, but they do not all necessarily serve the same purpose. If you want students to learn to think critically about political events, lecturing in every class may not be the best approach. In this case, as you begin each natural division in the course material, you might want to introduce that segment of the course with a lecture explaining key political concepts and terms, and then have students do in-class writing assignments or hold discussions. In another class, lectures may be more appropriate. We want to emphasize that there is no best way to teach, but it is important that you consider whether the methods you employ are teaching your students the skills they require. Each week, the material and your objectives may vary; therefore, each week your teaching activities must be adapted.

In addition to indicating how classroom sessions will be taught, the course plan should also list the readings and activities that students will be assigned. Like the class sessions, the material you assign outside of class should be consistent with your course goals and the students’ learning skills. Assigning too much reading or a too difficult task may discourage students and impede learning.

A course plan must include periodic assessment and evaluation. Assessment is an important part of both teaching and learning. You need to measure your students’ progress, at least in part, to measure your own progress. Are the students learning as much as you had hoped they would learn? Are they developing the skills and mastering the knowledge they will need for the course to meet its objectives? Following a class in which you lectured about political theory, a quick objective quiz might serve to emphasize the importance of the terms you introduced and to verify that your lecture was clearly understood. Following a week of discussing how political action committees affect elections, an essay summarizing the major arguments for and against PAC contributions may help students to synthesize the issues that were raised. In other words, course design and evaluation are symbiotic and need to be adapted to each other.
Instructional Design Resources

Preparing Instructional Objectives
Robert F. Mager, Preparing Instructional Objectives. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Pitman Management and Training, 1984. 

Planning a College Course (Univ. of Nebraska)
http://www.unl.edu/teaching/PlanningCourse.html

 

Planning a course is not easy. If you feel you still have questions about setting and using objectives to develop a course design, there are two sources that may be of assistance. Preparing Instructional Objectives by Robert F. Mager is a short text that explains both the value of using objectives and how to develop them. In addition, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has created a web site that provides a step-by-step guide to planning a college course. See the insert for more information on these sources.

Once you have established a course plan, you are ready to present it to your students. In the next section, we discuss developing and designing a syllabus.
 
 

SYLLABUS CONSTRUCTION

The syllabus is one of the first ways you will interact with your students and it can set the groundwork for a successful semester. A well-designed syllabus will serve as an introduction to your goals and objectives, a "table of contents" laying out the organization of the course, and an "informal contract" between you and your students.

Naturally, students begin a course with many questions: What are the instructor’s attitudes toward the material? What can I learn in this class? What will be required of me? Can I manage the work for this class given the other courses I am taking? The syllabus establishes the objectives and requirements for the course and provides students with a reference for the entire semester. Research suggests that a well-constructed syllabus helps students to be more efficient learners and allows instructors and students to interact more effectively.

Our advice: be thorough, write clearly, make it engaging. A useful syllabus will make your job as instructor much easier.
 
 

CONTENTS

Although some departments have a required syllabus format, most allow instructors to develop their own syllabi. Your syllabus may reflect your instructional style and objectives, although it must also include some basic information that students need. This information includes logistical notes, course rationale, course description, policies and schedules.
 
 

LOGISTICAL INFORMATION

Every syllabus should state basic logistical information about the course, the instructor and the materials required for the class. Include the following:

    • Title. List the course title, course number, credit hours and the University registration number (CERN).

    • Time and Location. Include information on when and where the course meets.

    • Recitations. Provide a list of recitations and the times they meet (if necessary).

    • Instructor’s Name and Contact Info. Include your full name and information on contacting you including your office location, office hours, and your office phone number. You may also want to include an e-mail address, e-mail office hours or a home phone number.

    • Materials. Provide a list of books and other materials required for the course (and where they can be purchased).

    • Prerequisites. Include information about the course prerequisites or any technological tools that students need to be familiar with.

COURSE RATIONALE

The course rationale is a brief statement that explains the purpose of the course and how that course fits into either the University’s or your department’s curriculum.
 
 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is your opportunity to share your passion for the discipline you are teaching and the course objectives you have set. In the course description you should express your expectations for the class and show prospective students what they can gain from the course. The tone you establish in your course description will set the tone for the course.

The course description should familiarize students with the following:

    • Objectives. Share the course objectives with your students. This establishes goals for the class and provides a focus for your students’ learning.

    • Content. Describe the course content including the topics that will be covered and the themes that will be stressed.

    • Structure. Outline the structure of the course and explain how lectures, discussions or group work will be integrated into the course.

    • Assignments. Provide a thorough description of the assignments and what will be expected of the students.

POLICIES AND EVALUATION

Clearly stating course policies and requirements avoids confusion, false starts and complaints. You should let your students know how grades will be determined. Remember, try to be as fair and objective as possible and be sure that any policies you establish are consistent with those of the University and your school or department.

You might include the following material:

    • Attendance/Tardiness. If you hate it when students show up late or miss class, let them know your policy and what penalty will be assessed.
    • Participation. If your class includes discussions or in-class group work, you should let students know why participation is important and how it is graded.
    • Reading. What books have been assigned? Are students to follow along in the textbook at their own pace or will you expect them to have the material read before class? How will reading assignments be integrated into the class? Will they be tested on the material?
    • Written Assignments. If students are assigned papers, lab reports or other written assignments, you should provide very specific guidelines including the number of pages, font size and spacing. Lab reports and specialized assignments (such as diaries) may require even more detail. In addition, you should explain to students what the goal of the writing assignment is and how it will be evaluated.
    • Exams. Let students know what the exams will look like (essays, multiple choice, and short answers) and what type of material will be covered.
For each of the policies include the due date and the percentage of the grade allotted to it. You should also include special instructions concerning missed exams, late papers, and academic dishonesty (See Chapters 5, 6 and 8 for more information).
 
 

COURSE SCHEDULE

The longest part of the syllabus is usually the course schedule. The course schedule offers a calendar of events, which may include the titles (and abstracts) of lectures, special events (films, field trips), assigned readings, homework and exams. Typically it provides a road map for students so that they may carefully plan their work. It may also serve as a guideline for the instructor to make sure that he or she is meeting course objectives.

When preparing the course outline, consider University holidays and other events that may require you to miss or reschedule a class. Also include as much information about the readings as possible. For each, give a complete citation (so that it can be used in footnotes) including page numbers and instructions on acquiring the document (online, reserve desk, purchased book). Do not hesitate to repeat information that was stated in other parts of the syllabus. The syllabus is a reference tool and while you can expect students to read it through once, after the first week it is more likely that they will consult only relevant sections. Some repetition ensures that your intentions are made clear. (Hey, it worked for us in this handbook!)

You can adapt or modify your syllabus after the semester begins. Although it is important to provide as much accurate information as possible at the start of the class, include a statement to the effect that the course schedule is tentative and may change throughout the semester. However, adjusting the syllabus can create confusion. Therefore, do so only if it is absolutely necessary and clearly explain any changes to your class.
 
 

CourseWeb

The University of Pittsburgh makes CourseWeb, a course design software package, available to any interested faculty member, staff member, or teaching fellow instructing a course. CourseWeb is a "shell" or "container" for your course materials that makes assignments, handouts, readings, lecture notes and presentations available to students through the Internet. As a course instructor (or a teaching assistant working with a course instructor) you can use CourseWeb’s powerful communications tools—a discussion board, chat room, and integrated e-mail—to hold online class sessions or recitations, to answer students’ questions, to make weekly announcements or to comment on assignments. In fact, you even have a digital drop box where students can submit assignments and homework can be graded, revised and resubmitted without the exchange of paper.

CourseWeb is easy to use and incredibly simple to customize. One instructor might use it as a chat room where student groups can cooperatively work on projects; another instructors might take advantage of all its organization, communication and administrative tools and use it to administer online tests (in many cases, graded automatically) and to maintain a grade book. Moreover, customization allows you to determine who has access to what. CourseWeb is located on a secure CourseWeb server; the instructor decides what materials teaching assistants, students and the rest of the University of Pittsburgh community can look at, use or change.

While CourseWeb provides the framework for developing a web-based course with little or no knowledge of HTML (the "language" used to create Internet web pages), a training session is still required before a course shell is created for a class. The training, lasting about eight hours, teaches instructors how to customize course information, integrate course material and monitor students’ use of this virtual classroom. CourseWeb training is offered by the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education (CIDDE) every term. Since space is limited, course instructors who wish to use CourseWeb should register as soon as possible.

Instructors who use CourseWeb have had excellent results. Even before the class begins, students can be e-mailed and invited to explore the course materials, class calendar and external links. From day one, if the instructor chooses, students can build their own student web pages within CourseWeb. Thus CourseWeb encourages early and active participation in the class.

Equally important, CourseWeb frees class time. By making class announcements online, providing outlines and readings on the web, and answering questions with the communication software, instructors have more time to employ interactive teaching strategies that involve students in learning by practice during class.

Students also seem to appreciate CourseWeb. Studies at the University of Pittsburgh suggest that students especially liked three features of CourseWeb: easy communication with the instructor, quick feedback on assignments, and access to course notes and presentation materials. And, despite some trepidation on the part of both instructors and students, it appears that CourseWeb actually encourages student participation and interaction in the class. (For some additional information on CourseWeb and using instructional technology, see Chapter 4.)
 
 

COURSE MATERIALS

As an instructor, you will want students to purchase textbooks or to use materials held on reserve at the library or media center. Readings and other course materials enrich a class by providing in-depth information that could not be presented in class, or by offering an alternative to the instructor’s viewpoint. Moreover, these materials are often the basis for practice assignments that give students hands-on experience with the course content.

Be considerate when ordering books. Students often have limited budgets and if you assign too many texts at too great a cost, they will not be able to purchase them. When possible, it is a good idea to place copies of books that you recommend for purchase on reserve at the library so students can use them (for a few hours at a time) without cost. Instructors should also consider their students’ legitimate concerns about time management and workload. Assigning an unrealistic amount of work is seldom productive; often students just stop doing the assignments.

The University of Pittsburgh offers a number of services that assist instructors in preparing and distributing course materials. Web sites and telephone numbers for the following campus services are available in the resource guide in Chapter 12: Ordering Texts. Textbooks and other course readings can be ordered through the University Book Center. Forms are available in most departments, at the Book Center or on the Book Center’s web pages. Book orders should be placed as soon as possible. It can take up to two months for the bookstore to acquire even readily available materials.

Keep in mind that book orders fall into two categories: required and optional. Required texts are books that every student must purchase in order to do the course work. If there are texts that you believe might be useful to students who are pursuing more in-depth work or who may need a primer before taking the course, these books can be ordered as optional readings and the decision whether to purchase the books left to the student.

Publishing companies often make instructor copies of books available to teachers free of charge. Ask your department about ordering instructor copies directly from the publisher.

Reserving Library Material. University libraries allow instructors to place course materials on reserve for student use. Reserve materials are usually available for two-hour, three-day or seven-day loans and may include books, articles or personal copies (out-of-print books, for example). Although most reserve items are held at Hillman Library, branch libraries do have reserve desks for related departments.

Reserve reading request forms are available at the library’s reserve desk or, for book reserves only, online at the library’s web site. When placing books on reserve, allow time. Book requests should be submitted a month before the semester starts. If the book needs to be ordered, allow an additional month for the library to make the purchase.

Photocopied material may also be placed on reserve, although only one photocopy of any journal article or book chapter can be placed on reserve each semester due to copyright restrictions. Increasingly, the library is encouraging instructors to place non-copyrighted material online. When placing a photocopy request, provide the library with a full citation (in the case of a journal article, for example, the journal title, date and volume, article title and author and, if available, ISSN).

The library will also place personal copies of books, articles or notes on reserve. These are returned to you (often slightly worn) when the semester ends. Textbooks can not be placed on reserve.

Reserving Media. Films and other forms of media can also be reserved for a class. For specific instructions about reserving films and videotapes that students can view outside of class, contact Instructional Media Services. In the case of audio materials, contact the Stark Listening Room at Hillman, the Music Library or the Language Lab for specific guidelines.

Assigning Online Material. By using a course web site (such as CourseWeb), or a list of publicly accessible web sites, online materials—from interactive web pages to historical documents—can be made available to students in your class.

There are some rules to keep in mind when assigning material located on the Internet. Unless you have uploaded the documents, be aware that web addresses sometimes change and any links you provide should be routinely checked. You should also know that Internet materials are governed by copyright restrictions. For more information, see the section on teaching with technology in Chapter 4 of this handbook.

One final warning: although each year the number of scholarly sites on the Internet increases, not all of the material available on the web is accurate or scholarly. You should carefully consider the content and source before assigning online materials.

CopyCat and Reading Packets. The University of Pittsburgh’s copy center, CopyCat, produces reading packets and specialized texts for instructors. Course reading packets are anthologies of selected readings that professors tailor to their course needs. CopyCat arranges copyright permission for articles and chapters in books, and then provides a bound copy of the readings for students. These are often more economical than textbooks since unwanted material is not included.

For course packets, instructors must provide detailed citations (including publishing information) and copies of the material to be reproduced. Order forms are available at CopyCat and requests must be submitted at least two months before the start of the semester.
 
 

TEACHING YOUR CLASS

In previous chapters we have discussed a variety of approaches to teaching and have offered advice on selecting an instructional style (See Chapters 3, 4 and 9). Many of those techniques stress active learning (getting students involved in their own education). Practice is an important part of the educational experience, but a well-designed lecture can also be an effective tool for communicating theories, ideas and facts to your students. While teaching your own class does not mean that you should abandon discussions and other active learning techniques you practiced as a teaching assistant, lectures are often the cornerstone of University teaching.

In the following section, we offer a guide to preparing, organizing and delivering effective lectures.
 
 

THE LECTURE

Dr. Joanne M. Nicoll, Associate Director for Instructional and Faculty Development at the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education

INTRODUCTION [1]

How can knowledge about lecturing techniques help teaching assistants and teaching fellows? Having graduated from college, all of us have attended many lectures as part of our undergraduate experience. Instructors may design their courses as a series of lectures or include lectures as one of the traditional teaching methods they use, and many teaching assistants give guest lectures or use lecture techniques in seminars. Techniques for giving effective lectures also can be used in leading discussions or conducting labs. More recently, however, the lecture has been criticized as a teaching method. This is most likely due to the lack of active learning opportunities for students since lecturing is often a one-way communication from the teacher to a group of students. The lecture method, however, is an accepted and valuable teaching method if used appropriately. Although it is not advisable to use the lecture as the exclusive method of instruction, there are situations when the lecture may be the best choice.

Certain skills are important in lecturing effectively. This section is designed to help you to determine when the lecture method is appropriate, how you can include active learning as part of a lecture, and how you can acquire or refine skills needed to design and deliver a lecture most effectively.

What are the advantages of lecturing? The lecture provides students with information about a topic that has been extensively researched by the instructor. An instructor should consider a lecture as an appropriate delivery method when the material requires more knowledge and skills in a particular area than most students possess or when the group (either because of size or setting) does not lend itself to more individualized or interactive learning. The lecture can serve as a bridge between the students’ existing knowledge and the new content provided. The lecturer may also introduce models that can help students to approach or solve problems. To illustrate this last point, consider an economics class in which students are asked to use modernization theory to explain the slow development of South American countries. In the lecture, the instructor might address the efforts to introduce industry into Brazil as an example of how modernization works. Students would then have a model of the theory in practice that they could adapt and apply to Chile, Venezuela or Columbia.

In addition, the lecture serves as an economical and efficient method for delivering substantial amounts of information to large numbers of students. It can be used to provide variety for students who are spending most of their time in other forms of learning activities. The lecture can provide the following:

    • Necessary framework/overview for subsequent learning;
    • Dissemination of up-to-date information and current research and theories;
    • Summary of material scattered over a variety of printed sources;
    • Means of adapting material to the background and interests of a particular audience;
    • Structure to help students read materials more effectively;
    • Visual demonstration.
Like all effective forms of instruction, a lecture requires careful preparation. In particular, an effective lecture requires extensive research, preparation of content, and polished presentation and delivery skills in order to maintain student attention and motivation.

What are the disadvantages of lecturing? Using the lecture as a primary instructional method does not afford a means for an instructor to provide students with individual feedback. Furthermore, it is difficult to adapt this method to individual learning differences. The lecture also may fail to promote active learning, and students who regularly receive instruction through lectures may find it difficult to remain attentive and motivated. Finally, although the lecture provides a way to demonstrate procedures, sometimes it is difficult for students in large lecture halls to see the demonstration.

How is a lecture planned and prepared? It is important to recognize that research findings and expert opinion have identified that certain teaching procedures should be included in a lecture. They are essential to an effective lecture—one that helps students to learn most easily and effectively. Based on learning theory (how people learn), these procedures provide guidelines for preparing a lecture.

What are the components of a lecture? The lecture contains three main parts, the Introduction, Body and Conclusion. In the following sections, we explain how to develop these three components to produce an effective lecture.
 
 

THE INTRODUCTION

The introduction usually is the first three to five minutes of the lecture. This period is crucial in determining how well students learn and retain the information to be presented. The main purpose is to provide a framework for students’ learning, laying the structure for the lecture’s content information. It is also necessary to gain students’ attention. If we fail to capture students’ attention during the introduction, it is unlikely that we will retain it during the rest of the lecture. The introduction should do the following:
  • Establish a relationship with audience. Make warm-up comments and initiate rapport to set the tone of the class. Establish friendly communication to provide a positive learning environment in which students feel comfortable. Use an "ice breaker" to introduce yourself during your first meeting with students and maintain an approachable relationship with students in subsequent classes.
  • Gain attention and foster motivation. Relate to students’ goals and interests. You might present a meaningful problem to students and describe the lecture as a solution to the problem. In a constitutional law class, for example, the instructor could begin a lecture by discussing popular efforts to place warning labels on rock music and then suggest that a closer examination of the First Amendment and freedom of speech will help students to decide if warning labels are a form of censorship. You might also introduce the lecture by describing how it will help students to be successful in their education and careers or by relating it to your students’ inherent curiosity (as in the previous example where rock music was used to address censorship).
  • Prompt awareness of relevant pre-existing knowledge. Students need to see how the "new" lecture information relates to their existing knowledge or experience. This not only promotes interest and motivation, but also is a first step in cognitive information processing. The instructor of a biology class, for example, might begin a lecture on DNA: "Three weeks ago we spoke about hereditary traits and how certain physical traits are passed to the next generation. Today we are going to make those abstract laws concrete by looking at how DNA works."
  • Clarify the purpose of the lecture and describe how it is organized. Research has supported a correlation between clarity of objectives and student achievement; students will achieve at higher levels if they know what knowledge and skills they should gain from this instruction. This can be accomplished by doing the following: announce the lecture topic as a title, make a statement about the topic and how it will be developed, make a generalization about the topic or simply list the objectives. A literature class could begin: "The Romantic Poets were perhaps the beatniks and hippies of their generation. Today I’m going to show you how literary giants like Shelley and Keats can be compared to Jack Kerouac and Shel Silverstein. The objectives for today’s class are . . .."

THE BODY

The body of the lecture covers the content in an organized way. Since this component is allotted the greatest amount of class time, it includes many more teaching procedures than the introduction and conclusion. This is where you must consult your lecture notes while at the same time maintaining rapport with your students.

Lecture material is a combination of facts, concepts, principles, and generalizations. Concepts represent a class of terms (an idea usually expressed in a word), and principles communicate relationships among concepts. Generalizations are relationships between or among concepts expressed at a higher level of abstraction than a principle. In a lecture, the tendency might be to present one fact after another. This type of information giving is ineffective because students cannot see the relationship or organization of the new ideas. Instead, it is best to present a concept (one idea) by first defining it and then giving many concrete examples of the concept. As you introduce new concepts, link them together into principles, and then into generalizations, each time adding concrete examples as you develop these relationships.

Concepts Revolution, Economics
Principles If wages are cut then the likelihood of disgruntled labor supporting a revolution will increase.
Generalization Economic instability can lead to political revolution.
Fact Membership in American communist parties increased substantially during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In addition, a lecture should be organized based on the relationship of the ideas presented. Examples of relationships that can be used to organize lecture information include the following: Component (part to whole)—shows how a larger idea is composed of several smaller ones. "Before we can begin to talk about how urban planners tackle traffic congestion, we need to look at how psychology, economics and tradition contribute to the present-day layout of cities."

Sequential—deals with chronological or cause/effect relationships. "Although the causes are quite complex, let’s look at how mass unionization in the 1930s contributed to prosperity in the 1950s."

Material to purpose—information or a procedure is presented followed by its purpose or use (the "what" followed by the "why"). "Now that we know what Marxism is, let’s look at how Marxist theory can be used to address inequality between men and women."

Comparison—comparing two or more things using an explicit basis for comparison. "The recent reintroduction of the gray wolf into Yellowstone National Park once again demonstrates the inherent conflict between environmentalists and business, in this case ranchers. In the next twenty minutes, let us compare the Yellowstone controversy to efforts twenty years ago to clean up Love Canal and see if we can use this comparison to look for ways in which environmental and business interests can learn to work together." Use transition words as you present. Using transitions or links ("therefore," "because," "as a result") show how pieces of lecture information relate to each other. Verbal or oral cues also alert students to more significant information ("It is especially important to remember..." "Please note the following…") and how the information should be learned ("You will need to memorize...," "I will ask you to recognize . . ." "You should be able to apply . . .").

Remember to include audiovisual aids while delivering your lecture. Using Power Point slides, transparencies, or even the chalkboard will enliven and strengthen the presentation of ideas and, thus, assist students’ learning.

 

INCLUDING ACTIVE LEARNING

It is crucial to provide opportunities for active learning during any instruction, including a lecture. Active learning allows students time to practice using the lecture information and obtain feedback on the accuracy of their responses. For example, during the lecture ask questions or give students problem-solving activities that encourage them to use the information they should gain from the lecture. You also could encourage students to think actively during a lecture by announcing at the beginning of the class period that you will interrupt your lecture midway so that students may write a one-minute paper on a topic derived from the lecture.

Always provide feedback to students’ responses that is immediate, complete and specific. It is as important to tell students why their responses are incorrect as it is to give them reinforcement when they provide the correct responses.

In addition, at the end of the lecture, you can use the "minute paper" by asking students to respond in one or two sentences to the following questions:

  • What stood out as most important in today’s lecture?
  • What ideas from today’s lecture are still unclear?

CAPTURING AN AUDIENCE

Maintain attention throughout your lecture by employing techniques such as the following:
  • Vary student activities—lecture for 15 minutes and then provide an active learning activity;
  • Change the mode of presentation (for example, oral to visual);
  • Employ concept-related humor;
  • Demonstrate enthusiasm about your subject;
  • Encourage note taking by speaking slowly and repeating important information;
  • Provide motivational cues ("On the next exam you will be asked to . . .").

THE CONCLUSION

The conclusion, the most frequently neglected component of the lecture, should be used to reinforce students’ learning of the information as well as to clarify any misconceptions regarding their understanding of the concepts presented. Try to do the following in your lecture conclusion:
  • Repeat and emphasize main points. Signal students that you are going to summarize and reemphasize main points. Rephrase information to clarify key ideas.
  • Encourage questions from students. To allow students time to review their notes and thoughts, pause for a few moments after asking for questions. Remember, however, that it is often difficult for students to respond to "Any questions?" Instead, ask specific, leading questions. By doing so, you will encourage your students to review their notes and formulate questions of their own. In this way, any misconceptions can be clarified, and understanding can be reinforced.
  • Relate content to previous and subsequent topics. The last few statements in the conclusion should provide a connection between this lecture and previous lectures (as well as those to follow). As students see the relationship among major concepts presented in different lectures, they gain a sense of direction.

YOUR DELIVERY STYLE

Nonverbal behaviors play a significant role in effective public speaking: they can enrich or elaborate the spoken message. There are basically two aspects to nonverbal behavior: body language and voice.

The following four elements make up body language:

  • Speaker-audience distance. The more objects and distance—psychological as well as physical—between speaker and audience, the more formal the atmosphere. If you desire to create a more informal atmosphere, you should reduce these barriers. Move from behind the lectern from time to time and walk in the aisles as you present information or carry on discussions with students.
  • Body movement and stance. To communicate, you must compensate for distance by employing larger gestures and more volume. Body movement and posture can convey messages to your audience. For example, slouching communicates disinterest or boredom, pacing aimlessly with head down indicates nervousness, and standing stiffly indicates tenseness. Being animated during your lecture helps convey your own enthusiasm and interest to students; they recognize that you are not bored, nervous or tense.
  • Facial expressions. A significant portion of the emotional impact of a speaker’s message is conveyed by facial expressions. Facial expressions tell students how you feel about them and yourself and give students cues to help them interpret the content of the message. Regular eye contact helps you establish credibility. Look directly at different individuals as though you were carrying on a conversation with them.
  • Gestures. Purposeful movements of the head, arms, hands and shoulders accentuate or dramatize ideas. Three characteristics of effective gestures include relaxation, vigor, and timing. Use your body to indicate a change of topic or transition.
Voice variables allow the speaker to make a message clear and interesting. Some of the vocal characteristics of good speaking are as follows:
  • Strength. Speak loudly enough so that the audience does not have to strain to hear.
  • Enunciation. Make an effort to speak crisply, avoiding slurring or skipping parts of words in order to limit the possibility of misunderstanding.
  • Pronunciation. Meet your audience’s expectations in regard to acceptable pronunciation.
  • Rate of speech. In a large lecture, with students concentrating on note taking, a rate of 120-130 words per minute is comfortable.
  • Variety. Vary the characteristics of your voice in terms of rate, pitch, stress, pauses, volume and inflection.
  • Pauses. Pauses can provide emphasis and allow students time to think and take notes. Furthermore, pausing indicates that you are a conscientious speaker who thinks about what you are going to say. However, filling in pauses with sounds like "um," "ah," "well-uh" make a presentation seem disconnected and can be distracting.
Additional hints for a successful lecture include the following:
  • Present an outline of the lecture (use the blackboard, overhead transparency or handout) and refer to it as you move from point to point.
  • Repeat points in several different ways. Include examples and concrete ideas.
  • Use short sentences.
  • Stress important points (through your tone or explicit comments).
  • Pause to give listeners time to think and write.
  • Use lectures to complement, not simply repeat, the text.
  • Learn students’ names and make contact with them during the lecture.
  • Avoid racing through the last part of the lecture. This is a common error made by instructors wishing to cram too much information into the allotted time.
  • Schedule time for discussion in the same or separate class periods as the lecture.
  • PREPARE. Preparation reduces stress, frustration, insecurity and consequent ineffectiveness.
To be effective, the lecture requires sufficient planning and preparation. By using the lecture method components—introduction, body, conclusion—as your planning guide, you can use your preparation time effectively, and your students will learn more easily.
 
 

EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTION

Few instructors teach a perfect class the first time they teach (or the second time), but the best instructors learn from each subsequent teaching of the class and are constantly tinkering with the course objectives and design as well as their presentation techniques. Teaching is a lifetime learning experience.

Student evaluations of teaching, administered by the Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching (OMET) allow instructors to get a glimpse at how their lectures, discussions, assignments and objectives were received by students. These formal evaluations (explained in detail in Chapter 9)—when combined with peer reviews, mentoring and periodic self-scrutiny—provide valuable feedback and suggestions for improving the effectiveness of your course. Summarize the narrative responses, and pay close attention to the highest and lowest rated items on the quantitative portions of the evaluation. Look for patterns that may indicate that aspects of your teaching (organization, presentation, work load, etc.) may need to be improved. Obviously, you need not agree with every comment you receive, but carefully evaluate your students’ concerns and look for positive solutions whenever possible. [2]

Chapter 9 . Chapter 11
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