Lecturing for Engagement

Despite debates raging about the value of lectures in the 21st-century university, they remain steadfast as a dominant teaching format. The development of educational technologies, connectivist pedagogies and asynchronous modes of learning have forced a rethink of how the knowledge and skills once imparted in the lecture hall might now appear. In the midst of all this change, engagement remains a critical component of successfully navigating the lecture format. These five, simple tips can be used to effect in online or in-class lectures, and will help keep focus – both for your students and for yourself.

1. Focus on the students - Much of the criticism of the lecture format is targeted at the three-hour, monotone monologue, where the student (the ‘empty vessel’) is simply delivered content to consume, passively. By simply looking up from the lectern, and instead considering the students as active participants in the experience, we will have immediately made a paradigm shift. This is the first step towards engagement.
2. Break things up - Lectures can be long, so ensure to incorporate breaks. Not just a break halfway to get a drink or breath of fresh air; leverage transitions in your content between topics or themes and encourage your students to stand up, reset, have a stretch. Students could pair up while doing this and take a few minutes to discuss something – either topical or otherwise. Try to avoid reliance on words and text and consider how you might present information in multiple ways to help students see connections more clearly. Consider (simple) diagrams or (short) video or audio elements incorporated throughout. Of course, make sure your delivery and content is paced in a way that allow these things to occur.
3. Think about the senses - Learning is a sensory, as well as a cognitive process. The learning environment is essential to good learning (and teaching). If the students are too cold or too hot; your microphone is too loud or too quiet, your PowerPoint slides are cluttered or hard to read; the lights are too bright or too dark…these factors can each impact learning, no matter how fantastic your content is. Before you teach, check these elements of the teaching space and see what you can do to make subtle improvements. For your online students, encourage them to set up their environment so it’s conducive to positive learning. It might take a few weeks to get it right, but once you’ve set the environment, everyone will be much better for it.
4. To tech or not to tech? - Incorporating technology into your lecturing can be daunting, and fraught with risk, so start small and see what works. Practice with family, friends or colleagues. Polls and quizzes are simple options for getting students actively engaged, but remember, unless it’s contextualized it won’t generate interest or thought (or, consequently, engagement). Aligning it to an assessment item or Learning Outcome (and saying as much in the lecture) is a sure way to spark interest.