assignment on lecture method

Lecturing Strategies

Tips for running effective lectures.

Lecture-style learning can work well for communicating course goals and content. If you are to use a lecture as a way to communicate information to your students, consider implementing the following tips:

1. Establish learning goals

Once you and your students know where you’re going, the trip is easier and more efficient. Often the very act of creating learning goals results in reducing the amount of material to be covered, since you have brought your course into more focus.

2. Cut down on the amount of material you are trying to cover

Trying to cover too much material is a common problem for most higher education instructors. Unfortunately, when too much content is covered, students tend to struggle to absorb the material. To maximize your students’ engagement with the content you’ve spent time preparing, be judicious about what you include and focus on the core pieces of material that are absolutely essential for each lesson.

Lectures, particularly in large enrollment courses, should cover the following kinds of material:

key points and general themes

especially difficult material

material not covered elsewhere (i.e. not covered in a textbook chapter, article, or other source)

examples and illustrations

material of high interest/relevance to students

3. Focus your lecture on analyzing issues or problems, rather than on conveying factual information

Rely on students to get facts from their reading. Devote lectures to more in-depth discussion and analysis. For instance, begin each class session with a question that you will devote the session to answering. To do this approach, turn a general topic into a question. For example, instead of focusing a lecture on “the ways lodgepole pines propagate,” consider revising the topic to: “Why do lodgepole pines need fire to propagate?” Alternatively, instead of giving a lecture on “The Rise of the Middle Class in Postwar America,” consider a revision to:  “What factors were the major drivers in the rise of the middle class?” 

You can ask for ideas at the beginning of class where students can anticipate the responses to the question. That way, students are already considering the possible answers that will be discussed in class.

4. Engage your students through active learning practices and interactive lectures

It’s difficult for anyone to sit for 50 or 80 minutes and simply listen. Consider breaking up the lecture with some moments for pauses, questions, and interactions. For example:

Break the class into groups (yes, even in a large class—you can just ask them to turn to the two or three people around them) to investigate a problem or answer a question. After five minutes, you can request for volunteers to share their group discussions or have students share an aggregated response in a Google Doc or through a poll. 

Hand out index cards and ask students to jot down a question they have after a 20-minute segment of time has passed. Have them pass the cards three or four people to the left. Then, have the individuals who have received the cards write down a possible response and pass the card back to the original question-asker. Then, request students to volunteer their questions and the answers and offer feedback as needed.

Stop the lecture with a group discussion question that could be engaged with verbally or via a poll or group Google Doc.

Show a short, relevant video clip.

Connect the topic to a recent news story and invite students to follow a link or story on social media for a few minutes.

For an in-person course, consider having your students sit in lecture with others from their section, and you can then direct exercises and questions to them by section. Not only will they be more inclined to engage with people they already know, but you will be reinforcing the importance of the sections and making the course seem more of a unified whole.

5. Provide opportunities for assess their understanding during the lecture

Quick, frequent, formative assessments help students to focus on areas they need work on, while also breaking up lectures and increasing student engagement. 

For example, you could try the following approaches:

1) Hand out 3 x 5 cards at the end of the class and ask students to identify the major points covered. Collect them, skim them, and begin the next class by talking about their responses. 

2) Begin the lecture by soliciting questions (on cards or not) based on their reading for the day. Then, be sure to address these questions during the class time.

6. Take the temperature with polls

Use a student response system (e.g., iClicker Cloud or Poll Everywhere) to get instant feedback on your students' comprehension of a concept:

If your class is too big to track how individuals are doing between exams, have your students take a quick anonymous poll to gauge whether or not a concept was understood. With a student response system, you can poll students on the fly and adjust your content appropriately. This saves time spent unnecessarily on concepts that are already understood and allows you to follow-up only where needed. Keep students engaged by asking thoughtful questions they can answer individually, and then asking the class to respond to the collective results.

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“Good teachers do not merely ‘deliver content’ to students, but wake them up, throw them on their feet, and pull the chair away.”   –Wendy Brown, Heller Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley

Why Lecture

Today, there are many teaching methods at our disposal. Educational innovations and research continue to provide new approaches to teaching and new strategies to help students learn. While robust evidence exists for the efficacy of alternative pedagogies, the lecture continues to be the preferred classroom method for many teachers.

There are several purposes for which the lecture is well suited:

• Presenting information otherwise unavailable to students. The lecture is a perfect way to share your personal research and inquiry trends of your discipline
• Synthesizing information from a variety of sources. In addition to reading scholarly work, a lecture can explicitly demonstrate how knowledge is created by many researchers working on different aspects of a problem or topic.
• Engaging students through storytelling. Sharing a personal experience, a researcher’s journey, or how the “sticky” problems are addressed in your discipline can pique curiosity and bolster students’ intrinsic motivation.  
• Providing context. Conveying how course content relates to other areas or how it is relevant to students’ experiences clarifies why content is worth learning. This is especially critical for novices in a field.
• Presenting up-to-date material. A lecture can effectively inform students of evolving knowledge and points of view while text-books become outdated quickly.  
• How problems are approached 
• How information is organized and synthesized
• The logic structures and frameworks commonly used in the field
• How new knowledge can be integrated with what one learned previously
• Clarifying confusing concepts, principles, and ideas. When a lecture is given in response to questions from students, or after quiz/test results reveal misconceptions, lecture can be a powerful way of improving student comprehension, especially if the lecture is interactive.

Designing An Effective Lecture

Barkley and Major (2018) suggest that the debate over lecture versus active learning maintains a false dichotomy of one or the other, while most faculty employ both lecture and engagement strategies to varying degrees in their teaching. When students are actively engaged with the material during a lecture, their focus and attention increase (Ernst & Colthrope 2007). The two most important variables when planning an effective lecture are duration and interactivity. How long will you talk? How will students engage with the material, with each other, and with you?

In his book What the Best College Teachers Do , Ken Bain reports on interviews with dozens of exemplary college teachers that, “[p]erhaps the most significant skill the teachers in our study displayed in the classroom, laboratory, studio, or wherever they met with students was the ability to communicate orally in ways that stimulated thought” (Bain, 2004, p. 117). Designing a lecture to intentionally stimulate students thinking, rather than just deliver content, requires a student-centered focus. 

Research finds that student learning is enhanced by chunking lecture material into 5-15-minute segments, and interspersing with short, active learning exercises. These activities give students opportunities to engage with the material and to process it more deeply. Regardless of your lecture duration and interactivity, answering the following questions can help:

• What is the purpose of your lecture? Include learning outcome(s)—what do you hope students will gain from your lecture? What will they be able to do with that knowledge?
• How will you give students a way of organizing their listening and/or note taking? An outline, visual, some kind of “advance organizer” (see Additional Resources below)?
• How will you start? What will you do to gain attention? Share a story, problem, question, scenario/vignette?
• What are the main “chunks” of your lecture? How could these chunks help students see the organization/structure of your material?
• For each chunk: What is the core idea? What examples, illustrations, stories, metaphors, or visuals will you use to convey the core idea?
• Pauses. At what points will you pause? What will you ask students to do during those pauses? How can these pauses help them process/think about what they have just heard?

Addressing Resistance

Choosing to lecture more interactively may raise concerns, for both you and your students.

Common Faculty Concerns 

• Will it take more time? Yes, it does take time to design and learn new teaching strategies. Starting small helps; you can break up a lecture with a couple of simple “think/pair/share” exercises (see Peer Instruction below), and then build gradually on what you find works.  
• Must I sacrifice content? If you take time from a lecture to have students engage, you may have to remove material from your lecture. Rethinking what content needs to be in the course, and how first exposure to that content needs to occur, is critical. Consider alternate ways to deliver content to make room in your lecture for interaction.

Student Resistance In disciplines where large lecture classes are the norm, students may resent and resist the expectation to actively engage. While more students now enter college having experienced active learning, there may be some who expect and enjoy the passivity of a traditional lecture format. If students must engage with peers, gaps in preparation and knowledge could be exposed, while the passive lecture format “offers the comfort of anonymity” (Benvenuto, 2002). Faculty can counter student resistance by being explicit about their teaching methods and the rationale for their use. Gary Smith (2008) suggests an exercise on the first day of class to help students understand how the course pedagogy will help them learn (see resource on The First Day of Class ).

Additional Resources

Effective Lecturing . This 4-page resource from the Center for Faculty Excellence at UNC Chapel Hill provides in-depth suggestions for keeping students engaged and tailoring lectures to student’s existing knowledge. 

How to Create Memorable Lectures is an article from Stanford’s “Tomorrow’s Professor” newsletter. By framing the lecture in the context of what we know about learning and short-term memory, it provides strong rationales for lecture practices that mirror how students learn.

Advance Organizers is a list of resources and references. An advance organizer is a visual organizational tool assist students during a lecture to integrate new knowledge with what they already know.

Peer Instruction  is a simple way to engage students actively during a lecture without sacrificing course content.

Bain, K. Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2018). Interactive Lecturing: A Handbook for College Faculty. John Wiley & Sons.

Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. John Wiley & Sons.

Benvenuto, M. (2002). Educational reform: Why the academy doesn’t change. Thought & Action, 18(1/2), 63-74.

Brown, P. C., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick. Harvard University Press.

Chilwant, K. S. (2012). Comparison of two teaching methods, structured interactive lectures and conventional lectures. Biomedical Research, 23(3).

Ernst, H., & Colthorpe, K. (2007). The efficacy of interactive lecturing for students with diverse science backgrounds. Advances in Physiology Education, 31(1), 41-44.

Jones, J.E. (2007). Reflections on the lecture: Outmoded medium or instrument of inspiration? In Journal of Further and Higher Education. 31/4, 397-406.

Meguid, E. A., & Collins, M. (2017). Students’ perceptions of lecturing approaches: traditional versus interactive teaching. Advances in medical education and practice, 8, 229.

Smith, G. A. (2008, September). First-day questions for the learner-centered classroom. In Natl Teach Learn Forum (Vol. 17, No. 5, pp. 1-4).

Snell, Y. S. L. S. (1999). Interactive lecturing: strategies for increasing participation in large group presentations. Medical Teacher, 21(1), 37-42.

Tolman, A.O. & Kremling, J. (2017). Why Students Resist Learning: A Practical Model for Understanding and Helping Students.  Sterling, VA: Stylus Publications.

White, G. (2011). Interactive lecturing. The clinical teacher, 8(4), 230-235.

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Making Lectures More Active

The lecture is a long-standing method of instruction that, while appropriate to some learning situations, is not ideal in others. On this page you will find information about the strengths and weaknesses of lecturing, as well as active learning techniques that you can easily use to engage students during a lecture. For more detailed information on active learning strategies, models, and research, consult our companion bibliography Resources on Active Learning .

Lectures are good for:

• Lecturing is a great way to fill the gap between current research and what’s already published.
• A summary lecture is not an attempt to water-down course content. Instead, the goal should be to provide a lens through which students can understand the greater whole.
• A good lecture should indicate how course content fits, here and now, with the background and interests of your particular group of students.
• This approach helps learners identify what matters and what is less important. These sorts of lectures can be short and simply review the key points to give form and context to a student discussion or activity.
• If (and only if) a speaker or teacher is highly passionate about a topic that is relatively new to an audience, then a lecture can be a great way to spark the interest of and motivate that audience. For example, think about a good keynote or introductory presentation you’ve seen at a conference.

Lectures are not good for:

• Simulating higher-order thinking
• Engaging learners
• Developing learners’ skills
• Exploring student attitudes or values

Tips for Making Your Lectures More Active :

Ask Students What They Know or Think about Class Content

• Background Knowledge Probe. Administer a short, simple questionnaire at the beginning of a course, at the start of a new unit or lesson, or prior to introducing an important new topic. For students, it highlights key information to be studied, offering a preview of material to come and/or a review of prior knowledge. For instructors, it helps determine the best starting point and the most appropriate level for a lesson.
• Classroom Opinion Poll . Use clickers or signs to have students give their opinions on an issue or question.
• Focused listing . This activity helps determine what learners recall about a specific topic, including concepts they associate with a central point. It can be used before, during or after a lesson. Students write key word at the top of a page. For 2 – 3 minutes, they jot down related terms important to the understanding of that topic. They then pair up with peer, sharing lists and explanations of why concepts were included. This will build their knowledge base and clarify their understanding of the topic.

Learn about Your Students

• Interest/Knowledge/Skills Checklists. Create checklists of topics covered in your course and skills strengthened by or required for succeeding in those courses. Students rate their interest in the various topics, and assess their levels of skill or knowledge in those topics, by indicating the appropriate responses on the checklist.
• Goal Ranking and Matching. Ask students to list a few learning goals they hope to achieve through the course and to rank the relative importance of those goals. If time and interest allow, students can also estimate the relative difficulty of achieving their learning goals. The instructor then collects student lists and matches them against his or her own course goals.
• Course Related Self-Confidence Survey. Individuals who are generally self-confident may lack confidence in their abilities or skills in a specific context – for example, in their quantitative skills or their ability to speak in public. Use a survey to get a rough measure of students’ self-confidence in relation to a specific skill or ability.
• Self-Assessment of Ways They Learn. Ask students to describe their general approaches to learning by comparing themselves with several different profiles and choosing those that most closely resemble them. Because there are a number of ways to describe ways of learning, faculty choose their own sets of profiles to use in assessing students.

Prompt Students to Talk About Course Content with Other Students

• Think-Pair-Share. Pose a question, allow students to jot their responses. Then students pair up and share what they wrote. A whole group discussion can follow.
• Active Knowledge Sharing. Provide a list of questions pertaining to the subject matter you will be teaching. Ask students to answer the questions as well as they can. Then invite them to mill around the room, finding others who can answer questions they do not know how to answer. Encourage students to help each other.

Provide Organizational Prompts

• Empty Outline. Provide students with an empty or partially completed outline of an in-class presentation or homework assignment and give them a limited amount of time to fill in the blank spaces.
• P-M-I . Prepare a table with three columns, with the headings “Plusses,” “Minuses,” and “Interesting Points.” Students use the table to critique a particular topic, concept, or idea.
• Categorizing Grid . Students are presented with a grid containing two or three important categories, superordinate concepts they have been studying, along with a scrambled list of subordinate terms, images, equations, or other items that belong in one or another of those categories. Learners are then given a very limited time to sort the subordinate terms into the correct categories on the grid.
• Memory Matrix . This is a two-dimensional diagram, a rectangle divided into rows and columns used to organize information and illustrate relationships. In a Memory Matrix, the row and column headings are given, but the cells are left empty. When students fill in the blank cells of the Memory Matrix, they provide feedback that can be quickly scanned and easily analyzed.
• Pro and Con Grid . Ask students to jot down quick lists of pros and cons related to a topic.
• Defining Features Matrix . This requires students to categorize concepts according to the presence (+) or absence (-) of important defining features, thereby providing data on their analytic reading and thinking skills.

Have Students Apply or Restate Content

• Applications Cards. After students have read or heard about an important principle, generalization, theory, or procedure, hand out an index card and ask students to write down at least one possible, real-world application for what they have just learned.
• Directed Paraphrasing. Ask students to paraphrase part of a lesson for a specific audience and purpose, using their own words.
• One Sentence Summaries. At the end of the discussion, have students summarize the overall concepts in a one-sentence format: Who did what to/for whom, when, where, how, and why?

Find out What Students are Learning

• Minute Paper. The most common format asks students to recall and self-assess their understanding. Ask a question like “What was the most important thing you learned today?”
• Muddiest Point. A variation of the minute paper, asking for feedback about where students are still confused. Ask a question such as “What questions remain uppermost in your mind as we conclude this class session?”

The Top Ten Guidelines for Lecturing

• Remember that lecturing is not well suited for higher levels of learning.
• Decide what you want the students to know and be able to do as a result of the lecture.
• Outline your lecture and share that outline with students. 
• Choose relevant, concrete examples.
• Find out about the students, their backgrounds, and their goals.
• Permit students to stop you to ask questions, make comments, or ask for review.
• Intersperse periodic summaries.
• Start with a question, problem, or current event.
• Watch the students. If you think they don’t understand you, stop and ask them questions.
• Use active learning techniques.

Angelo, T.A . & Cross, P.K. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.

Bligh, D.A. (2000). What's the use of lectures? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Clark, D. (2010). Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains.

Cashin, W.E. (2010). Effective lecturing. Idea Paper #46

Davis, B. G. (2009). Tools for teaching. 2nd. Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Dubbin, R. & Taveggia, T.C. (1968). The teaching - learning paradox: a comparative analysis of college teaching methods . Center for the Advanced Study of Educational Administration.

Heppner, F.H. (2007). Teaching the large college class: A guidebook for instructors with multitudes. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.

MacGregor, J. (2000). Strategies for energizing large classes: From small groups to learning communities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

McKeachie, W.J., et al. (1987). Teaching and learning in the college classroom. A review of the research literature.   Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.

Schonwetter, D. J. (1993). Attributes of effective lecturing in the college classroom. Canadian Journal of Higher Education , 23 (2), 1-18.

Silberman, M. L. (1996). Active learning: 101 strategies to teach any subject. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Smith, K., et al. (2005). Pedagogies of engagement: Classroom-based practices. Journal of Engineering Education, 94 (1), 87-101.

Revised by James Gregory (January, 2016) Revised by Terri Tarr (October, 2011) Authored by Peg Weissinger (February, 2003)

Helpful Links

• Active Learning Articles from  Faculty Focus
• Active Learning in Higher Education (Journal)
• Building Student Engagement: 15 Strategies for the College Classroom from  Faculty Focus
• Why Magic Bullets Don't Work

Related Guides

• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
• First Day of Class
• Guiding Successful Group Learning
• Handling Disruptive Student Behavior
• Resources on Active Learning
• Using Clickers in the Classroom
• Using Ice Breakers

Recommended Books

Center for teaching and learning resources and social media channels.

Center for Teaching

Effective visuals, interactive lectures.

“Lecturing is not simply a matter of standing in front of a class and reciting what you know. The classroom lecture is a special form of communication in which voice, gesture, movement, facial expression, and eye contact can either complement or detract from the content. No matter what your topic, your delivery and manner of speaking immeasurably influence your students’ attentiveness and learning.”

The above quote is from “Delivering a Lecture,” a chapter in Barbara Gross Davis’ classic text Tools for Teaching . That chapter is an excellent resource for learning how to lecture well. See also Davis’ chapter, “Preparing to Teach the Large Lecture Course.”

When planning a lecture, keep in mind that you have control or influence over several elements of your classroom:

• Visual Message – The slides and other visual aids you use can either complement or confuse your verbal message, depending on how you design them. Consider how photos and other images might function as metaphors that make your points more memorable. (For an example, see the “Lecturing Basics” slideshow above.)
• Physical Presence – While some instructors are naturally gifted public speakers, we can all be more aware of and leverage our physical presence to better communicate to our audiences. (Watch “ The Act of Teaching: Theater Techniques for Classrooms and Presentations ” for great advice from Harvard University’s Nancy Houfek on improving your physical presence in the classroom.)
• Verbal Message – Whether you prepare typed lecture notes or just improvise in the classroom, the words you say are an integral part of your lecture.
• Students’ Notes – Students can often spend more mental energy taking notes during class than thinking about your content. Consider ways you can make it easier for your students to take notes so they can focus more on engaging with your material.
• What Students Think – As Angelo and Cross say in their classic book Classroom Assessment Techniques, “teaching without learning is just talking.” How can you help your students mentally grapple with your material during class?
• What Students Say & Do – Keep in mind that even in a so-called lecture class, you don’t have to lecture the whole time. Consider small-group and whole-class activities that might enhance your students learning.

Garr Reynolds’ book Presentation Zen is a great introduction to effective use of slides in presentations.  Garr also maintains a great blog on presentations . Some key points from Presentation Zen :

• Limit bullet points and text. Keep in mind that your slides probably shouldn’t function as your own personal teleprompter. Your slides are for your students’ benefit. If your slides say just about everything that you say, then your students won’t know where to pay attention–to you or to your slides.
• Use high-quality graphics. The clip art that comes with PowerPoint is certainly convenient (and more visually appealing than it used to be), but there are online sources of free, high-resolution images that can have much greater visual impact. For instance, millions of photos are available for free, educational use on the photo-sharing site Flickr under the Creative Commons license .
• Use appropriate charts. As analytical designer Edward Tufte likes to point out, PowerPoint is not a great tool at sharing complicated infographics. If you have a complicated chart or graphic to share with your students, it’s often helpful to provide it to them as a handout. Simpler, more elegant charts often work better in PowerPoint. Think carefully about which kind of chart (pie, vertical bar, horizontal bar, line, etc.) will best communicate the idea you want to share with your students.
• Choose your fonts well. Sans-serif fonts are often easier to read on slides than serif fonts . Too many different fonts in a slide or a presentation can be distracted, so try to limit yourself to one or two. Font size matters, too. Be sure that your fonts are large enough to be read at the back of the room. And if you’re keeping your slides simple and limiting your use of text, you can usually use very large fonts.
• Spend time in the slide sorter. This is the PowerPoint view that shows you up to 20 or 30 of your slides at once. As you start to design your presentation, this view is more useful than the default one-slide-at-a-time view for structuring and organizing your content.

For more thoughts on these and other suggestions by Garr Reynolds, along with example PowerPoint slides, see his Top Ten Slide Tips .

For an alternative to PowerPoint and Keynote , try Prezi , “the zooming presentation tool.” Below you’ll find a Prezi used during a spring 2010 CFT workshop titled “Engaging Students in Large Lecture Courses” that references many of the ideas shared here.

Engaging Students in Large Lecture Classes on Prezi

For some sound advice on using Prezi in the classroom, explore this Prezi from Paul Hill:

Thoughts on using Prezi as a teaching tool on Prezi

And for a little humor , view Peter Norvig’s PowerPoint version of the Gettysburg Address (included below) to see how to ruin a great presentation with PowerPoint.

“Given that students have an attention span of around 15 to 20 minutes and that university classes are scheduled for around 50 or 75 minutes, instructors must do something to control their students’ attention. We recommend building a ‘change–up’ into your class to restart the attention clock.”

The above quote is from “ The ‘Change-Up’ in Lectures ,” an article by Joan Middendorf and Alan Kalish. The article describes more than 20 practical strategies for breaking up lectures with activities that help keep students engaged and foster active learning. Here are just a few:

• Write a Question – Instead of just saying, “Are there any questions?”, ask all of your students to spend a minute or two reflecting on the lecture thus far and writing down one or two questions on paper.
• Think-Pair-Share – After posing a sufficiently difficult question, instead of asking for volunteers to answer the question, have students think about the question silently for a minute. Then have them pair up and discuss the question with their partners. Then ask for students to share their perspectives with the whole class.
• Finding Illustrative Quotations – Ask students to reread the text for the day to find quotations that support particular arguments. You might have all students address the same argument or different students look at different arguments.
• Brainstorming – As a segue to a new topic, have students share any thought, idea, story, etc. that occurs to them in relation to the new topic. Record these ideas at the board without analyzing them. After the ideas have been surfaced, then move on to more critical discussion.
• Practice Homework Problems – After lecturing on a particular type of problem, give students a problem to work at their seats that resembles the kinds of problems they’ll see on their homework. After giving students a few minutes to try to work through the problem, discuss the problem with the class.

Here are a few other ideas for more interactive lectures:

• Classroom Response Systems (“Clickers”) – These are instructional technologies that allow instructors to collect and analyze student responses to multiple-choice (and sometimes free-response) questions during class.Typically, an instructor poses a question to a group of students, students submit their answers to the question using wireless handheld devices (often called “clickers”) that beam radio frequency signals to a receiver connected to the instructor’s computer, software on the instructor’s computer displays a bar chart showing the distribution of responses, and the instructor uses these results to make “on the fly” teaching decisions that are responsive to student learning needs.For ideas on using clickers during lectures, see the CFT’s teaching guide on clickers , as well as CFT assistant director Derek Bruff’s blog on clickers .
• Backchannel – The term “backchannel” refers to the student-to-student and student-to-instructor conversations that can occur during lectures and presentations. All lectures involve some form of backchannel, such as an instructor requesting questions from students or back-of-the-room chit chat between students. However, online tools such as Twitter and  Google Moderator give instructors useful options for facilitating, directing, and leveraging backchannel conversations.Watch Monica Rankin’s “Twitter Experiment” video below for a short introduction to her use of Twitter for backchannel in her history course at the University of Texas-Dallas. See Derek Bruff’s blog posts on backchannel for additional ideas.
• Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) – It’s not uncommon to expect students to have “done the reading” in smaller seminar courses, laying the foundation for in-class discussions. This is less common in larger courses, but many faculty members in a variety of disciplines have adopted an approach called Just-in-Time Teaching that accomplishes this. The main idea is to have students read their textbooks before class, hold them accountable for doing so through pre-class or start-of-class quizzes, then design class sessions around “uncovering” and addressing student misconceptions–instead of “covering” the course material. For pedagogical and technological options for implementing Just-in-Time Teaching, see IUPUI’s JiTT site .
• Team-Based Learning (TBL) – This well-developed teaching method is similar to JiTT in that it involves leveraging pre-class student assignments. One core idea is that class time is spent having students work through problems or case studies in permanent teams, usually consisting of six students each. Students respond to questions about the problems or case studies individually, then respond to the same questions as a team. Student grades depend on both their individual performance on these quizzes as well as their team performance, providing incentives for students to engage with the material on their own as well as with their team. Class discussions are fueled by this individual and team work.For more information on TBL, see the University of British Columbia’s TBL site or this 12-minute video on TBL from the University of Texas .

For additional ideas, see the following:

• “ Tips for Teachers: Twenty Ways to Make Lectures More Participatory ,” a resource from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University
• “ Delivering Effective Lectures ,” an article by Rick Sullivan and Noel McIntosh with strategies for asking questions of students and advice specific to lectures in medical education settings
• “ The Death of the Lecture ,” a blog post about why lectures are still so popular by Inside Higher Ed blogger,  Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

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Guided Notes: Improving the Effectiveness of Your Lectures

What are guided notes.

Guided notes are instructor-prepared handouts that provide all students with background information and standard cues with specific spaces to write key facts, concepts, and/or relationships during the lecture. {See example on page 5}. Guided notes (GN) require students to actively respond during the lecture, improve the accuracy and efficiency of students’ notetaking, and increase students’ retention of course content. GN can help organize and enhance lecture content in any discipline or subject area. Instructors can develop GN for a single lecture, for one or more units within a course, or for an entire semester-long course. GN follow the principles of Universal Design for learning—they improve learning for all students.

Some Pros and Cons of the Lecture Method

Lecturing is one of the most widely used teaching methods in higher education. The format is simple and straightforward: the instructor talks (and illustrates, demonstrates, etc.) and students are held responsible for obtaining, remembering, and using the most important content from the lecture at a later time—most often on a quiz or an exam.

Advantages of lecturing.

Although some educators consider the lecture method outdated and ineffective, it offers several advantages and reasons for its continued use (Barbetta & Scaruppa, 1995; Michael, 1994).

•   Lecturing is an efficient use of the instructor’s time. A good lecture can be presented from one semester to the next, reducing subsequent planning and preparation time to review and update.

•   Lecturing is versatile. It can be used with large or small groups, for any curriculum area, and can last from a few minutes to several hours.

•   The instructor has complete control of course content. When lecturing, the instructor has complete control over the level of detail and degree of emphasis with which course content is covered.

•   Lecturing enables coverage of content not available in published form. For example, findings from just-completed or on-going research projects may be presented to students via lecture.

•   The lecture method can be used to supplement or elaborate course content. Content that is particularly important or difficult for students to learn directly through text-, web-, or field-based activities can be highlighted during the lecture.

•   The lecture method provides flexibility. The instructor can probe students’ understanding and make on-the-spot adjustments to the lecture if warranted.

•   Lectures can be personalized. Instructors can customize lectures to meet students’ interests and backgrounds.

•   Lectures can be motivating for students. Students can see and hear their instructor’s level of enthusiasm for and commitment to the discipline.

Disadvantages of lecturing.

The lecture method also poses some significant challenges for students and instructors.

•   Course content is often presented via lecture in unorganized and uneven fashion. This makes it difficult for students to determine the most important aspects of the lecture (i.e., What’s going to be on the exam?).

•   Students can be passive observers. The typical lecture does not require students to actively participate. One of the most consistent and important educational research findings is that students who make frequent, relevant responses during a lesson learn more than students who are passive observers (Brophy & Good, 1986; Fisher & Berliner, 1985; Greenwood, Delquadri, & Hall, 1984).

•   Many college students do not know how to take effective notes. Although various strategies and formats for effective notetaking have been identified (e.g., Saski, Swicegood, & Carter, 1983), notetaking is seldom taught to students.

•   The listening, language, and/or motor skill deficits of some students with disabilities make it difficult for them to identify important lecture content and write it down correctly and quickly enough during a lecture. While writing one concept in his notebook, the student with learning disabilities might miss the next two points (Hughes & Suritsky, 1994).

•   Instructors sometimes get off-track from the primary objectives of the lecture. Professors—especially those who really know and love their disciplines—are famous (infamous!) for going off on tangents during lecture. Although anecdotes are interesting and provide enriching context, they can make it difficult for even the most skilled notetakers to determine the most important content.

Why Use Guided Notes?

•   Students produce complete and accurate lecture notes. Students who take accurate notes and study them later consistently receive higher test scores than students who only listen to the lecture and read the text (Baker & Lombardi, 1985; Carrier, 1983; Kierwa, 1987; Norton & Hartley, 1986). Inaccurate and incomplete lecture notes are of limited value for subsequent study. GN help level the playing field between students with and without good notetaking skills.

•   GN increase students’ active engagement with course content. To complete their GN, students must actively respond to the lecture’s content by listening, looking, thinking, and writing.

Guided notes take advantage of one of the most consistent and important findings in recent educational research: students who make frequent, lesson-relevant responses learn more than students who are passive observers.

•   Students can more easily identify the most important information. Because GN cue the location and number of key concepts, facts, and/or relationships, students are better able to determine if they are getting the most important content.

“Guided notes are wonderful, especially during a lecture. They clue you in on what is important.” – College student with learning disabilities.

•   Students are more likely to ask the instructor questions. Austin, Gilbert, Thibeault, Carr, and Bailey (in press) found that students in an introductory psychology course asked more questions and made more comments during lectures when GN were used than they did during lectures when taking their own notes.

•   Students earn higher quiz and exam scores with GN. Experimental studies have consistently found that students across all  achievement levels those with and without disabilities—earn higher test scores when using guided notes than they earn when taking their own notes (Austin et al., in press; Heward, 1994; Lazarus, 1993).

•   GN can serve as an advance organizer for students. Some students have indicated that they benefit from reviewing the lecture topics prior to attending class.

•   Instructors must prepare the lecture carefully. Constructing GN requires instructors to examine the sequence and organization of lecture content.

•   Instructors are more likely to stay on-task with the lecture’s content and sequence. Because GN let students know what’s supposed to come next, instructors are less likely to stray from the planned content. And if and when an instructor does wander, students know that the information is, at most, supporting context or enrichment, and not critical course content for which they will be held responsible.

•   GN help instructors prioritize and limit lecture content. Many instructors pack too much information into their lectures. While this tendency is understandable —instructors want their students to learn as much as possible—when it comes to how much new lecture content students can learn and retain, less can be more (Nelson, 2001; Russell, Hendricson, & Herbert, 1984). Constructing GN requires decisions about what is most important for students to learn.

•   GN content can be easily converted into test/exam questions.

•   Students like GN and appreciate instructors who prepare them. Students appreciate and give positive evaluation ratings to instructors who develop and provide GN.

“Last semester I developed guided notes for my two lecture-based courses, and the feedback I received from students was very positive. Several of my colleagues told me students in their classes asked if they would start using guided notes, too.” – Faculty member in psychology department.

Two FAQs About Guided Notes

Q:    Isn’t providing students—-especially college students—with guided notes making it too easy for them? Are we just “spoon-feeding” them the information?

A:    To complete their guided notes students must actively respond—by looking, listening, thinking, and writing about critical content—throughout the lecture. We make it too easy for students when we teach in ways that let them sit passively during class.

Q:    Why not just pass out an outline of my lecture or a copy of the guided notes already completed?

A:    Distributing completed guided notes reduces the necessity for students to think and respond during class, or even to attend class at all.

Guidelines for Constructing and Using Guided Notes

Constructing GN is easy, especially for lectures that have been developed previously.

•   Examine existing lecture outlines (or create them as necessary) to identify the most important course content that students must learn and retain via lecture. Remember: less can be more. Student learning is enhanced by lectures with fewer points supported by additional examples and opportunities for students to respond to questions or scenarios (Russell et al., 1984).

•   Delete the key facts, concepts, and relationships from the lecture outline, leaving the remaining information to provide structure and context for students’ notetaking.

•   Insert formatting cues such as asterisks, lines, and bullets to show students where, when, and how many facts or concepts to write. For example, the box below might be included on the first page of GN.

Explanation of Symbols in Guided Notes

    W  H  ∂       Write a definition, concept, key point, or procedure next to each bullet, asterisk, star, or numbered circle.

__________    Fill-in blank lines with a word or phrase to complete a definition, concept, key point, or procedure.

*  *  *  *          The pointing finger comes into play when you review and study your notes after class. It is a prompt to think of and write your own example(s) of a concept or idea for applying a particular strategy.

. Big Idea .      Big ideas are statements or concepts with wide-ranging implications fo understanding and/or applying course content.

•   Use PowerPoint slides or overhead transparencies to project key content. Visually projecting the key facts, definitions, concepts, relationships, etc. that students must write in their GN helps ensure that all students access the most critical content and improves the pace of the lecture.

•   Leave ample space for students to write. Providing about three to four times the space needed to type the content will generally leave enough room for students’ handwriting.

•   Do not require students to write too much. Using GN should not unduly slow down the pace of the lecture. Two studies found that students’ exam scores for lectures taught with GN that could be completed with single words and short phrases were as high as their test scores over lectures taught with GN that required more extensive writing to complete (Austin & Sasson, 2001; Courson, 1989).

•   Enhance GN with supporting information, resources, and additional response opportunities. Consider inserting diagrams, illustrations, photos, highlighted statements or concepts that are particularly important (e.g., Big Ideas), and resources such as bibliographies and websites into GN. Sets of questions or practice problems interspersed within GN give students additional opportunities to respond and receive instructor feedback during the lecture.

•   Make GN available to students via course website and/or photocopied course packets. Many instructors are understandably concerned that making their lecture notes available prior to class will reduce attendance because students will assume the notes contain all the information they need. However, distributing GN before class may give students an incentive to attend class in order to complete the notes.

Guided Notes for Portion of a Lecture in a Graduate Course for Special Education Teachers

Boldface italic font shows parts completed by students during lecture.

II.  FIVE GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR PROMOTING GENERALIZED OUTCOMES

1.  Eliminate the need for generality as much as possible.

     A.  Prioritize the settings in which the learner will most often function.

In addition to the learner’s current environment(s), consider the  environments in which the learner will function in the immediate future, and later in life .

     B.  Prioritize the knowledge and skills that will frequently be required of the learner.

           Why? Because you   cannot teach everything (or even every aspect of any one skill).

           The most important skill-setting combinations should always be taught directly

Don’t relegate the most critical outcomes to the not-for-certain technology of generalization programming.

2. Probe for generalized outcomes before, during, and after instruction .

     A.  A generalization probe is  a direct and objective assessment of the learner’s use of the target skill in a non-training setting or situation .

EX: We can assess the extent to which a student has generalized the skill of solving two-digit minus two-digit arithmetic problems with regrouping by presenting her with problems of the same type on which she has not received any instruction or guided practice.

           * student writes another example here when reviewing notes after class

     B.  Generalization probes can often be made more efficient by contriving meaningful opportunities for the learner to use her new knowledge or skill .

EX: Instead of waiting for (and perhaps missing) naturally occurring opportunities for the learner to use her new conversational skills in the generality environment, enlist the assistance of a “confederate” peer to approach the learner.

     C.  Probing for generalization before instruction provides 3 important kinds of information.

           1.   Probes prior to teaching might reveal that the learner already performs some or all of the components of the target skill in the generality setting, thereby lessening the teaching task .

           2.   Probes prior to teaching are the only objective way to know if learner’s performance of the target knowledge/skill after instruction truly is a G.O .

           3.   Probes prior to teaching enable observation of the contingencies operating in the generality setting .

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A systematic review on lecturing in contemporary university teaching

Héctor tronchoni.

1 Faculty of Teacher Training, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

2 Faculty of Education, Florida Universitària, Valencia, Spain

Conrad Izquierdo

3 Faculty of Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

M. Teresa Anguera

4 Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Associated Data

The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Introduction

Articles published in scientific journals, concerning the present and future of the lecture format in university education in the twenty-first century are framed within organizational settings that drive teaching methodologies in line with educational policies. The following two research questions have arisen from articles in which debate the continuity of this teaching modality and propose improvements of a different nature: (1) Is there an interest in renovating the lecture format among the international research community whose remit is university teaching methods? and (2) What improvements to the lecture format do the reviewed articles suggest, within the framework of the communicative matrix of interactive learning?

We have carried out a systematic review guided by the PRISMA approach, emphasizing the interest in methodological conceptual commitment, paying attention to documents published in journals with an impact factor. The search strategy was applied homogeneously in three databases: ERIC, PsycInfo, and Web of Science, following the systematic process of inclusion/exclusion.

Forty-five articles were selected with a range of 0–78 quotations, from different fields of knowledge and five continents; 12 articles are from journals with a JCR impact factor. The journal articles cover communicative (21), cognitive (13) and active-practical perspectives (11); the predominant governing aim of the analyzed improvements is connected with the attendees’ academic performance results (24); the reviewed studies belong mainly to the quantitative paradigm (42). The considerations derived from the results (45) cover formative, technical and/or critical aspects.

Discussion and conclusions

Whilst positively valuing all these efforts promoted by the European Higher Education Area, we have also verified the lack of contributions in line with our concerns that embrace the need to develop an in-depth conceptualization, supported by a methodology that is sensitive to the complexity of the oral communication format between an expert actor and non-specialized actors who wish to connect and collaborate with the expert in the production of knowledge.

Within the context of the new vision of higher education ( UNESCO Declaration, 1998 ; The Bologna Declaration, 1999 ) we propose to contribute to the renovation of teaching methodology by systematically reviewing the case of the university lecture format ( Tronchoni et al., 2018 , 2021 ; Tronchoni, 2019 ). We agree with the view that the expository-lecture format based on the programming of subject lessons should be reassessed both from a communicative standpoint and from the angle of the shared production of academic knowledge during university lessons.

The lecture is effectively one of the most used teaching methods in universities ( Fortanet-Gómez and Ruíz-Madrid, 2014 ), and at first glance there does not appear to be an issue between the use of this teaching format and the institutional commitment to the development of democratic values and the promotion of social welfare. In fact, the study of the lecture as an improved expository format in higher education has its own place within the area of Instructional Communication within the field of interpersonal communication ( Mazer and Hess, 2017 ).

In the last two decades there has been a proliferation of publications that deal with the lecture-type expository format ( Pérez-Llantada and Ferguson, 2006 ; Deroey and Taverniers, 2011 ; O’Callaghan et al., 2017 ), noting the multiple functions and wide diversity of knowledge areas to which it is applied ( Steinert and Snell, 1999 ; Dolnicar et al., 2009 ; Stacy, 2009 ; Tanahoung et al., 2009 ; Özcan, 2013 ), whilst highlighting the positive opinion that students have of this teaching format ( Bates et al., 2017 ; Buchanan and Palmer, 2017 ).

Approval (or disapproval) of this teaching method ranges from emphasizing or questioning its effectiveness in small and large groups ( Steinert and Snell, 1999 ; Kramer, 2017 ), to appraising the development of students’ listening and note-taking skills ( Meyer and Hunt, 2017 ).

With the incorporation of active pedagogies in university teaching, different studies have shown a concern for the role played by the lecture in the students’ learning process ( Barr and Tagg, 1995 ; Dannels, 2016 ; Darling, 2017 ; Tronchoni et al., 2021 ). This is giving rise to a change of direction in terms of understanding how active listening can benefit from other self-directed cognitive and emotional processes, whilst not forgetting the interpersonal communication skills that may mobilize the participants ( Darling-Hammond et al., 2017 ; Mallin, 2017 ; Hayden and Chory, 2018 ; Stockard et al., 2018 ; Thwin and Lwin, 2018 ). Whilst it is assumed that the lecture is a face-to-face format, the incorporation of the Internet into formal teaching has led to the lecture format being increasingly present in different online educational modalities or synchronous hybrid contexts ( Raes et al., 2020 ), with studies appearing concerning the use of interactive webinars ( Gegenfurtner and Ebner, 2019 ) and pre-recorded lecture classes ( O’Callaghan et al., 2017 ). Furthermore, over the last 2 years its synchronous virtual and online use has been propelled by the COVID pandemic ( Younis and Elbanna, 2022 ).

This tendency has led to the publication of studies committed to the transformation of the lecture into what could be called the new expert lecture , a subject currently under debate within international higher education forums ( French and Kennedy, 2017 ; Buzzanell, 2017 ; Darling, 2017 ; Meyer and Hunt, 2017 ; Sciullo, 2017 ; Stearns, 2017 ; Waldeck and Weimer, 2017 ; Samarasekera et al., 2018 ).

The synthetic review narrative that precedes the current situation of the lecture in higher education has led us to pose the central exploratory questions of this synthetic systematic review, reducing the PICO strategy to three elements: population (P), intervention (I), and result (O). Firstly, we seek answers to the following questions: (Research Question 1) Is there an interest in renovating the lecture format among the international research community whose remit is university teaching methods? And secondly (Research Question 2), what improvements to the lecture format do the reviewed articles suggest, within the framework of the communicative matrix of interactive learning ( Ruesch and Bateson, 1951 )?

This work follows the updated protocol of The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) for the transparent, complete and precise presentation of systematic review reports ( Page et al., 2021 ).

Search strategy

The search was carried out across three databases: PsycInfo, Web of Science, and ERIC, and the search strategy for identifying material was homogeneously applied: title containing the term lecture , AND teaching methods OR lecture method among the key words. This search tool was completed with the filters: articles in journals, university level education, peer review, complete text available, English language and time range from 2012 to 2021.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria applied were: articles of an empirical nature applied to university level education, with a conventional summary and methodological structure (introduction, method, results, and discussion). The aim was to give priority to studies that deal with specific experiences of changes in the lecture, with a defined organization. Reviews of any kind (narrative, bibliographical or meta-analysis) were discarded on the assumption that the established period of analysis was insufficient to allow for the production of additional elaborative material.

Selection process

The selection process involved firstly a review of the titles and articles, and secondly a detailed review of the complete texts of the remaining articles taking into consideration the eligibility criteria (see Figure 1 ).

Flow diagram (PRISMA 2020) with selection process.

Sample obtained

Table 1 includes all the selected articles ( n = 45) in chronological order, with the year of publication, the name of the journal and the title of each article appearing from left to right.

Selected articles in chronological order.

Analytical framework

The constructed analytical framework consists of two dataframes:

(I) Firstly, the scientific visibility and institutional backing of the selected research was coded (see Figure 2 ). The geographical origin indicator was taken into consideration since it provides information about the existing educational policies and quality demands in higher education in the universities of the countries of reference. Along with the country of reference, the knowledge area or discipline of the academic subject matter is indicated in those which generated some type of renewal proposal of the lecture format based on empirical evidence. The codes of the knowledge areas/disciplines are: sciences (CEX); biological sciences (BIO), medicine and health sciences (MED), social sciences (SOC), economic and business administration sciences (EAD), humanities (HUM) and diverse or indeterminate (DIV).

Criteria for the analysis of institutional backing and the visibility achieved with the publication of an empirical study aimed at improving the functioning of the university lecture.

A distinction can be made between countries and continents, –and, ultimately, between universities and institutions that recognize the relevance of, or have financed, research in this field. This generates an ordered record of institutional recognition of the origin of said research. This data is completed by two relevance indicators of the knowledge produced and disseminated: we are referring to the number of quotations taken from the article, and the scientific evaluation received by the journal responsible for the publication from some of the most respected platforms concerning the assessment and analysis of performance and scientific research quality. The number of quotations is an indicator of the professional repercussion that the article has had, both in the area of university education and in the pedagogic and didactic research of teaching methods—this was obtained via Google Scholar and identified until the end of 2021; the positioning of the journal includes the impact factor (JCR-WoS) and the quartile (Q) to which it belongs according to the year the selected article was published.

(II) The second dataframe refers to the multidimensional classification of the structural components that produce significant differences in the way of conceiving and structuring the research object. As all the studies that make up the dataframe refer to how to relate and drive teaching and learning in the renovated use of the university lecture, we would like to point out that the practical and technical proposals do not always entail a theoretical justification identifiable as belonging to a recognized and named learning paradigm. Rather what is produced is a free use of concepts and techniques that can respond to different theoretical focuses ( Entwistle, 2018 ). Taking this into account, the distinctive features considered were: conceptual perspective, guiding aim, type of study and applied result.

• a) We identified three perspectives of a technical nature applied to the improvement of the lecture format: the communicative perspective (COM), the cognitive perspective (COG), and the participative-practical perspective (ACT).
• b) The consolidated guiding aim that routed the selected research was conceived in terms of aptitude-treatment interaction ( Cronbach and Snow, 1977 ) and the criteria derived to characterize the dominant concern were: student potential or aptitude (DIS), the strategies and conditions of the teaching to be carried out (INS), performance (REN) and the combination (COB) of criteria (INS-REN, INS-DIS, DIS-REN).
• c) The methodological option that structures the research object on epistemological, ontological, and procedural levels can be specified with the widely argued and accepted proposal of quantitative (QUAN) and qualitative (QUAL) paradigms, and mixed-method (MM).
• d) Finally, the applied results or conclusive recommendations can be understood as being aimed at assessing the education fostered by the lecture (FOR), technology for learning and knowledge (TEC), and the need to compare the use of the lecture with other teaching methods (CRI). These criteria can be presented combined in the same article (MIX).

Table 2 contains the symbols assigned to the categories used in the content analysis of the sample obtained via the PRISMA procedure.

Dimensions of the analytical framework with components, symbols, categories, and examples for the analysis of the obtained data.

Table 3 shows the analysis of the scientific production relevance indicators (Quotations and IF JCR) and the supported relevance in origin (country, university, disciplinary knowledge) of the reviewed empirical articles:

Analytical framework of the sample of reviewed empirical articles.

Scientific visibility and institutional backing

Number of quotations: presence/absence of links criterion.

The number of quotations ranges from 0, a study by Shabani et al. (2020) , to 78 (see Figure 3 ), an article by Bailey et al. (2012) that deals with the transformation of the expository lecture in a large group, within a teaching format focused on the student. As the number of quotations rises, the number of articles diminishes, and therefore the most recently published articles show a lower number of quotations than the articles published in the first years of the time span used in this study (2012–2021). The number of accumulated quotations from all the articles as a whole was 759. It is worth assessing the presence of links among researchers concerned about the same issues rather than the quantity received, given that the materialization of synergies is more sensitive to the conditions in which the quotations are produced rather than the quantity of quotations received.

Relationship between number of quotations and number of articles.

Impact factor: scientific reliability criterion

Of the 45 articles selected, 12 (27%) belong to journals with an impact factor: 5 of Q1, 3 of Q2, 3 of Q3, and 1 of Q4 (see Figure 4 ). The greatest impact factor is 5.627 and corresponds to an article published in the Q1 journal, Computers & Education , about the effects of access to projected slides during lectures using Powerpoint ( Kim, 2018 ). The recognition that research groups and communities give to the need for an external assessment of their material before publishing, and the aspiration of being assessed by highly qualified journals, are two points that reflect the concern for obtaining applied results and a good path to achieving tangible applied results based on rigorous studies.

Placement of articles in journals with impact factor (JCR-WoS) and quartile (Q).

Geographical-academic distribution: institutional backing criterion

The geographical distribution (see Figure 5 ) of the selected articles is presented, from highest to lowest incidence, as follows: USA (14), Iran (4), India (3), Spain (3), South Korea (2), China (2), Indonesia (2), and the rest of the 15 countries (1). The geographical distribution covers the continents: Asia (18), North America (15), Europe (8), Africa (3), and Oceania (1), and highlights the absence of articles from Central and South America. The diversity of countries and continents reflects the diversity of educational policies and proposals for the improvement of university education in the twenty-first century. However, the seminal ideas of a teaching founded on the attention to differences and on the proposal of active teaching methods with a vision tinged by constructivism and support for a spirit of collaboration, appear to emerge in the discourse of the international communities and groups dedicated to educational research within higher education. Since the UNESCO Declaration (1998) and the The Bologna Declaration (1999) on innovative educational methods, the lines of improvement converge on an intercontinental level in pedagogic and didactic terms. Another matter entirely is the availability of means (economic, equipment, teacher training, etc.) and the cultural codes involved in the regulation of the complex factors present in situations of interactive learning induced by expository and highly specialized formats of teaching, as is the case of postgraduate and doctoral lectures.

Geographical provenance ordered by number of articles.

Field of knowledge: plasticity of innovative teaching methods criterion

In the group of selected articles, the studies deal with different areas of knowledge (see Table 4 ): MED (11), SOC (11), CEX (9), HUM (5), EAD (4), DIV (4), and BIO (1). Whilst all the curricular disciplines are involved in creating a renovation in the field of cognitive strategy communication, teamwork, or in the way of assessing results, the concern about improving the lecture format remains a didactic setting that can be adapted to interactive and collaborative learning conditions.

Fields of knowledge of the analyzed studies.

Multidimensional classification of structural components

The articles cover three perspectives: COM (21), COG (13), and ACT (11). The plasticity of the didactic methods shown above facilitates a complex approach to the research object. The limits are imposed by the research object as defined by the researcher, although the frequency of the studies assigned to one category or another is not the most important thing. What we wish to highlight is that the three orientations are present in the analyzed sample.

The guiding-aim of the selected studies correspond to: INS (4), DIS (7) and REN (24) and in 10 articles two of these aims are combined: INS + REN (1), INS + DIS (1), and DIS + REN (8). One sign of lecture maintenance is precisely that responses are designed to the problems of performance, and to those arising from teacher conduct as being responsible for the teaching action involved in all the facilitating modes of interactive learning.

The methodologies used in the generation and analysis of data focus on the QUAN perspective (42), while the other two options are only present in three articles (QUAL, 1 and MM, 2). It is important to underline that the journals with a higher impact factor located in the quartiles Q1 and Q2 do not propose any methodological restrictions, whilst some of them even advocate openly for the inclusion of research that responds to the quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method approaches. These journals are: Anatomical Sciences Education, British Journal of Educational Technology, Interactive Learning Environments, Computers & Education, International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Research in Learning Technology, Journal of Pragmatics, Advances in Medical Education and Practice .

The applied results and/or recommendations from the studies influence the following aspects: FOR (20), CRI (7), TEC (6), and in 12 articles two of these are combined: FOR + TEC (11) and TEC + CRI (1). What stands out is the teaching value of the lecture and the incorporation of telematic computerized resources. It also provides a reflection about the role of technical aspects in pedagogic and didactic improvements.

The intersection of the conceptual perspective dimension with the methodological affiliation provides us with a new picture of the data when the nine resulting regroupings are considered (see Table 5 ).

Conceptual-methodological commitment (perspectives and methodologies).

An analytical view of the methodological commitment in each regrouping is presented as a whole in Table 6 , characterized by:

Analytical view of the methodological commitment in each regrouping.

Methodological commitment QUAN-COM, QUAN-COG, and QUAN-ACT

There are 19 QUAN-COM articles (42.2%) and they include 301 quotations (39.7%). Three articles have an impact factor (Q1, Q2 and Q3), and are from diverse fields of knowledge: SOC (6), CEX (4), DIV (3), EAD (2), MED (2); are from different continents: AME (4), ASI (8), EUR (5), AFR (1), and OCE (1). The aims are of type REN (9), DIS (4), INS (3) and DIS-REN (3), and the results of type FOR (7), TEC (4), CRI (3), TEC-CRI (1) and FOR-TEC (4).

There are 13 QUAN-COG articles (29%) and they include 220 quotations (29%). Six articles have an impact factor (Q1, Q2, and Q3), and are from diverse fields: MED (5), SOC (3), CEX (2), HUM (2), and EAD (1); and are from different continents: AME (6), ASI (5), and AFR (2). The aims are of type REN (9), DIS-REN (3), and INS-REN (1), and the results are of type FOR (6), FOR-TEC (5), TEC (1), and CRI (1).

There are 10 QUAN-ACT articles (22%) and they include 165 quotations (21.7%). Four have an impact factor (Q1, Q3, and Q4), are from diverse fields of knowledge: MED (4), CEX (2), SOC (2), and EAD (1), and are from three continents: AME (5), ASI (4) and EUR (1). The aims are of type REN (4), DIS (4), DIS-REN (2), and INS (1), and the results are of type FOR (5), CRI (3), and FOR-TEC (2).

To summarize, the presence of the quantitative conceptual-methodological commitment in all the other structural aspects considered, and its prevalence in the most accredited scientific media, leads us to the conclusion that the web of quotations could provide interesting results for the subjects they cover.

Methodological commitment QUAL-ACT

One QUAL-ACT article was identified, with one quotation and no impact factor. It is from Ireland, and the field of knowledge is HUM. The aim is of type REN and the result is FOR.

In light of this datum and taking into account the comment about the methodological aperture of the journals with a JCR impact factor, it is worth underlining the numerous possibilities offered by qualitative methodology ( Wertz et al., 2011 ).

Methodological commitment MM-COM

There are 2 MM-COM articles; they include 72 quotations (9.6%) and have no impact factor. The fields of knowledge are CEX and BIO, and they are from Europe and Asia. The aims are REN in one article and INS-DIS in the other, and the results are TEC and FOR.

Given that we believe the mixed-method conceptual-methodological commitment is suitable for the study of the innovative renovations of the lecture format ( Tronchoni et al., 2021 ), and the scientific works with methods considered as inherent integrators of qualitative and quantitative data analysis ( Anguera and Izquierdo, 2006 ; Bazeley, 2018 ; Izquierdo and Anguera, 2021 ), we can only hope that the MM commitment will be present in more studies. On the other hand, the products achieved with this conceptual-methodological commitment are appreciated, valued and recommended for publication in the best placed journals that cover the subjects of teaching and learning in higher education.

A descriptive analysis of the results obtained via the coding of the criteria dimensions in order to capture the differences produced by the systematically selected sample, produces two conclusions that provide answers to the two research questions posed in the introduction: the first conclusion responds to the question about the current scientific situation of the renovated lecture format subjected to empirical study. The second conclusive response places value on the identified processes and results, whilst at the same time demonstrating the need to articulate a proposal that incorporates an open and dialogued vision of the teaching system, whose continued renovation should be founded on empirical research in as far as this is possible and necessary.

Understanding the evolution of the relationships between the various components of the teaching system is vital if universities are to offer effective and efficient teaching. Given that we have found no other systematic reviews of the proposed key terms, it is not possible either to verify whether the description carried out and the conclusions we propose are in line with other reviews, nor to indicate in which aspects our findings differ from those provided by other systematic reviews of the lecture format.

Before entering into the argumentation thread that sustains the inferential and proactive path of this section, it is worth pointing out that our empirical conceptual-methodological approach connected with educational assessment ( Tronchoni et al., 2021 ) has a point of contact—differences aside—with the Direct Instruction movement ( Engelmann and Colvin, 2006 ). When it comes to discussing the coarse matter of the frequency distribution of the different criteria and the subtle silence of the vacuums that the analyzed results produce, we include as a contrast the idea of systematizing the way the acquisition of new knowledge is accessed in terms of direct instruction proposals, i.e., the teaching system of the lecture in our case. We believe that the vacuums or lowest scores can provide a certain generalization of interest about the need to construct a common base open to a plurality of viewpoints, but with a clear message about the need to systematize the lecture format without renouncing flexibility, plasticity, web connectivity, or sustainable effectiveness.

Research Question 1. Is there an interest in renovating the lecture format among the international research community whose remit is university teaching methods?

Conclusion 1. The geographical channeling of institutional backing and the evaluation of the visibility and scientific reliability of the web of quotations is proof positive for tackling the internationalized challenge of the renovation of the lecture format. Unfortunately, the methodological commitment remains incomplete in not providing qualitative and mixed-method studies, and the databases consulted are not sensitive to the research carried out in South American countries.

This conclusion is based on the following evidence found in our research:

• a) In the group of selected articles, the lecture is present in a wide diversity of journals. Some of them show a JCR impact factor, elaborated on the Web of Science platform (WoS). The visibility of this subject in the scientific-academic community interested in the renovation and innovation of teaching methods in general and the lecture in particular, is guaranteed in the period consulted. The five journals with the highest impact factor according to year of publication, in ascending order are: Interactive Learning Environments (2012), British Journal of Educational Technology (2013), International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (2019), Anatomical Sciences Education (2019), and Computers & Education (2018). The conceptual-methodological commitments QUAN-COM (3), QUAN-COG (6), and QUAN-ACT (3) were present in the articles with an impact factor. The articles conceived as QUAL-ACT (1) and MM-COM (2), were published in journals indexed on other platforms.
• b) The expository lecture, with a greater or lesser scientific visibility, is a subject that raises interest among researchers in different countries on all continents. The geographical prevalence of the selected articles belongs to the scientific production of researchers in Asia (mainly Iran, India, South Korea, China and Indonesia) and the USA. Our database search did not produce selected articles from South America. On the other hand, Asia and North America cover the methodological commitments QUAN-COM (12), QUAN-COG (11), and QUAN-ACT (9); Europe shows an interest in the methodological commitment QUAN-COM (5) and Africa in QUAN-COG (2) and QUAN-COM (1). Once again, the options that structure the research object with a methodological commitment QUAL or MM were silenced.
• c) The appearance of quotations in the scientific production of articles is an indicator of the appreciation and value given to the subject, and of its subsequent incorporation into new articles that promote the applied proposals in real situations within the field of the acquisition of curricular, declarative and procedural knowledge, and of that pertaining to the area of values, attitudes, and emotions. Quotations generate networks of interest through the mobilization of said advances, creating tendencies within studies. This suggests that networks of influence are being formed. The expository lecture is defined by a directly visible web potential that has set in motion 759 connections in the total of the 45 articles in our sample. Only one recently published article did not register any quotations. The web is structured into lesser groupings depending on the methodological commitments found from the QUAN commitment and these are thus distributed from greater to lesser number of quotations: QUAN-COM (301), QUAN-COG (220), and QUAN-ACT (165).

Research Question 2. What improvements to the lecture format do the reviewed articles suggest, within the framework of the communicative matrix of interactive learning?

Conclusion 2. It is very difficult to know the characteristics of the lectures that have been subject to intervention and their relationship with other teaching and learning methods. However, the internationalized agenda of the subjects covered is sufficiently pertinent to give rise to partial improvements in the exploitation of technological opportunities (ICT) applied to the transmission of knowledge, the use of strategies and the inclusion of participative tasks and techniques. Unfortunately, the analyzed sample does not reflect the concept of a communicative matrix within the organizational and institutional context of the intervened lectures; whilst all the articles are in line with the ideal of promoting interactive learning , the consideration as to how teaching should be adjusted does not appear.

The reflection of the obtained data on the improvements achieved by the interventions carried out in lectures covers the following subjects:

• a) Information processing and performance. A total of 17.7% of the higher education sample analyzed describes teaching based on improvements in lecture design, beginning with the problems raised by providing information to be effectively remembered (DIS-REN, 8). The subject of attention and memory functions in interactive learning is linked to good performance and an increase in learning potential in lectures ( French and Kennedy, 2017 ). Another aspect to bear in mind when considering the effects of the informative approach proposed to the students is whether to promote learning based on investigative competencies or on repetitive production activities ( Lundvall and Johnson, 2016 ). Since both forms of learning are complementary, there is room for the design of mixed trajectories. The shadow of unmonitored (by the teacher) repetitive learning grows longer when we consider that 53% of our sample places emphasis on performance (REN, 24). We do not know the diversified cultures of the universities that use the lecture method, nor do we know the relationship between this format and other methods applied in class sessions, but the emphatic concern about performance might be indicative of a more conventional (the exclusive performance of declarative content) rather than innovative feature of the researched teaching practice.

On the one hand, the article by Bailey et al. (2012) with IF (JCR) 0.70 (Q4) has 78 quotations (29% of the group of articles with an impact factor). This article was published in the journal The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology , by three professors from the Biochemistry Department of the University of Nebraska and the Chemistry Department of Seattle University (USA). The article deals with how to transform an expository lecture into a format centered on the students’ learning. The professional nature of the proposal connects with the pedagogical revolution of renovating the lecture by incorporating opportunities for participation (ACT), and developing skills (DIS) that are necessary for the learning of content that can be transmitted with an expository format (FOR).

On the other hand, the article by Hegeman (2015) , of Missouri Western State University (USA), has 77 quotations (16% of the group of articles with no impact factor) and was published in the journal Online Learning . The article analyzes the results of learning facilitated by the use of multimedia material and note-taking. The students are given cards designed by the teacher in order to guide the study of pre-recorded expository algebra sessions. The article, conceived from a cognitive perspective (COG), promotes the implication of the teaching staff in the technical handling (TEC) of telematic opportunities and the construction of tutorial material, with the aim of facilitating a greater performance (REN) from the students.

• c) Communicative matrix of the educational system. It is striking that just 13% of the sample gives a description of teaching that places the focus on the teaching format in relation to performance or student aptitude (INS-REN, 1; INS-DIS, 1), and on the appropriateness of the lecture for carrying out certain learning (INS 4). One silenced aspect derived from this fact is the concern about the influence of teacher-student learning relationships ( Entwistle, 2018 ). The good design and good application of an educational system—which may be the improved lecture—should incorporate the complex loop of communicative interactions between the four identifiable levels of exchange in the educational system: (i) the political-economic and cultural-educational conditions both inside and outside the classroom, (ii) the academic and professional side of the disciplines, (iii) the physical and virtual meeting spaces, and (iv) the personalities of the students and teachers. This reading of the renovated lecture reinforces the ritual of roles ( Goffman, 1967 ) that can promote dialogic interaction within the juncture of teaching with interactive learning. There are those who search for this juncture in valuing the role played in the design and execution of the lecture by the active, attentive student who is a synthesizer of retrievable and revisable information. Another line of juncture seeks to potentiate oral participation. In this context of considerations, 71% of the reviewed studies direct their concern about communication toward academic performance, with some mentions of student aptitude or the expository teaching of the content covered (COM-REN, 10; COM-COB, 4). If we take into account that 47% of the articles incorporate the COM perspective, then it would be important for the subject of academic performance to predominate in order to vouch for the virtues of the renovated lecture format. We suspect that the communicative focus does not respond to a holistic and dialogic approach, and that the concern about individual student aptitude is centered on the satisfaction that preferably cognitive experiences generate in being able to drive learning itself, with the aid of the teacher’s exposition and the development of necessary strategies and abilities.
• d) The geographical and institutional extent of attempts to improve the lecture format does not provide the necessary contextualization of those innovations. The internationalization of the aim of improving the lecture format, understood as an expert teaching format, is undoubtedly benefiting from the possibilities offered by ICT, multimedia options and the combined use of face-to-face and synchronous virtual sessions ( O’Callaghan et al., 2017 ; Gegenfurtner and Ebner, 2019 ; Raes et al., 2020 ). These new possibilities, sensitive to the educational and economic conditions of each university and country, present the need to develop specific designs in terms of how to implement and drive instructional participative interaction that mobilizes reasons to cooperate, together with the strategic use of collaborative cognitive-emotional abilities implied in the process of acquiring academic knowledge.

The reviewed articles propose changes (COM, COG, ACT) but do not give contextual keys to understanding how to go about it and to conceptualize what is proposed as an intellectual and experiential result above and beyond a mere recuperation of information.

To summarize, from standpoint regarding the conceptualization of the innovation of the lecture format and the conceptual-methodological commitment adopted in the empirical research of this subject ( Tronchoni et al., 2021 ), we believe that the review carried out alerts us to the lack of studies that provide an integrated response to the conditions and roles of interactive learning, together with tackling the production of emotional-intellectual experiences that reinforce the dialogic and collaborative links of all the participants. Whilst all the methodological options might be appropriate for structuring empirical studies about the improvements sought by good interactive design and a good execution of the renovated lecture, we would like to underline that the mixed-method approach of systematic observation ( Anguera et al., 2017 ) fits well with the idea of being able to finalize reliable formative assessments contingent upon the diversity of people, the disciplines involved, space-time conditions, own and imported educational cultures, and the most distal influences. The focus of the observation centers on participative interaction, a mechanism responsible for the organization of exchanges and for controlling the means of producing academic knowledge, and for the emotional-intellectual experience. Above and beyond the satisfaction produced by academic results, the emotional-intellectual experience that emerges from the social implication in the construction of knowledge can be considered a powerful resource for personal growth and collective wellbeing ( Claxton, 1984 ).

Every systematic review has inherent limitations to its own profile—such as the proposal of selection criteria for primary documents—that inevitably have an influence on the results, both on those obtained, and on the vacuums detected. An example of this is the culture of research itself which may exist in relation to the expository lecture in Latin American countries, made invisible by opting for selection criteria that we feel to be suitable (such as the English language). Furthermore, another limit could be that the filter with the term lecture may hide diverse understandings of the lecture format within the specification of each study.

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of a Spanish Government subproject Integration ways between qualitative and quantitative data, multiple case development, and synthesis review as main axis for an innovative future in physical activity and sports research (PGC2018-098742-B-C31) (2019–2021) (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Programa Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento y Fortalecimiento Científico y Tecnológico del Sistema I+D+i), that is part of the coordinated project New approach of research in physical activity and sport from mixed methods perspective (NARPAS_MM) (SPGC201800X098742CV0).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Lecturing

Strategies for More Effective Lectures

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Lecturing is an old-fashioned instructional method of delivering information verbally. This model represents an oral tradition  that dates back to the Middle Ages. The term lecture came into use during the 14th century as a verb meaning "to read or deliver formal discourses." The person presenting a lecture during this time was often called a reader because they recited information from a book to students that recorded it verbatim.

There are many pros and cons of lecturing that cause much debate over whether this strategy should still be used today. Learn whether lecturing fits into the modern classroom and if it does, how.

What Is a Lecture?

During a typical lecture, an instructor stands before their class and presents information to students. Lecturing can go on for any amount of time on any topic. They are versatile in that sense but quite limited in others.

The negative reputation of lectures can be attributed to their non-transactional nature—they do not tend to allow for much discussion or other forms of student involvement. Lectures simply offer a way for teachers to carefully execute their teaching according to a precise plan. They do not assess learning, offer varied perspectives, differentiate instruction, or allow students to self-direct.

Lecturing Today

Because their disadvantages are now widely discussed, many wonder whether lectures still have a place in the modern teaching landscape. The answer is plain and simple: traditional lectures do not. There are a number of factors that contribute to a lecture's success, but lecturing is ultimately an outdated form of instructional delivery that does not benefit students.

Read about the advantages and disadvantages of traditional lecturing to understand why this teaching approach is in need of a remodel.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Traditional Lecturing

Lecturing, in the most traditional sense, holds more cons than pros.

Traditional lecturing offers a few distinct advantages that other teaching methods do not. Lectures are beneficial for these reasons:

Lectures are straightforward. Lectures allow teachers to deliver information to students as planned. This gives great control over what is taught and lets teachers be the sole source of information to avoid confusion.

Lectures are efficient. A well-rehearsed lecture can be presented quickly and planned ahead of time to fit into a certain schedule.

Lectures can be pre-recorded and recycled. Many teachers record their lectures ahead of time and even show lectures given by others. Khan academy videos and TED talks are examples of common educational lectures available to the public

There are many drawbacks to lecturing that make it nonideal. The following list includes disadvantageous features of traditional lectures:

Lectures are very taxing for students. In order for a student to get as much as possible from a lecture, they must take detailed notes . This skill must be taught and takes a lot of time to master. Most students don't know what they should take away from lectures and do not successfully learn the material.

Lectures are not engaging. Lectures are often long and monotonous, making it difficult for even the most dedicated students to engage. They cause students to quickly grow bored and tune out and they also don't leave room for questions, making confused students even more likely to shut down.

Lectures are teacher-centered. They do not bring students into the conversation to ask questions, debate ideas, or share valuable personal experiences. Lectures are built on a teacher's agenda only with almost no student inquiry or contribution. In addition, a teacher has no way of telling whether students are learning.

Lectures do not accommodate individual needs. Lectures allow for little to no differentiation. They follow a specific format of delivery that does not account for learning disabilities or other needs. Lectures leave many students feeling frustrated and confused.

Lectures cause students to rely on their teachers. The one-sided format of lectures often leads students to develop a dependency on their teachers. Students accustomed to lectures lack self-directed learning skills and are unable to teach themselves. This fails them because teaching students to learn is the very purpose of education in the first place.

How to Plan an Effective Lecture

Though standard lecturing has more or less become obsolete, that doesn't mean that lecturing can't be made more effective. With the help of technological advances and the latest, most productive teaching strategies, lectures can be revamped into much more meaningful teaching and learning experiences.

As with any other teaching practice in an instructional arsenal, teachers should exercise discretion and selectivity when deciding whether to lecture. After all, lecturing is only one tool out of many. For these reasons, lecturing should be used in moderation only when it is more appropriate than any other teaching method. To create the most effective lecture possible, keep these tips in mind.

Be Flexible

Lectures need to have a little wiggle room. Organization is critical but a well-planned lecture is only successful as long as it stays completely on track. Because of this, instructors must plan for any scenario and be open-minded when it comes time to lecture. If a student says or does something that changes your plans, go with it. Practice responsive teaching by listening to what your students are saying and adjusting to meet their needs in the moment.

Before a lecture even begins, decide exactly what it should accomplish. This is the case for any lesson and lectures are no exception. Set learning goals for a lecture outlining skills and knowledge that students should have when you are finished. With clear, action-directed goals in place, you don't have to worry if your lecture veers a little off-track. Let it go where it needs to go and use learning goals you've set to direct instruction no matter where a lecture ends up.

Build in Assessments

Once you've planned standards-aligned, highly specific learning targets, take the time to decide how you will check a student's progression toward them. You should have a way of determining whether each and every student is grasping the material you have delivered and a plan for following up with those that do not. A lecture, like any lesson, should not begin and end in a single day. Review what you have taught often and build lectures seamlessly into your curriculum for best results.

Plan Dynamic Lectures

A lecture should not bore your students. Incorporate multi-media learning experiences, visuals, activities, and educational games into your lecturing to maintain student interest and make your instruction more accessible. Make your students feel excited about what you are teaching and they will be more likely to learn. Additionally, always supplement your lecturing with guided and independent practice to let students try what you have taught for themselves. If you neglect to do this, your students might not understand a concept no matter how interesting your lecture was.

Provide Supports

One of the biggest flaws in the format of a traditional lecture is that it expects too much of students without supporting them at all. Note-taking is an especially demanding task. Teach your students to successfully take notes so that they don't spend each lecture stressing about recording every word you say and provide graphic organizers for them to take notes on. Finally, scaffold your instruction so that every student—regardless of background knowledge, learning disabilities, etc.—has a way to access information.

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Learning from Lectures

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Introduction

Making the most of course lectures can be a challenge, particularly when they are not as interesting as you would like them to be. At times, the material you’re asked to understand can seem intangible for any number of reasons: the content may be dry, the lecturer may be doing their job at too slow or too fast a pace, presentations may be too consistent or boring for your liking, or you may just be feeling out of your element. It is also easy to become distracted by your electronic devices or things you notice in your surroundings. There may even be moments when something about the classroom environment or lecture itself actively discourages your learning.

No matter the content or context, you can benefit not only from preparing for a lecture, but also from using effective learning strategies during and after the lecture. This page provides examples for you might go about doing so.

Preparing for a Difficult Lecture

Thinking actively about what you can do to be focused and successful in your learning environments should begin before class. To boost the probability of understanding and retaining the information taught during lectures, there are helpful steps you can take ahead of time.

Active reading

Leading up to a lecture, the expectation will generally be that you read assigned materials and complete any tasks or assignments that accompany those readings. As an added step to highlighting and annotating your materials ahead of time, you might consider the importance of question writing. As you read, pay close attention to things that confuse you or interest you. Writing questions that come to mind as you are reading gives you something to work from when it comes time for lectures. Once you’re in class, you can ask those questions directly or listen in for answers that may come up during the lecture. By doing this, you have a record of your own curiosities about each topic that you can also ask your instructor more about later on.

It’s no surprise that digital technologies are ubiquitous in today’s classroom environment. At times, they are necessary and, in some cases, required. Although devices such as laptops or tablets are great for taking notes and completing classwork, there are times when they can get in the way of your learning. When lectures fall dull or become difficult to engage in, the likelihood of using devices for matters unrelated to class is sure to rise. Ahead of lectures, you might restrict access to certain websites or apps on your own. Thankfully, there are apps that help you manage these habits. Here are a few to consider:

 These applications are among a handful of others that will “unplug” you from looming distractions like social media and streaming services. Ensuring that the appropriate settings on your app of choice are activated before each lecture will help you maintain the focus you need in order to grasp difficult or uninteresting material. You may also decide to experiment with this outside of class as a way to schedule in study sessions and tutoring consultations on your own or with a group.

Striving for accessibility

Finally, discussing any pressing accessibility issues with your instructor is an important step to take for yourself and your learning. In doing so, you may even be helping your peers. The feeling of being left out during a lecture can be daunting. If you have specific needs in order to be attentive and successful during lectures, then you should voice those needs beforehand. Whether you need your instructor to accommodate lecture audio settings, reserve a specific seat for you, provide a printed copy of presentations before class, or something else entirely, these needs should be brought to their attention as they become necessary. These are just a few among many very real concerns that should be addressed if they will help you learn and retain the material being taught. You may also consider consulting the disability services office at your institution to maintain a record of your needs so that all of your instructors and your advisor(s) are made aware of them. Accessibility concerns can come in between you and your course engagement and participation if you let them. As such, you should always tend to your needs as the semester progresses.

During a Difficult Lecture

In the scene of a lecture, there are a few things that tend to come standard. Although the activities taking place during lectures may seem straightforward and expected, it is important to think closely about how you can be more actively involved based on your learning style and the content being taught.

Taking notes

When picturing a lecture, note taking is something that seems standard and straightforward. However, a better understanding of which approaches to writing notes works well for you (and which don’t) can help you retain the information being thrown at you with more clarity. Importantly, your approach to taking notes is something that you may need to alter depending on the course subject, delivery method, instructor teaching styles, and other factors. The best approach for you may be the same in every class or it may vary—it all depends on how you feel about the material being taught. Writing notes by hand has its pros and cons, just as typing them out does. In the early parts of a semester, it’s helpful to experiment with different methods to see what goes well and to continue making note of that. Whether you handwrite or type notes, you may decide that standard linear notes, which are continuous and organized in a top-to-bottom manner, are best for you. However, there are also pattern-based approaches to taking notes that are more visual in nature. Here are a few worth exploring for yourself:

• The Cornell Method
• Sketch notes
• Diagram/Spidergram

What’s important to keep in mind is that these visual methods can be combined with one another or with a linear approach. You may decide to incorporate two or more of them into the design of your notes once you notice what works for you. You may also decide to video and/or audio record lectures and return to them later. It may be necessary to consult with your instructor first if you feel that video/audio recording is going to be a helpful method for you.

Asking questions

This is where the work of active reading and question writing can really shine. As a reference point during lectures, the annotations, notes, and questions you have for a given lesson can translate to important discussions in class. The questions you ask based on your own uncertainties or curiosities are likely to help others in the class who may have similar questions, as well. What’s more is that the answers you receive may lead you to consider further questions you didn’t think of previously, which you can then ask and write down during class. Speaking up can be difficult but keep in mind that by doing so, you may be doing a whole lot of good for others who are searching for the same answers you are.

Listening during a lecture works really well for some, yet not so well for others. However, you should experiment with finding a balance between listening and taking notes. Copying down slides from a presentation verbatim can take up time that might be better spent listening in for added details or questions that are asked and answered during class. The presentations instructors design for lectures may be available to you online so that you can revisit them outside of class. If not, you can try to reach out to your instructors directly to request them. By listening in, you’re also better equipped to take note of any points your instructor may have accidentally left out of a presentation and key in on important announcements, dates, directions, or other relevant information that you might otherwise forget.

After a Difficult Lecture

At a reasonable time soon after lectures, there are steps you can take to help you practice and better retain what you learned. Of course, when a lecture wraps up for the day, you may have a number of other obligations ahead of you before you can study or work on assignments. Scheduling time in to do these things takes care and attention to details, so you should try to give yourself needed breaks beforehand.

Revisiting notes and organizing materials

Whether you have handwritten notes, typed notes, or a combination of both, now is a good time to revisit those. This is also an ideal time to listen closely to lecture recordings (if you have them) and to revisit questions you may have written down prior to the lecture. Some point soon following each lecture, you should check to make sure that any relevant files/documents are saved in appropriate folders and “nested folders” (or “subfolders”) on your device or in your course binder. Doing so will help prevent confusion or loss of materials down the line. If you house your notes on your digital device(s) but also have some handwritten notes or other print materials from class, you can scan those and upload them accordingly. If you have a phone or tablet, there are apps available to scan physical documents and convert them into a digital format. Being organized is a crucial step toward setting achievable study goals and ensuring that your classwork and study time are spent efficiently.

Connecting with peers

Following a lecture, you might consider connecting with peers in your class. Everyone takes in the information taught during lectures differently. Topics that may be a bit boring to you may be interesting to someone else. Moreover, teaching methods that don’t quite click with your learning style may be the best method for learning and retention for another student in the class. Making connections in class and following up with others to better understand something about a topic is one way to feel more at ease later on. What’s more is that this is a great step toward forming study groups and making friends. Once you are connected with one or more peers, you can work together to compare notes, ask questions, revisit lectures, complete practice problems, and more.

Reaching out to instructors

Every instructor is different. Some may present themselves as more accessible to their students than others. In any case, you should reach out to your instructors either in person after class or by email with any follow-up questions or concerns you may have. This could be related to accessibility, as mentioned earlier, but you may also benefit from asking questions about a specific lesson you’re struggling with. If you show interest in the material, your instructor may decide to meet with you virtually or in office to help you. Keep in mind that your instructors are also busy. They may suggest tutoring services or additional resources to you, so you should keep a fairly open mind toward any recommendations they offer. You should also consider asking your instructor for available resources if they don’t suggest any outright.

10 Activities to Make Lectures Interactive

Belinda richardson and debi griffin from bellarmine university share some activities you can use to engage your students during your lectures and how to work these activities into your class..

In order to retain student attention and facilitate learning, consider integrating a variety of activities into a lecture-based course. Start by finding natural breaks in the content material and break up the lecture into shorter segments. In between the shorter lectures, add activities that require the students to review and apply their new learning and interact with each other. Mix it up by incorporating different activities each week. The change of pace, interaction, and variety can help to enliven the classroom atmosphere and encourage deeper learning for every student. Some activities to consider are listed below.

Skeleton notes – Create a handout with key points of the lecture on the left margin, leaving space for students to fill in notes during lecture. Pair up or group students to compare notes and fill in gaps.

Press Conference – Ask students to work in teams to write and organize questions, and then interview the instructor in a simulated press conference.

Clusters – Break reading material into sections and have each individual or group read an assigned section, becoming an “expert” on that section. Each individual or group then teaches the others about the specific material that they learned.

Select the Best Response – Students are presented with a question or scenario and then asked to consider which one of three responses best answers it. This can be used to recall and apply information presented in lecture.

Correct the Error – This can be used in math or lab courses. The instructor creates an intentional error based on important lecture material. Students then work to correct the error.

Support a Statement – The Instructor provides a statement for which students must locate support in lecture notes or textbooks and give data to support the statement.

Re-order Steps – The instructor presents a series of steps in a mixed order and the students are asked to sequence the items correctly.

Short Video Clip – A short, relevant video clip can be useful for introducing a new topic, punctuating the main point, or providing a springboard for class discussion.

One Minute Paper – Near the end of the class period, ask students to write for one minute on the main 1-2 points of the class. This assignment allows you to gauge student comprehension and gives students an incentive to absorb and comprehend course material.

Student-created Visuals - Ask students to work in small groups to create visual study aids such as flow charts, graphs, diagrams, artwork, maps, or photography. A variation on this activity could produce student-created study guides prior to each major exam.

Submitted by

Belinda Richardson and Debi Griffin Bellarmine University www.bellarmine.edu

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Methods of Teaching Social Science: Lecture Method, Demonstration Method, Project Method, Problem-Solving Method, Source Method, Supervised Study Method, Textbook Method

Methods of Teaching Social Science- Lecture Method, Demonstration Method, Project Method, Problem-Solving Method, Source Method, Supervised Study Method, Textbook Method 

Lecture Methods-

Merits of Lecture Methods

a) Lecture method is useful to give background information on a particular topic.

b) With the help of short lecture one can give a gist of a topic or wrap up the lesson.

c) Lecture method helps the teacher to deal with various topics within a short period of time.

d) Lecture method helps the teacher to give lots of information on that particular topic.

e) In the lecture method teacher can teach to a large group of audience.

Also Read...  MEANING OF SOCIAL STUDIES   

Demerits of Lecture Methods

a) Lecture method is not suitable for the younger or primary school student.

b) Lecture method can be monotonous.

c) Skill teacher is needed to use the lecture method as communication is the most important part of lecture method.

d) For all type of learner lecture method may not be suitable.

Due to its various demerits current educator criticizes this method but due to its unique strength this method is still commonly used.  

Demonstration Method

The demonstration is one of the useful methods through the use of this method teacher can provide information, create interest, and also can develop the standards of work by showing how a process is done. This method is effective when followed by an activity. It is a art of depicting the skills associated with the action.

Merits of Demonstration

a) Demonstration method helps to create interest among the student.

c) Demonstration method helps create involvement among the student.

d) To arouse attention among the student this method is fruitful and also motivates them to learn.

e) Helps the student to express their thought which helps to increase the knowledge.

a) There must be active and equal participant of the student, otherwise this method is useless.

b) Teaching aids that will be used in demonstration method, must be attractive, otherwise, the student will lose interest.

c) If the teacher fails to provide the extra knowledge, then students may find it boring.

d) Teacher must be skilled in using this method, otherwise objective may not be achieved

e) Due to individual difference, this method may not be able to achieve the goal of the teacher.

Project Method

Project method is considered as the best method in compression to other methods.   This method is based on the principle “learning by doing”.   In this method teacher have to provide a situation where he pupils can learn according to their interests and attitudes. The situations may be like- conversation on different topics, discussions, pictures, buildings or sites, telling stories or taking children out on excursions and educational tours.   In this situation teacher’s role is to discover the interests, needs, tasks and aptitudes of the children. Dr. Kilpatrick points out "the part of the pupil and the part of the teacher in most of the school work depend largely on who does the proposing".

Merits of Project Method

a) Project method helps the learner to learn according to their interest an attitude.

b) This method motivates the learner to learn as it is activity based learning.

c)   The use of this method helps the learner to connect with the real life world.

Demerits Project Method

a) This method is time consuming.

c) This method cannot be use regularly as it is impossible to give the project all the time and subject.

Problem-Solving Method

Problem solving method is quite suitable for basic education system as it teach the student how to deal with real life problem. In this method teacher has to create a situation in the school where the student can feel the problem and find out solution with their capacity and ability. This method is characterized by mental activity and critical thinking.

Merits of Problem solving method

a) The use of this method helps the learner to learn the real life problem and deal with it.

b) It helps to develop the power of critical judgment.

c) It makes the pupil to participate actively.

d) It makes the student independent.

Demerits of Problem solving method

a) This method required more time.

b) Sometime it becomes boring and monotonous.

c) May not expect satisfactory result all the time.

d) Required too much of reference material to make understand the pupil.

Source Method

Source method is a method use by the teacher to teach the student by using various sources. Sources may be written or printed record or it may be original. Original sources are like-statues, tools, weapons, customs, tradition etc. Written sources are like- newspaper, manuscript, diaries, letters, reports etc.

Merits of Source Method

a) It gives a opportunity of mental training develop the power of thinking, imagination, self-expression an discussion.

b) It also develops the power of reasoning and power of judgment.

Demerits of Source Method

a) The method is long and the progress of the student is slow.

b) It is not possible to use this method in lower class.

c) Trained teacher is needed to use this method.

Read...  Understanding Social studies  

Supervised Study Method

In this method teacher supervise and direct the student till they become independent and efficient in his learning. In teaching social science this method occupies a special place.

Merits of Supervised Method

a) To meet the individual difference this method can be use.

b) In this method teacher become the guide, friend and philosopher.

c) This method helps the student to become independent.

Demerits of Supervised Method

a) It is helpful for only slow Learner.

b) Self- reliance of the student can be destroyed.

Textbook is nothing but a logical and systematic arrangement of sources by the educational department. In teaching learning process textbook is the main source. This method is use in all school by the teacher.

Merits of Textbook Method

a) Textbook is important for self study and develop the study skill.

b) It is useful as it give logical and systematic information of a particular subject.

Demerits of Textbook Method

a) Critical thinking does not develop.

b) Without the help of teacher pupil may not take all the advantage of the textbook.

• Meaning of Social Studies 
• Scope of Social Studies
• Understanding Social studies
• Methods of Teaching Social Science
•  Teaching Methods: Principles of Good Teaching Methods

The General Principles of Teaching

Modern teaching and learning processes.

• Importance of Teaching Devices and Commonly Used Teaching Devices   

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Pre-lecture Assignments - a Method for Improving Learning in Engineering education

New knowledge is constructed on the basis of prior knowledge. Present engineering classes are of ten heterogeneous in their background knowledge, which generates extra challenges for both students and lecturers. In our studies we have used pre-lecture assignments to help deal with students' heterogeneo us backgrounds. The pre-lecture assignments have been designed so that students in doing them recall former issues or get acquainted with new topics, or both. Students have done and turned in their pre-lecture assignments in various ways. In most cases, an esse ntial feature was that the lecturers were able to view th e answers before the lecture. Pre-lecture assignments have motivated students to spend more time studying the subjects concerned and to come to class better prep ared. New concepts become more comprehensible and deeper understanding easier to achieve when students master relevant prior knowledge. When students are acquainted with the new upcoming topics and master th...

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A common stigma that students often associate with an engineering degree is enduring an excessive workload. In fact, recent studies suggest that this perception is one of the primary reasons many students leave engineering majors and pursue other studies. This claim is also confirmed almost uniformly across all core engineering courses when students report on end of course surveys that they do not have enough time in their schedule to complete their assignments. As an educator, however, these claims are viewed from an admittedly critical perspective, especially after witnessing first-hand, frustratingly at times, poor study habits, weak time management skills and unacceptable daily preparation levels for class. In fact, this contradiction is highlighted further by a unique departmental policy requiring students to anonymously report how much time they spend preparing for each lesson. Each year, students report that they are actually spending on average just half the amount of time p...

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The objective of this effort is to incorporate various technologies into teaching learning methods to improve the learning experience of students and also to fulfill the teaching experience of faculty. The purpose of this research is also to explore the effects of innovative teaching learning strategies based on the performance of student's grade. The experiment was done on the teaching of two courses of Computer Science and Engineering, Data Structures and Computer Networks. This two courses are based on the active learning paradigm in which students are engaged and participated actively and misconception are identified in every classes. In traditional teaching methods students are passive and there are no measures to find the attainment of minor outcomes in every hours. To address these issues we proposed pedagogical approach, which consists of Book Ends on Class Session for introducing core concepts of Data Structures and Computer networks. This method allows to conduct activity during the content delivery time.

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Laura Bottomley

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal

Proceedings of the 2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition

Jacob Moore

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LET Reviewer Professional Education Prof. Ed.: Principles and Strategies of Teaching Part 1

LET Reviewer Prof Ed Principles of and Strategies of Teaching Part 1

In this website you will find the LET Reviewers in General Education (Gen Ed), Professional Education (Prof Ed) and Major Area of Specialization.

In efforts of this portal to attend on requests from PRCBoard Facebook fan page members, we consolidated some of the questions which may likely help out takers during the exams.

Note: The LET reviewers 2021 below is unofficial and not directly associated with PRC or the Board of Professional Teachers.

September 2021 LET Related Articles

• Main Page: LET Reviewer 2021
• ROOM ASSIGNMENTS: LET September 2021, Teachers Board Licensure Exams
• LET Coverage: Licensure Exam for Teachers September 2021
• Details: September 2021 LET Teachers Board Exam Schedule, Deadline of Filing and Requirements
• How to Pass Licensure Exam? Tips from Board Passers

Below is the LET Reviewer for Professional Education Prof. Ed.: Principles and Strategies of Teaching Part 1.

We encourage readers/ reviewees to use the comment boxes after the article for discussion. Meanwhile, answers are already incorporated below the questions.

1. To ensure the lesson will go smoothly, Teacher A listed down the steps she will undertake together with those of her students. This practice relates to? a. Teaching style b. Teaching method c. Teaching strategy d. Teaching technique

2. The class of Grade 6 – Einstein is scheduled to perform an experiment on that day. However, the chemicals are insufficient. What method may then be used? a. Project b. Laboratory c. Lecture d. Demonstration

3. Teacher C gives the class specific topic as assignment which they have to research and pass the following day. However, the students could not find any information about it. What method should Teacher C use to teach the assignment? a. Project method b. Discovery approach c. Lecture method d. Demonstration method

4. Pictures, models and the like arouse students interest on the day’s topic, in what part of the lesson should the given materials be presented? a. Initiating activities b. Culminating activities c. Evaluation activities d. Developmental activities

5. In Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, the domains are stated from lowest to highest level. Which of the following objectives belongs to the lowest level? a. To identify the characters of the story. b. To differentiate active from passive voice. c. To give the available resources that could be recycled to useful things. d. To explain the procedure in changing improper fraction to mixed number

6. The class of IV – Kalikasan is tasked to analyze the present population of the different cities and municipalities of the National Capital Region for the last five years. How can they best present their analysis? a. By means of a table b. By looking for a pattern c. By means of a graph d. By guessing and checking

7. There are several reasons why problem-solving is taught in Math. Which is the LEAST important? a. It is the main goal for the study of Math b. It provides the content in which concepts and skills are learned and applied c. It provides an opportunity to develop critical and analytical thinking d. It provides pupils an opportunity to relate Math in the real world 8. Teacher D teaches in a remote high school where newspapers are delivered irregularly. Knowing the importance of keeping the students aware of current affairs, what is probably the best way to keep the students updated? a. Gather back issues of newspapers and let pupils compile them. b. Urge the pupils to listen to stories circulating in the community. c. Encourage the pupils to listen to daily broadcast from a transistor radio. d. The teacher should try all available means to get the newspaper delivered to the school

9. Devices can make a lecture more understandable and meaningful. What is the most important thing a teacher should consider in the selection and utilization of instructional materials? a. Objectives of the lesson b. Availability of instructional materials c. Attractiveness of instructional materials d. Degree of interest on the part of the students

10. Teacher E asks student A to identify and analyze events, ideas or objects in order to state their similarities and differences. In which part of the lesson does said activity take place? a. Preparation b. Generalization c. Application d. Comparison and Abstraction

11. Which part of the lesson is involved in the giving of situation or activities based on the concepts learned? a. Preparation b. Generalization c. Application d. Comparison and Abstraction

12. Teacher F wants the class to find out the effect of heat on matter. Which method will help him accomplish his objective? a. Project Method b. Laboratory Method c. Problem Method d. Expository Method

13. In Math, Teacher G presents various examples of plane figures to her class. Afterwards, she asks the students to give definition of each. What method did she use? a. Inductive b. Laboratory c. Deductive d. Expository

14. Teaching Tinikling to I-Maliksi becomes possible through the use of? a. Inductive Method b. Expository Method c. Demonstration Method d. Laboratory Method

15. What is the implication of using a method that focuses on the why rather than the how? a. There is best method b. Typical one will be good for any subject c. These methods should be standardized for different subjects. d. Teaching methods should favor inquiry and problem solving.

16. When using problem solving method, the teacher can a. Set up the problem b. Test the conclusion c. Propose ways of obtaining the needed data d. Help the learners define what is it to be solved

17. Which of the following characterizes a well-motivated lesson? a. The class is quiet. b. The children have something to do. c. The teacher can leave the pupils d. There are varied procedures and activities undertaken by the pupils.

18. Learners must be developed not only in the cognitive, psychomotor but also in the affective aspect. Why is development of the latter also important? a. It helps them develop a sound value system. b. Their actions are dominated by their feelings. c. It helps them develop an adequate knowledge of good actions. d. Awareness of the consequences of their action is sharpened.

19. Which of the following attributes characterizes a learner who is yet to develop the concept? a. The learner can identify the attributes of the concept. b. The learner can summarize the ideas shared about the concept. c. The learner can distinguish examples from non-examples. d. The learner gets a failing grade in the tests given after the concept has been discussed.

20. The strategy which makes use of the old concept of “each-one-teach-one” of the sixty’s is similar to? a. Peer learning b. Independent learning c. Partner learning d. Cooperative learning

21. Which part of the lesson does the learner give a synthesis of the things learned? a. Motivation b. Application c. Evaluation d. Generalization

22. Educational objectives are arranged from simple to complex. Why is this? a. Each level is built upon and assumes acquisition of skills from the previous level. b. Objectives are broad and value-laden statements that lead to the philosophy of education. c. Be idealistic and ambitious to begin with grandiose scheme for using taxonomy in all levels. d. These are guidelines to be taught and learned where teachers and students evaluate learning.

23. Which of the following is NOT true? a. Lesson plan should be in constant state of revision. b. A good daily lesson plan ensures a better discussion. c. Students should never see a teacher using a lesson plan. d. All teachers regardless of their experience should have daily lesson plan.

24. In Music, Teacher 1 wants to teach the class how to play the piano in the Key of C. Which of the following should be his objective? a. To play the piano in the key of C chords b. To improve playing the piano in the key of C c. To interpret property of chords of Key of C in the piano d. To exhibit excellent playing of piano in the key of C

25. When using instructional material, what should the teacher primarily consider? a. The material must be new and skillfully made. b. It must be suited to the lesson objective. c. The material must stimulate and maintain students’ interest d. It must be updated and relevant to Filipino setting.

Answers: 1B 2D 3C 4A 5A 6C 7A 8C 9A 10D 11C 12B 13A 14C 15D 16D 17D 18A 19A 20D 21C 22A 23C 24A 25B

This website believes that education is a right, not a privilege. This portal does not claim ownership to any materials posted. Likewise, questions are not influenced by PRC professional regulatory board. The main purpose of the reviewer is to assist examinees who chose to review online.

Can you please give rationalization on item 13? It started with the examples first (general) down to the definition (specific). So, why is it inductive? :)

general to specific is Inductive po, while specific to general id Deductive.

baliktad ka.

examples were specific and defintion is general. inductive is correct

it should be deductive. from general to specific.

Mali po unawa niyo sa inductive at deductive… examples to definition is inductive while definition to samples is deductive.

Deductive po is from General to Specific meaning from definition to examples. Ang Inductive naman po ay mag start sa examples specific)c then down to the definition (general).

In no. 21 po diba it should be generalization? Kasi po baga synthesis and it means combination of ideas. Bakit po evaluation?

same thought

Yeah. it should be synthesis.

same here….

Generalization din po sakin :)

Same po. Generalization din. :)

1. Which part of the lesson does the learner give a synthesis of the things learned? a. Motivation b. Application c. Evaluation d. GeneralizaTion ☑

I saw this sa other let reviewer. Hipe dis helps :)

Can someone explain Q no.19? I thought letter D was the correct answer.

same thought. It should be letter D. The learner gets a failing grade in the tests given after the concept has been discussed.

Sa idea ko naman po. Yet to develop the concept pa po …. so para saakin mas alam ng learner yung mga examples sa non-examples kasi minsan yun yung nagiging foundation ( ang mga examples na alam ng learner) para ma derive ng learner yung lesson/concept.

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