The UO teaching effectiveness newsletter called <br>
"<B>L</b>aser <B>I</b>nsights, <B>Z</b>any <B>A</b>lternatives and
<b>R</b>iveting <B>D</b>ialogue on teaching and learning"<br>
 offers the ten suggestions listed below. You can contribute to the
teaching and learning in this class by delivering to the instructor
two (mutually exclusive) lists of integers 1-10: the first one
consisting of the indices describing features already present in the
lectures and the second of those absent that you would like to see
implemented. Have fun (and profit)!<P> (<a href="#ans">Here</a> is the
fun part; now, for the profit...)

<h3>
Ten Ways to Improve
a Lecture</h4>
Lecturing is one of the most time-honored teaching methods, but does it
have a place in an active learning environment?  It does if an instructor
builds interest first, maximizes understanding and retention, involves
students during the lecture, and reinforces what's been presented. Here's
several options to do just that.<ul>
<li><b>Building Interest</b><ul>
<li><b>1. Use a Hook:</b>  Provide a relevant anecdote, story, cartoon, or graphic
that captures the students attention and emphasizes what you are about to
teach.
<li><b>2. Initial Case Problem:</b>  Present a problem around which the lecture will
be structured.
<li><b>3. Pose a Question:</b>  Ask students a question (even if they have little
prior knowledge) regarding the topic of the day's lecture and have them
write down their first thoughts for an answer. Revisit the question toward
the end of the lecture and let them see if their original thinking has
changed as a result of the material you have presented. This can provide
good motivation to listen more attentively to the lecture.</ul>
<li><b>Maximizing Understanding and Retention</b><ul>
<li><b>4. Headlines:</b>  Reduce the major points in the lecture to key words which
act as verbal subheadings or memory aids. Once or twice during your
presentation, refer back to these key words and do a mini-review to
reinforce those
major points.
<li><b>5. Examples and Analogies:</b>  Provide real-life illustrations of the ideas in
the lecture and if possible, create a comparison between your material and
the knowledge/experience the students already have.
<li><b>6. Visual Backup:</b>  Use flip charts, transparencies, brief handouts, and
demonstrations that enable students to
see as well as hear what you are saying. Adding visual
media refreshes students' attention and serves as a
memory anchor.</ul>
<li><b>Involving Students During the Lecture</b><ul>
<li><b>7. Spot Challenges:</b>  Interrupt the lecture periodically and challenge
students to give examples of the concepts presented thus far or answer spot
quiz questions. This works best if you give students some time to think and
write down their thoughts. Your response rate will increase if you let them
discuss their thinking with the person next to them for a couple of minutes
before asking for contributions.
<li><b>8. Ask me a question:</b>  Instead of asking the proverbial- "Any questions?"
which is invariably met with stony silence, try "Ask me a question!" and
then challenge yourself to WAIT until a student steps up to the plate.</ul>
<li><b>Reinforcing the Lecture</b><ul>
<li><b>9. Application Problem:</b>  Pose a problem or question for students to solve
based on the information given in the lecture. This can be done in a
variety of ways. Pose the problem and give students time to write a
response. Collect these, shuffle them and choose a few at random as
discussion starters. Keeping the responses anonymous can make this
technique more comfortable for students. This exercise can also be done in
small groups (2-4 students). Give groups 3 to 4 minutes to discuss the
problem and some possible solutions and ask several groups to present their
results to the class.
<li><b>10. Student Review:</b>  For the last 5-7 minutes of the lecture, ask students
to compare lecture notes and help each other fill in gaps or give them a
self-scoring review test.</ul></ul><p><hr><P>
<a name=ans><h2>Tally of the Responses</h2>

Out of 14 respondents, five or more thought that lectures included
options number 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9  (only four noticed
<b>spot challenges</b>).  Three or four could use more of options 2,4,
6 (or maybe noticed their absence? hard to say). Equal numbers placed
<b>headlines</b> on either list.