JoeJester
Active Member
As an instructor, a very long time ago, another instructor and I were teaching a one week course. At the end of the course, it came to be the vast majority of the class had a failing average. One test was worth 50 percent of the grade and it encompassed all they were "taught". We basically talked about everything done during that week to troubleshoot why the performance wasn't as we expected. We placed the blame squarely on our shoulders and it was up to us to rectify the situation. The content was reviewed and deemed proper, the tests reflected the content, so we discussed our observations of the students during the lectures.
What we found was the students had their heads down, trying to write everything we talked about, vice participating using other senses.
This lead to these two improvements.
- We gave them a written list of lesson objectives
- We kept their focus on the presentation by essentially giving them all the diagrams and salient points in their handouts. They still took notes but only what they needed to solidify their understanding.
My wife used a similar technique by recording all the lectures to cassette and I would transfer them to digital for her. That way she could fill in her notes by listening to portions of the lecture a second time. Now with digital recorders, you eliminate that step, although some post lecture processing would include eliminating environmental background noises.
My wife mentioned that story to a professor when he asked why she was taping the lectures. It was so she could pay attention and only jot down the main notes and participate in the class more. He understood what she meant immediately and started handing out the slides, so the students could focus more on the presentations and participate more vice having their head hung low while attempting to write notes. After all when using power point presentations, creating the handout of slides was a mouse click away.
Not everyone learns in the same manner. The empirical data is readily observed in the homework section of this forum and others that have a homework help or similarly named section.
What we found was the students had their heads down, trying to write everything we talked about, vice participating using other senses.
This lead to these two improvements.
- We gave them a written list of lesson objectives
- We kept their focus on the presentation by essentially giving them all the diagrams and salient points in their handouts. They still took notes but only what they needed to solidify their understanding.
My wife used a similar technique by recording all the lectures to cassette and I would transfer them to digital for her. That way she could fill in her notes by listening to portions of the lecture a second time. Now with digital recorders, you eliminate that step, although some post lecture processing would include eliminating environmental background noises.
My wife mentioned that story to a professor when he asked why she was taping the lectures. It was so she could pay attention and only jot down the main notes and participate in the class more. He understood what she meant immediately and started handing out the slides, so the students could focus more on the presentations and participate more vice having their head hung low while attempting to write notes. After all when using power point presentations, creating the handout of slides was a mouse click away.
Not everyone learns in the same manner. The empirical data is readily observed in the homework section of this forum and others that have a homework help or similarly named section.