Posting your PowerPoint slides before class to advance learning

Some lecturers here at the UWI Mona Campus post their slides before class because they believe that this will advance learning. Others feel that if students receive PowerPoint slides before the class, then they will not attend or they might come to class and be disengaged, surfing the net and having a good time otherwise.  But is there a possibility that having the slides before class might free students to concentrate on what is happening in class and think in multiple ways about the content that is being taught?

There is some evidence that suggests that students do better when they have the PowerPoint slides and take additional notes during the class time. Marsh and Sink (2010) did a small study on students who had received advanced copies of the presentation for their class before actually attending. They examined the quality of the notes that they took during the class. They also looked at the quality of the notes that students who did not receive an advanced copy of the slides took. Further, the students’ performances on course tests were also investigated.

They found that students without the slides took more notes but they were basically verbatim copies of the content of the slides presented during class.  Both groups recorded additional information from lecture and class discussion in equal amounts.  Overall, they noticed that the students who received a copy of the slides as handouts before class performed better than students who took notes and received the slides after the class.

What do you think?  Make your own case for giving he slides before or after the class/lecture.

Mix it up

Do you mix it up?  Our students’ attention span is short perhaps 10 – 15 minutes. Some might concentrate on a topic for a little more but generally 20 minutes might be rule of thumb for most.  You should therefore try to design your classes or lectures in segments. For example, in a 60 minute class, you might want to commence with a brief brainstorming activity for about 5 minutes, then you could lecture for the first 15 minutes and incidentally in many cases, the regular PowerPoint presentation is not much different from the lecture apart from its visual impact.  After the lecture you might want to incorporate a group activity for the second 15 minutes and then lecture for another 15 minutes. It is good to have a culminating activity to reinforce or summarize what has been covered in the class in the remaining 10 minutes. Lets mix it up? How do you mix it up? 

KEEPING THEM ENGAGED...

In our classrooms we want our students to be engaged with the content, with their peers and certainly with us the teacher. In this regard, it is important that the university teacher provide activities that have a good potential of keeping learners engaged and actively learning. Traditionally, many teachers have resorted to using questions and answers to keep students engaged. For me the use of question and answers to make the lecture interactive is a strategy that is begging for reinvention. Too few students are engaged when we pose a question here and when we pose a question there. Oftentimes, students tune out when we pose questions and of course others pray that we do not call on them. Very few students are actively thinking about the question and developing a plausible response. We need to develop strategies that can get all students doing something in the classroom. Higher levels of learning involve active and purposeful engagement with complex abstracted phenomena hence case studies, role plays, think, pair and share, demonstrations, exercises, games, video clips, short writing exercises and other strategies are all helpful in getting students thinking about the issues and of course keeping their minds engaged.

   MervinDecember 21, 2009 2:19 PM

One of the approaches that can be used to engender thought and discussion is to issue a pre-written index cards to classmates. The card would contain a question or comments about the content being study. At an appointed time students should be asked to read their questions or comment and then respond.

            Reply

1. tomlinpaulDecember 26, 2009 5:38 PM

   Rather than "lecturing" in the traditional manner why not when possible use a case scenario to lead a discussion and generate interest and illustrate content? I am a growing fan of case-based teaching and learning. This approach can engage other techniques such as "Think-Pair-Shre" etc as you ask questions on the case. Leave 10 minutes at the end to summarise the key points.
   
   Another point is to encourage .... if not demand that students pre-read prior to the lecture. That makes it all more engaging when students have a good sense of what the lecture is about and can engage you with more meaningful comments and questions... which really means that they are using the time in the classroom more effectively.
   I recall not having a clue about many lectures during my student years and often falling asleep. A quick pre-read the night before might have better stimulated my mind.... without the side effects of coffee!! :)

   Reply
2. 
   orvilleJanuary 21, 2010 5:26 AM

   Another method that I use in my large lectures is to post the notes on-line and encourage students to read them before coming to class. This then facilitates robust and beneificial discussions on the various topics in the syllabus.
   Preparing the notes and posting them in OURVLE is not a "spoon feeding" exercise as some people think. The lecturer now has the ability to direct the discussion and students are better able to contribute, since they are not busy taking down notes. The lecturer is in a better position to build a community of learners including him/herself. Yes, you will find that some students will avoid attending classes, since they have the complete notes, but these are the ones who would have been disinterested in the subject matter, anyway.
   This method can be tried and experiences shared in this forum.

USING RESPONSE CARDS IN YOUR CLASSROOM: One of the simplest ways to engender thought and discussion is to ask participants to write a response on a blank index card. These cards, once written on, can be kept by the writer to ponder and to stimulate contributions to class-wide discussion. Or the cards can be collected, shuffled, and distributed to participants (each of whom then receives a card whose author is unknown). Finally, the cards can be passed around a group so that each participant can read what others have written. There are many things you can ask participants to write on their response cards. These include a question, an answer, an expectation, a solution, a definition, a belief, a fact, a hypothesis, a preference or even a proverb etc.