Perhaps this is well tread ground, but I think there is an important
element missing in the recent discussion regarding effective teaching
styles, particular with respect to lectures. What is the impact of
detailed Powerpoint presentations on student attendance,
participation, and learning? My experience (mostly as a student, some
as a teaching assistant) is that lectures can be very effective means
to reach a majority of students in a classroom, regardless of size.
However, when the lecture consists of detail laden Powerpoint slides,
active thought by students is discouraged because more of the
information is at hand at any given moment of the lecture and there is
less incentive to anticipate where the lecturer is going or follow his/
her thought process. Moreover, when the Powerpoint presentations are
made available before, during, or after class, there is little
incentive to go to class or to pay attention because the student
perceives that they can get most of the information without attending
class. This style of lecturing is inherently 'less active' than more
traditional lecture styles with chalkboards or overheads and has
become increasingly common.
Thus, following the posts by Bill, Luke, Arathi and Jane, I think
lectures can accommodate something that approaches active learning and
teaching, but the means of transferring information is critical.
Lectures such as those described by Bill and Luke may represent the
best available compromise between two distinctly different learning
and teaching styles (pure lecture vs. pure active learning). In the
absence of having institutions that are dedicated to one or the other
teaching style, which would give students the ability to choose which
style suits them best, it seems most prudent to aim for middle of the
road approaches such as that outlined by Luke.
Kevin Mueller
Penn State University
Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology
[email protected]
