Colleagues, I am late to this thread, but have found it interesting. Back in the day when I was conducting lectures, I had PowerPoint lecture presentations and cross-referenced lecture notes available before, during, and well after the actual lectures. I had nearly perfect attendance. By having the information available, I found students better prepared before class and considerably more engaged during each lecture. One trick I used was to sometimes randomly select a student at the beginning of class and have them conduct the lecture. I would sit in the "guest lecturer's" chair, provide some guidance, and participate as a "student." In this respect, I was able to provide considerable information in an active format. The PowerPoint lectures had many forest pictures (the course was hardwood silviculture) so the students were not staring at slide after slide of text. By using this format, students were actively participating in each lecture through what was presented, from the required readings, their own field experiences, etc
Now my caveat. The course was an upper-level, optional course so I had good students who wanted to be in the class. This may or may not work well with a freshman course with over 100 students. Still, it was one of the most enjoyable teaching experiences I have had. Brian Brian Roy Lockhart Research Forester USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research P.O. Box 227 Stoneville, Mississippi 38776 office: 662-686-3171 fax: 662-686-3195 e-mail: [email protected] "In the U.S., the importance of our wildland resources, especially the multiple use of forests, warrants the attention and training of our best minds. A stiffening of our education system should be utilized to strengthen the training, and a greater concern should be given to the means for exercising this training and, thus, bolstering the professional status of these individuals. Today, too many foresters do not have the training or the feeling for their mission and the loud protestations of professionalism, where performance is inadequate, promote only a tolerant smile." Daniel, T.W. 1968. Comparison of the Professional Degree Forester in Europe and the United States, Journal of Forestry 66(5): 404. Kevin Mueller <[email protected]> Sent by: "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news" <[email protected]> 01/25/2010 12:31 PM Please respond to Kevin Mueller <[email protected]> To [email protected] cc Subject Re: [ECOLOG-L] decline in education, comment on active learning 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]
