Re: distributing lecture notes
Thank you all for your thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of distributing lecture notes. I thought I would let you know how it turned out. This is for a graduate class in statistics, which I am developing and teaching for the first time. I made lecture notes available roughly an hour before class. Eleven out of fourteen respondents thought the notes were helpful overall, 2 thought they were neither helpful nor harmful, and 1 thought they were harmful. (Two students didn't respond.) Problems that students experienced were that I seemed to explain less (1 response) and that it was more difficult to coordinate reading the notes and following along in class (2 responses). Advantages cites were not needing to copy formulas or data for examples (3 responses), having an outline to work from (1 response), and being able to compare their own notes with the lecture notes (1 response). I asked how students used the notes and provided four non-exclusive response options. 11 compared the lecture notes with their notes later. 8 annotated the notes. 4 ignored them in class except for data and formulas. 3 read them and followed along in class. And 2 reported another use: 1 read them before class, and 1 ignored them. Thanks again. Charlotte -- = Charlotte F. Manly, Ph.D. Psychological Brain Sciences Assistant Professor317 Life Sciences Bldg ph: (502) 852-8162 University of Louisville fax: (502) 852-8904Louisville, KY 40292 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/psychology/ http://www.louisville.edu/~cfmanl01 USE 40208 ZIP CODE FOR FEDEX --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
Nancy (below) said exactly what I wanted to say, but did it better. Rip Pisacreta I am not a geezer, but I also never touched a multiple choice test after high school. The exams at my school were all essay and we also read not textbooks but original source material. For this reason, although I include multiple choice questions on in-class tests, I eschew scantrons, I always require at least two essays, and also require a couple of short papers, even in intro classes. I think part of the reason that students don't perform is because WE expect that they can't handle the demands that should be made upon them. To me, receiving a college education receiving what should be further training (begun at the elementary level) in writing out one's thoughts and synthesizing/applying concepts. Exclusively giving multiple choice, scantron tests with NO other course requirements is IMO doing students a disservice... Nancy Melucci LACCD _ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Good Old Days _ was distributing lecture notes
Rick wrote: I guess that I am an old geezer. I teach real college courses for real college students. If they can think, assimilate information, engage in critical thinking, fine. I refuse to bring down traditional higher ed. to accommodate unqualified, or lazy students. Call me crazy but think back to when you were an undergraduate if you are 50 or older. Reading the original sources, not summary watered down texts, comprehensive midterms and finals (never had a MC test as an undergraduate), 20-30 page term paper required in each course. Remember? That was an education. No doubt you are an old geezer and I suspect I am even older and geezier. But,but, but, I disagree with you. I went to a fairly decent undergraduate college (University of Delaware). I had multiple choice exams in intro classes. We read Scientific American Reprints (remember those, geezers?) not original articles. My papers were 5-10 pages long and I read and studied a long procession of exceedingly boring texts that were also watered down. I still have copies of my intro text in 1961 - Bugelski was the author and you would never have known that humans had anything to do with psychology. I have exams from those glorious days of yesteryear as well - I got a MC question about negative reinforcement wrong and mixed up CS and CR! In one of my senior classes we dealt largely with the primary literature, but that was a senior seminar in learning theory. I started my graduate teaching in 1967 with Buss and then Coleman for Abnormal. Thank heavens for me these were pretty watered down because I didn't know diddly squat about abnormal. I suspect we remember those likeminded students who, like us, spontaneously read original research articles and debated them, but we forget the others who didn't becuase they didn't have to. I know of only three graduates in psychology at the U of D in my year who went became faculty. I have been on the full time faculty at a Medical School, two free standing professional schools, two prestigious four year colleges, s University, as well as several part time positions over the last 34 years of teaching. In my geezerdom I have come to believe that we are admitting students who wouldn't have gone to college 30 years ago, that they are less well prepared, but basically no more nor less motivated or willing to work than before. The good old days weren't good, they are just old. Harry Avis PhD Sierra College Rocklin, CA 95677 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Life is opinion - Marcus Aurelius There is nothing that is good or bad, but that thinking makes it so - Shakespeare _ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
In a message dated 3/2/2002 3:51:33 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: guess that I am an old geezer. I teach real college courses for real college students. If they can think, assimilate information, engage in critical thinking, fine. I refuse to bring down traditional higher ed. to accommodate unqualified, or lazy students. Call me crazy but think back to when you were an undergraduate if you are 50 or older. Reading the original sources, not summary watered down texts, comprehensive midterms and finals (never had a MC test as an undergraduate I am not a geezer, but I also never touched a multiple choice test after high school. The exams at my school were all essay and we also read not textbooks but original source material. For this reason, although I include multiple choice questions on in-class tests, I eschew scantrons, I always require at least two essays, and also require a couple of short papers, even in intro classes. I think part of the reason that students don't perform is because WE expect that they can't handle the demands that should be made upon them. To me, receiving a college education receiving what should be further training (begun at the elementary level) in writing out one's thoughts and synthesizing/applying concepts. Exclusively giving multiple choice, scantron tests with NO other course requirements is IMO doing students a disservice... Nancy Melucci LACCD --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
I respect the various techniques that people are using for their teaching situations. However, I can't help but feel that distributing lecture notes and Powerpoint slides helps turn the course into a passive recepient exercise like watching television. I believe that students should learn what's important without detailed prof provided cues. Note taking is important as some have said. Personally, I don't distribute PP because some of the material is copyrighted. I attach the learning objectives for each chapter to the syllabus and they serve as the quiz questions in advance. We have a quiz on the first day that we start a new chapter on the new material before the lecture. Most do fine, and it eliminates the test crammers who don't do assignments. Students can learn to learn on their own if the situation is structured to require it.My 2 cents. Rip Pisacreta, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology, Ferris State University Big Rapids, MI 49307 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: Click Here --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
"Richard Pisacreta, Ph.D." wrote: I respect the various techniques that people are using for their teaching situations. However, I can't help but feel that distributing lecture notes and Powerpoint slides helps turn the course into a passive recepient exercise like watching television. I believe that students should learn what's important without detailed prof provided cues. Note taking is important as some have said. I'm actually kind of split on this issue. I think that students may, without printed notes, spend all of their time trying to write down stuff that they don't understand, hoping that it will make sense later. When I was an undergrad I often took about a half page of notes for a 1-hour class. The rest of the time I tried to listen and understand. I try to get my students to try that approach, but I don't think that it will work for everyone. I agree that note taking may help a student focus, that it can produce memory cues that will come in handy later, and that there might be other benefits. But, I suspect that there are several variables that determine whether note taking is an important activity or not. Variables might include the level of understanding (of that particular class) of the student, the type of material being taught, and the lecture style of the teacher. The visual-verbal learning style stuff might suggest an individual difference variable that could interact with the others. Instead of telling my students that note taking is good or bad I tell them that they need to develop different learning skills for different classes. Then, of course, they write it down and ask if it will be on the test. -- _ Rick Stevens _ Psychology Department _ University of Louisiana at Monroe _ [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ http://www.ulm.edu/~stevens --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
Hi all, I do also not give lecture notes before_hand. My areas, Psychophysiology Neuropsychology, do need the students to go back to past years for some revision of basic physiological material. I have found that giving them notes before_hand may allow some students to skip good material as well as the possibility of developing their capacity for linking information which I find most useful and important in psychology. As far as stats is concerned, I used always to relate the maths of stats with examples. This way they did not have the possibility of looking at stats as maths but as a tool in psychology. It is more work for the teacher but it seems that it works, at least it did for me. Jorge. --- Dr. Jorge Alvoeiro, (PhD, Hull, UK) (C.Psychol., BPS, UK) 2000-119 Santarem Portugal http://www.ip.pt/~ip276239/jorge_alvoeiro.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: distributing lecture notes
Two quick thoughts: 1. we shouldn't assume that students are passive when they are not furiously writing notes in class. The opposite might well be the case. Students have no time to think if they are just writing down notes as we lecture. 2. providing notes does not preclude active instruction. In fact, for some faculty, knowing that students have the notes might make them more inclined to go out on a limb and do activities rather than just give information. At 04:42 PM 02/26/2002 -0600, you wrote: Hi everyone: I struggle with this issue. It seems that when I give out my notes before the lecture, then students are more passive in class, don't take their own notes, etc. I did this last semester and was concerned about the almost total lack of note taking in these classes. This semester I don't distribute my notes, but either distribute a general outline or put one up on the overhead. Still, however, very few of my students actually take notes in class. Does anyone else notice that their students are not taking notes? How big of a problem is this? I wondered if part of the problem with lecture notes versus no lecture notes is that we are spending too much time lecturing. I don't know about the rest of you, but this semester I'm trying to lecture less and get the student more actively involved through group assignments and activities during class time. For instance, this morning in my health psychology class the topic was cardiovascular disease. Instead of lecturing about the risk factors and the methods for modifying the risk factors, I had the students divide into smaller groups and assigned them the project of developing a community-based cardiovascular health promotion program for African-American women. Part of their assignment involved identifying the salient risk factors and creatively (but using the research cited in their text as a foundation) developing methods for modifying the risk factors in the program they're developing. I circulated between the groups throughout the class period and helped them to think through their decisions, connected their current material with concepts from other chapters, etc. They spent the entire class session developing these programs. For a homework assignment I gave them a copy of an article published in a peer-reviewed journal that described a randomized clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a community-based cardiovascular health promotion program for African American women (the same kind of program they were charged with developing). During our next class session, they're going to present the programs that they developed today and we're going to compare their studies with the program described in the outcome study. My role will be to facilitate the discussion on these topics, but I'm hoping that their active involvement today will help them be more active (and understand more) during our next discussion. I really love getting my students more actively involved in the learning, and I think that I'm a better teacher when I do that as opposed to lecturing. What this has to do with distributing lecture notes, I have no idea! :) __ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology LeTourneau University President-Elect, Division 51 American Psychological Association Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone:903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3246 Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -Original Message- From: FRANTZ, SUE [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 2:15 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: RE: distributing lecture notes Yes, I make my lecture outlines available on my website for those who are interested in printing them out. I've found that several students bring them to class to take notes on. It hasn't sped up my lecture as far as I can tell, because I still take the time to write my outline on the board as I go along. I just get fewer people struggling to make sense of my handwriting. =) I also like to think that students spend ~more~ time mulling over the concept when they are not worrying about how to spell it. Students also use the outlines to guide their reading; they pay more attention to the concepts I'm going to cover in class. In some ways that's nice (they've at least ~read~ the sections I'm going to cover). However, I emphasize that the text is their first source of information; I bill myself as an assistant to the text -- adding and clarifying information. The students' focus on my outline puts me back in front with the text assisting me. That's not enough for me to scrap the availability of my outlines though. With the outlines, I include links to websites that provide more information on the topic. I don't have as many links
Re: distributing lecture notes
Another thought... Stephen, I'll plead a source monitoring problem... Maybe it's not necessary to clarify but I think that attendance should be an important motivator. I know that I have students who do not come to class because they can get the notes (and some of them probably are the better students). In fact, I don't believe that students who are very capable need to hear me lecture or even participate in discussion, etc. At the same time, I believe that students should be given incentive to come to class. Through attendance we have a greater opportunity to discuss the content and use it in activities, etc. Students also have a better opportunity to establish networks for studying, etc. I think that promoting attendance opens the door to these opportunities. (It's also increases the opportunity for them to get to know me. This is particularly valuable for students who plan to stay in psychology and complete an undergrad thesis. Building relationships with potential supervisors is an important step to a successful honours year.) I also frequently prepare content shortly before any particular class but the general issues do not change. In class, I expand on the outlines I've provided in any case whether through lectures, videos, demos, activities or discussions. I should concede though that for each chapter I teach, I cover issues that are not addressed in the text at all (relevant to general concepts that are outlined in the text). Students who copy my chapter slides know that all of the content on the slides is not necessarily directly addressed in their course text. Shannon I did say that I considered limiting the information on my slides in order to encourage attendance but finally decided against it. I felt that doing that didn't really have educational justification and that boosting attendance shouldn't be an end in itself. If some students find the slides alone are sufficient for their needs and as a result skip class, I'm willing to let them make that decision. So my slides have become increasingly detailed, and I hold nothing back. As a result, I'm sure some do decide they no longer need to attend class. However, where I draw the line is in making them available _before_ class, as most contributors to this thread seem to do. I don't because i) I revise them up until about two minutes before class, so they're not ready beforehand; ii) it spoils any novelty, surprise, or attempt to get students to think about each point before revealing the next; and iii) it bugs me when students follow along with the written version. So I only make each set available after each class. But it does prevent students from annotating the notes in real time, which would be helpful. And students do ask me to make them available beforehand. I decline. -Stephen Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Shannon Gadbois, M.Ed., Ph.D. Brandon University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (204)727-7306 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
, but I'm hoping that their active involvement today will help them be more active (and understand more) during our next discussion. I really love getting my students more actively involved in the learning, and I think that I'm a better teacher when I do that as opposed to lecturing. What this has to do with distributing lecture notes, I have no idea! :) __ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology LeTourneau University President-Elect, Division 51 American Psychological Association Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone:903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3246 Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -Original Message- From: FRANTZ, SUE [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 2:15 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: RE: distributing lecture notes Yes, I make my lecture outlines available on my website for those who are interested in printing them out. I've found that several students bring them to class to take notes on. It hasn't sped up my lecture as far as I can tell, because I still take the time to write my outline on the board as I go along. I just get fewer people struggling to make sense of my handwriting. =) I also like to think that students spend ~more~ time mulling over the concept when they are not worrying about how to spell it. Students also use the outlines to guide their reading; they pay more attention to the concepts I'm going to cover in class. In some ways that's nice (they've at least ~read~ the sections I'm going to cover). However, I emphasize that the text is their first source of information; I bill myself as an assistant to the text -- adding and clarifying information. The students' focus on my outline puts me back in front with the text assisting me. That's not enough for me to scrap the availability of my outlines though. With the outlines, I include links to websites that provide more information on the topic. I don't have as many links as I'd like, but they are being gradually added. (Thanks to Jeff Ricker and Stephen Black; I just added the sleep deprivation link to my States of Consciousness outline, complete with the little tidbit on Fran and Marie!) Eventually, I'd like to include recommended readings with each outline for those who have some free time. Ah... things I'm ~sure~ I would have done last summer had I not moved 1900 miles to start a new job. =) -- Sue Frantz Highline Community College Psychology Des Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://flightline.highline.ctc.edu/sfrantz/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.325 / Virus Database: 182 - Release Date: 2/19/2002 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.325 / Virus Database: 182 - Release Date: 2/19/2002 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Shannon Gadbois, M.Ed., Ph.D. Brandon University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (204)727-7306 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: distributing lecture notes
We too have a mandatory first year course to help students adjust to college. I'm actually on the committee that is revising the curriculum, and a number of faculty have given me feedback that it is a waste of time teaching students how to take notes. There general argument is that it's a skill that is becoming obsolete. Of course there is also the broader concern that freshman year experience courses are a waste of time and should not be part of an academic curriculum. I disagree with that statement, but some of my engineering and science colleagues disagree. I guess one of my biggest concerns in the classroom is how to help my students become active learners. My concern with distributing lecture notes is that some students may feel that they don't really need to actively read the text, take their own study notes, attend class, etc. Maybe someone who is a better lecturer than me wouldn't have that problem. I think I'm a more effective teacher when I faciliate discussions and Socratically encourage students to think about the material. What has been successful for me this semester is assigning discussion questions for each class. This means the students are more likely to read the material before class and come to class with a basic grasp of the material. I look for common themes in the discussion questions and structure class discussions around those themes. I'm still playing around with these ideas, but I'm considering assigning directed reading assignments for each chapter which would include questions about the general themes discussed in the chapter, but also would include a question asking what they considered to be the most important topics in the chapter, what they felt they best understood from the chapter, and what they felt they least understood from the chapter. I've also been thinking about using concepts maps more frequently in class and perhaps assigning them for homework. Any one have any experience with this? __ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology LeTourneau University President-Elect, Division 51 American Psychological Association Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone:903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3246 Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -Original Message- From: Gerald Peterson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 11:22 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: distributing lecture notes I am finding that more students (even upper level students) seem not to be taking notes, have trouble knowing how to take notes, or review notes in a superficial fashion. We have sessions to help first year students learn how to study and take notes. Effective note-taking does involve active listening and thinking as well as composition. While it is often maligned, good note-taking can help with later studying by providing an individual sense of organization to the material and offers the possibility of individually-relevant elaboration and thought about the material/ideas presented. This assumes, that the notes are examined later and thought about. Students may, unfortunately, be reinforced for simply and passively copying material that offers little more than a laundry list of ideas or, at best, someone else's (the instructor's) sense of organization which the student seldom deconstructs or decompresses with any insight. I have noticed that students appear to be conditioned to automatically copy the outline notes I put on a transparency, and they seem to do this mindlessly. I am tempted now and then to put some nonsense in the outline and then ask them about the material and engage them in an effort to make sense of the material on the outline. I often put things like ask the class about this OR class ask me about this and on the next test on the transparency. The students copy it down, but seldom ask or inquire, h. During reviews for the exams I may mention it and they suddenly discover it. This Let's me know what they do with their notes in the meantime (some seem to not look at their notes until the day before the exam surprise surprise). I think outlines or class notes or other such things presented can contain useful tips, reminders, and hints that some students will ask about and then class discussion can be developed around these items. Giving them my notes however (like study guides before exams), may not by itself offer anything more than a security blanket. They need to actively think/study about the class material sometime. Cheers, Gary Peterson Shannon Gadbois wrote: Two quick thoughts: 1. we shouldn't assume that students are passive when they are not furiously writing notes in class. The opposite might well be the case. Students have
Re: distributing lecture notes
Rod Hetzel wrote: What has been successful for me this semester is assigning discussion questions for each class. This means the students are more likely to read the material before class and come to class with a basic grasp of the material... Like some others, I choose not to provide notes because I want the students to be engaged in making their own record of the class session. One technique that seems to work in discussion classes is to provide a set of discussion questions on my web site. Students must do the reading and prepare typed responses to these questions. In class, they can refer to them for discussion purposes and even add to them as new points are raised. At the end of class, they must turn them in. I scan them for completeness and check them as done in my gradebook (no actual grading involved). They are returned the next meeting The result is that students come prepared for class. They cannot cheat by trying to prepare these notes during class because the notes must be typed in advance. I have had success using this technique in our senior seminar (history of psyc). --Dave ___ David E. Campbell, Ph.D.[EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of PsychologyPhone: 707-826-3721 Humboldt State University FAX: 707-826-4993 Arcata, CA 95521-8299 www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Re: distributing lecture notes
Stephen Black wrote: In reference to NOT making copies of notes avaialbe before class: But it does prevent students from annotating the notes in real time, which would be helpful. And students do ask me to make them available beforehand. I decline. One strategy I have employed is to number my slides sequentially and then encourage students to make any notations on their own paper and indicate the slide number. That way once I provide copies of the slides, they can reference thier own notes and know exactly which slide the comments relate to. Jennifer -- Doctoral Student/Evaluation Consultant University of Pittsburgh 741 LRDC __ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
psychology class the topic was cardiovascular disease. Instead of lecturing about the risk factors and the methods for modifying the risk factors, I had the students divide into smaller groups and assigned them the project of developing a community-based cardiovascular health promotion program for African-American women. Part of their assignment involved identifying the salient risk factors and creatively (but using the research cited in their text as a foundation) developing methods for modifying the risk factors in the program they're developing. I circulated between the groups throughout the class period and helped them to think through their decisions, connected their current material with concepts from other chapters, etc. They spent the entire class session developing these programs. For a homework assignment I gave them a copy of an article published in a peer-reviewed journal that described a randomized clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a community-based cardiovascular health promotion program for African American women (the same kind of program they were charged with developing). During our next class session, they're going to present the programs that they developed today and we're going to compare their studies with the program described in the outcome study. My role will be to facilitate the discussion on these topics, but I'm hoping that their active involvement today will help them be more active (and understand more) during our next discussion. I really love getting my students more actively involved in the learning, and I think that I'm a better teacher when I do that as opposed to lecturing. What this has to do with distributing lecture notes, I have no idea! :) __ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology LeTourneau University President-Elect, Division 51 American Psychological Association Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone:903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3246 Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -Original Message- From: FRANTZ, SUE [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 2:15 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: RE: distributing lecture notes Yes, I make my lecture outlines available on my website for those who are interested in printing them out. I've found that several students bring them to class to take notes on. It hasn't sped up my lecture as far as I can tell, because I still take the time to write my outline on the board as I go along. I just get fewer people struggling to make sense of my handwriting. =) I also like to think that students spend ~more~ time mulling over the concept when they are not worrying about how to spell it. Students also use the outlines to guide their reading; they pay more attention to the concepts I'm going to cover in class. In some ways that's nice (they've at least ~read~ the sections I'm going to cover). However, I emphasize that the text is their first source of information; I bill myself as an assistant to the text -- adding and clarifying information. The students' focus on my outline puts me back in front with the text assisting me. That's not enough for me to scrap the availability of my outlines though. With the outlines, I include links to websites that provide more information on the topic. I don't have as many links as I'd like, but they are being gradually added. (Thanks to Jeff Ricker and Stephen Black; I just added the sleep deprivation link to my States of Consciousness outline, complete with the little tidbit on Fran and Marie!) Eventually, I'd like to include recommended readings with each outline for those who have some free time. Ah... things I'm ~sure~ I would have done last summer had I not moved 1900 miles to start a new job. =) -- Sue Frantz Highline Community College Psychology Des Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://flightline.highline.ctc.edu/sfrantz/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.325 / Virus Database: 182 - Release Date: 2/19/2002 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.325 / Virus Database: 182 - Release Date: 2/19/2002 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Shannon Gadbois, M.Ed., Ph.D. Brandon University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (204)727-7306 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL
RE: distributing lecture notes
When I first began using powerpoint I also put too much information on the slides and students would spend too much time writing every word that was presented. Over the years I've established the right balance that allows the students time to listen to all the words of wisdom that are not on the slides. The best way to get the students to pay attention to what I am saying was to eliminate the need to copy what was written on the slides. Going back to writing the material on the black board would probably help but my handwriting is so bad it would create a different set of problems. Regarding student annotations: I use power point and encourage my students to print them out as handouts, 3 slides per page. They then get the slides on one side of the page and a lined area for notes on the other. I have demonstrations that I don't make available to students so that the effect isn't lost by pre-exposure. At the start of each semester I create two sets of overheads, one for me and one for the students. That doesn't mean that I can't bring something new into the class Gary J. Klatsky, Ph.D. Department of Psychology[EMAIL PROTECTED] Oswego State University of NY http://www.oswego.edu/~klatsky Oswego, NY 13126Voice: (315) 312 3474 -Original Message- From: Stephen Black [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 8:50 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject:Re: distributing lecture notes I was going to stay out of this, but there's nothing like having your name pop up to make you pay attention... On Tue, 26 Feb 2002, Shannon Gadbois wrote: I came up with a compromise. I changed my slides to only include the key points of any of the content I was discussing (thanks for the advice Stephen Black). I appreciate the thanks, but that's not quite my view. I did say that I considered limiting the information on my slides in order to encourage attendance but finally decided against it. I felt that doing that didn't really have educational justification and that boosting attendance shouldn't be an end in itself. If some students find the slides alone are sufficient for their needs and as a result skip class, I'm willing to let them make that decision. So my slides have become increasingly detailed, and I hold nothing back. As a result, I'm sure some do decide they no longer need to attend class. However, where I draw the line is in making them available _before_ class, as most contributors to this thread seem to do. I don't because i) I revise them up until about two minutes before class, so they're not ready beforehand; ii) it spoils any novelty, surprise, or attempt to get students to think about each point before revealing the next; and iii) it bugs me when students follow along with the written version. So I only make each set available after each class. But it does prevent students from annotating the notes in real time, which would be helpful. And students do ask me to make them available beforehand. I decline. -Stephen Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
distributing lecture notes
TIPSters, Do any of you distribute your lecture notes to students (in advance)? I am going to experiment with doing so for my graduate stats class. I will email them the notes to print out, so they'll also be able to add space for their own notes. At the end of the week I'll get feedback to find out if this approach introduces any major disadvantages. Two I can think of are that I might go too fast or that students might reduce all note-taking (and the accompanying thinking) because they think my notes are sufficient. Have you encountered other disadvantages I should watch out for? For what it's worth, my notes are in expanded outline form, so there's a lot of detail I don't write down (e.g. computational steps, details of a conceptual explanation). Thanks in advance, Charlotte -- = Charlotte F. Manly, Ph.D. Psychological Brain Sciences Assistant Professor317 Life Sciences Bldg ph: (502) 852-8162 University of Louisville fax: (502) 852-8904Louisville, KY 40292 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/psychology/ http://www.louisville.edu/~cfmanl01 USE 40208 ZIP CODE FOR FEDEX --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: distributing lecture notes
Yes, I make my lecture outlines available on my website for those who are interested in printing them out. I've found that several students bring them to class to take notes on. It hasn't sped up my lecture as far as I can tell, because I still take the time to write my outline on the board as I go along. I just get fewer people struggling to make sense of my handwriting. =) I also like to think that students spend ~more~ time mulling over the concept when they are not worrying about how to spell it. Students also use the outlines to guide their reading; they pay more attention to the concepts I'm going to cover in class. In some ways that's nice (they've at least ~read~ the sections I'm going to cover). However, I emphasize that the text is their first source of information; I bill myself as an assistant to the text -- adding and clarifying information. The students' focus on my outline puts me back in front with the text assisting me. That's not enough for me to scrap the availability of my outlines though. With the outlines, I include links to websites that provide more information on the topic. I don't have as many links as I'd like, but they are being gradually added. (Thanks to Jeff Ricker and Stephen Black; I just added the sleep deprivation link to my States of Consciousness outline, complete with the little tidbit on Fran and Marie!) Eventually, I'd like to include recommended readings with each outline for those who have some free time. Ah... things I'm ~sure~ I would have done last summer had I not moved 1900 miles to start a new job. =) -- Sue Frantz Highline Community College Psychology Des Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://flightline.highline.ctc.edu/sfrantz/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
Charlotte Manly wrote: TIPSters, Do any of you distribute your lecture notes to students (in advance)? I am going to experiment with doing so for my graduate stats class. I will email them the notes to print out, so they'll also be able to add space for their own notes. At the end of the week I'll get feedback to find out if this approach introduces any major disadvantages. Two I can think of are that I might go too fast or that students might reduce all note-taking (and the accompanying thinking) because they think my notes are sufficient. Have you encountered other disadvantages I should watch out for? For what it's worth, my notes are in expanded outline form, so there's a lot of detail I don't write down (e.g. computational steps, details of a conceptual explanation). For the last couple of years I have tried a variation on this that I like and students report that they like. I give out lecture outlines, but I leave blanks in several places. I usually try to make the blanks be for terms, etc., that are really important to remember. Students then have to pay attention to find the word(s) that are missing from their outlines. It seems to me (no data, just my impression) that this has been a good change in classroom practice, because students are freed up from being stenographers and can pay more attention. I encourage them to write in on the printed outlines not only the missing words but also the examples I give, their own examples, elaborations, etc., and I think many of them do. I had wondered, the first semester I tried this, if it would result in reduced attendance, but it does not seem to have had that effect. Retta -- Retta E. Poe, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Western Kentucky University 1 Big Red Way Bowling Green, Ky. 42101 (270) 745-4409 FAX: (270) 745-6934 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://edtech.cebs.wku.edu/~rpoe/ Live long, and prosper! --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
Charlotte Manly wrote: TIPSters, Do any of you distribute your lecture notes to students (in advance)? ... I do my lectures with PowerPoint and I give the notes (6 slides per page) to the library. They put the notes on their web site. The students seem to like it. I think that they figure out quickly that skipping class and just getting the notes does not really work. -- __ Rick Stevens __ Psychology Department __ University of Louisiana at Monroe __ http://www.ulm.edu/~stevens --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
Some brief thoughts: This topic came up last summer. At the time I was debating about how to proceed with my intro classes. I found the discussion at the time very valuable but I was still concerned about making my PPT slides accessible to students...would they use the access to the slides as an excuse not to come to class? I came up with a compromise. I changed my slides to only include the key points of any of the content I was discussing (thanks for the advice Stephen Black). For student info, I also take out any slides that I want to use as a surprise demo (e.g. reversible figures, etc. for sensation and perception). For each course I do a mid-term eval for which I ask students 3 basic questions: What components of instruction have helped you learn the most? What components have helped you learn the least? What suggestions do you have for improvements... I've taught 4 intro level classes in psychology this year. All of my midterm evaluations have shown the same thing. One of the things that students believe has helped them learn is providing them with an outline of all the chapter notes before the chapter begins. In addition, here's the great part, students believe that what also helps them learn is COMING TO CLASS to focus on the issues behind the main points. I'm very happy that I made my notes accessible to students. The benefits have outweighed the costs in my opinion. Students have the basics but come to class to get the specifics. Students can listen and augment their notes as they choose and leave the class feeling as though they had time to learn rather than just write. Just one perspective. Shannon At 03:18 PM 02/26/2002 -0600, you wrote: Charlotte Manly wrote: TIPSters, Do any of you distribute your lecture notes to students (in advance)? ... I do my lectures with PowerPoint and I give the notes (6 slides per page) to the library. They put the notes on their web site. The students seem to like it. I think that they figure out quickly that skipping class and just getting the notes does not really work. -- __ Rick Stevens __ Psychology Department __ University of Louisiana at Monroe __ http://www.ulm.edu/~stevens --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Shannon Gadbois, M.Ed., Ph.D. Brandon University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (204)727-7306 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: distributing lecture notes
Hi everyone: I struggle with this issue. It seems that when I give out my notes before the lecture, then students are more passive in class, don't take their own notes, etc. I did this last semester and was concerned about the almost total lack of note taking in these classes. This semester I don't distribute my notes, but either distribute a general outline or put one up on the overhead. Still, however, very few of my students actually take notes in class. Does anyone else notice that their students are not taking notes? How big of a problem is this? I wondered if part of the problem with lecture notes versus no lecture notes is that we are spending too much time lecturing. I don't know about the rest of you, but this semester I'm trying to lecture less and get the student more actively involved through group assignments and activities during class time. For instance, this morning in my health psychology class the topic was cardiovascular disease. Instead of lecturing about the risk factors and the methods for modifying the risk factors, I had the students divide into smaller groups and assigned them the project of developing a community-based cardiovascular health promotion program for African-American women. Part of their assignment involved identifying the salient risk factors and creatively (but using the research cited in their text as a foundation) developing methods for modifying the risk factors in the program they're developing. I circulated between the groups throughout the class period and helped them to think through their decisions, connected their current material with concepts from other chapters, etc. They spent the entire class session developing these programs. For a homework assignment I gave them a copy of an article published in a peer-reviewed journal that described a randomized clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a community-based cardiovascular health promotion program for African American women (the same kind of program they were charged with developing). During our next class session, they're going to present the programs that they developed today and we're going to compare their studies with the program described in the outcome study. My role will be to facilitate the discussion on these topics, but I'm hoping that their active involvement today will help them be more active (and understand more) during our next discussion. I really love getting my students more actively involved in the learning, and I think that I'm a better teacher when I do that as opposed to lecturing. What this has to do with distributing lecture notes, I have no idea! :) __ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology LeTourneau University President-Elect, Division 51 American Psychological Association Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone:903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3246 Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -Original Message- From: FRANTZ, SUE [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 2:15 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: RE: distributing lecture notes Yes, I make my lecture outlines available on my website for those who are interested in printing them out. I've found that several students bring them to class to take notes on. It hasn't sped up my lecture as far as I can tell, because I still take the time to write my outline on the board as I go along. I just get fewer people struggling to make sense of my handwriting. =) I also like to think that students spend ~more~ time mulling over the concept when they are not worrying about how to spell it. Students also use the outlines to guide their reading; they pay more attention to the concepts I'm going to cover in class. In some ways that's nice (they've at least ~read~ the sections I'm going to cover). However, I emphasize that the text is their first source of information; I bill myself as an assistant to the text -- adding and clarifying information. The students' focus on my outline puts me back in front with the text assisting me. That's not enough for me to scrap the availability of my outlines though. With the outlines, I include links to websites that provide more information on the topic. I don't have as many links as I'd like, but they are being gradually added. (Thanks to Jeff Ricker and Stephen Black; I just added the sleep deprivation link to my States of Consciousness outline, complete with the little tidbit on Fran and Marie!) Eventually, I'd like to include recommended readings with each outline for those who have some free time. Ah... things I'm ~sure~ I would have done last summer had I not moved 1900 miles to start a new job. =) -- Sue Frantz Highline Community College Psychology
RE: distributing lecture notes
I don't distribute my actual notes but I do make all of my overheads available on the web. I strongly encourage my students to bring copies of that material to class. That way they don't have to copy down that information and can listen to what I am saying. They can annotate the overheads with the additional information I present. Over the years I have found that the students who do that get better grades. That can easily be confounded by the fact that it's the better students who will go to the trouble to download the lecture material. I also put these on reserve in the library and will copy them to a cd or zip drive for the students Gary J. Klatsky, Ph. D. Department of Psychology[EMAIL PROTECTED] Oswego State University (SUNY) http://www.oswego.edu/~klatsky 7060 State Hwy 104W Voice: (315) 312-3474 Oswego, NY 13126 Fax: (315) 312-6330 -Original Message- From: Retta Poe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 3:26 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject:Re: distributing lecture notes Charlotte Manly wrote: TIPSters, Do any of you distribute your lecture notes to students (in advance)? I am going to experiment with doing so for my graduate stats class. I will email them the notes to print out, so they'll also be able to add space for their own notes. At the end of the week I'll get feedback to find out if this approach introduces any major disadvantages. Two I can think of are that I might go too fast or that students might reduce all note-taking (and the accompanying thinking) because they think my notes are sufficient. Have you encountered other disadvantages I should watch out for? For what it's worth, my notes are in expanded outline form, so there's a lot of detail I don't write down (e.g. computational steps, details of a conceptual explanation). For the last couple of years I have tried a variation on this that I like and students report that they like. I give out lecture outlines, but I leave blanks in several places. I usually try to make the blanks be for terms, etc., that are really important to remember. Students then have to pay attention to find the word(s) that are missing from their outlines. It seems to me (no data, just my impression) that this has been a good change in classroom practice, because students are freed up from being stenographers and can pay more attention. I encourage them to write in on the printed outlines not only the missing words but also the examples I give, their own examples, elaborations, etc., and I think many of them do. I had wondered, the first semester I tried this, if it would result in reduced attendance, but it does not seem to have had that effect. Retta -- Retta E. Poe, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Western Kentucky University 1 Big Red Way Bowling Green, Ky. 42101 (270) 745-4409 FAX: (270) 745-6934 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://edtech.cebs.wku.edu/~rpoe/ Live long, and prosper! --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
Do any of you distribute your lecture notes to students (in advance)? I am going to experiment with doing so for my graduate stats class. I will email them the notes to print out, so they'll also be able to add space for their own notes. At the end of the week I'll get feedback to find out if this approach introduces any major disadvantages. Two I can think of are that I might go too fast or that students might reduce all note-taking (and the accompanying thinking) because they think my notes are sufficient. Have you encountered other disadvantages I should watch out for? For what it's worth, my notes are in expanded outline form, so there's a lot of detail I don't write down (e.g. computational steps, details of a conceptual explanation). Thanks in advance, Charlotte -- = Charlotte F. Manly, Ph.D. Psychological Brain Sciences For what it worth I provide my lecture notes (the ones I used for power point presentations before) each unit. I can't be sure it improves student learning or grades, but it gives me some comfort in knowing that students have the text, my lectures, my power point presentation and the notes to study from. I do not reproduce photos, graphs etc. It is too difficult and usually doesnt reproduce well. I use the 3 per page option on Power Point Harry Avis PhD Sierra College Rocklin, CA 95677 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Life is opinion - Marcus Aurelius There is nothing that is good or bad, but that thinking makes it so - Shakespeare _ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: distributing lecture notes
I was going to stay out of this, but there's nothing like having your name pop up to make you pay attention... On Tue, 26 Feb 2002, Shannon Gadbois wrote: I came up with a compromise. I changed my slides to only include the key points of any of the content I was discussing (thanks for the advice Stephen Black). I appreciate the thanks, but that's not quite my view. I did say that I considered limiting the information on my slides in order to encourage attendance but finally decided against it. I felt that doing that didn't really have educational justification and that boosting attendance shouldn't be an end in itself. If some students find the slides alone are sufficient for their needs and as a result skip class, I'm willing to let them make that decision. So my slides have become increasingly detailed, and I hold nothing back. As a result, I'm sure some do decide they no longer need to attend class. However, where I draw the line is in making them available _before_ class, as most contributors to this thread seem to do. I don't because i) I revise them up until about two minutes before class, so they're not ready beforehand; ii) it spoils any novelty, surprise, or attempt to get students to think about each point before revealing the next; and iii) it bugs me when students follow along with the written version. So I only make each set available after each class. But it does prevent students from annotating the notes in real time, which would be helpful. And students do ask me to make them available beforehand. I decline. -Stephen Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
