Module Components

• Overview
• Assignments

Topics

• Learning Theories and Objectives
• Lecture
• Instructional Media
• Panel

Nurs 791 - INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES AND ASSESSMENT

Module 3: Teacher Intensive Strategies

Lecture

Preparing Lectures

Advanced preparation and organization are both important features in developing an effective lecture. The process is described as: tell them what you will tell them (introduction), then tell them (the body), then tell them what you told them (the conclusion).

• Introduction (first five minutes)
  • Introduce self
  • Set up “housekeeping” rules (e.g. students should save questions till the end of the lecture)
  • Provide objectives of lecture
  • “Sell” the lecture; make learners feel that information to be presented is important and relevant
• Body
  • Focus on content
  • Meet objectives
  • Start broad and then narrow down to help learners focus
  • Highlight elements in readings that are most important or possibly confusing
  • Use vignettes, stories, jokes when possible
  • Use examples to make points (application of content)
• Conclusion (last five minutes)
  • Summarize by identifying main points
  • Don’t present any new information
  • Provide “take home message”

Developing lectures is time consuming. One rule of thumb is that it takes about eight hours of preparation to organize one hour of lecture for a new course.

Lecture is not a one-way street! According to well-known educator, Dr. Marilyn Oermann, interspersing some active learning strategies with lecture can offer learners the “best of both worlds”. (2004)

The Do's and Don'ts of an Effective Lecture

We have all attended lectures that were great, those that were OK, and those that were really, really bad. Regardless of how potentially interesting and important the topic or material, an ineffective lecture will leave the learners disinterested, bored and at times ASLEEP!

Do	Don’t
Engage the learners	Read PowerPoint slides or notes verbatim
Make eye contact with learners	Talk to the screen
Be prepared for the unexpected (have a back-up form of delivery)	Try to cover more material than time will allow
Have expertise and enthusiasm for the content area	Put too much information onto a slide/overhead
Be flexible and tailor presentation to learners	Try to memorize entire lecture; better to refer to notes during lecture
Incorporate instructional media when appropriate	Put all of the information into a handout (why then attend the lecture?)
Allow for questions to and from the learners	Repeat all information in the reading assignment in the lecture