Rethink your lecture
The future of the lecture as a form of teaching has been much debated. But if we use activating elements in the lecture, it still has a future. Not only can it give students a good overview of a topic, the activating elements can also increase student reflection. These were the words of Vice-dean Per Andersen in his welcome speech at the inspiration day on 4 May, which focused on the current state of the lecture.
Lectures that make students reflect and give them an overview were recurring themes at the inspiration day about the current state of the lecture. This was the fourth inspiration day hosted by the Centre for Teaching and Learning together with Vice-Dean Per Andersen. 70 lecturers turned up for the event and put serious effort into rethinking their lectures to include more structure, more use of analogous and digital interaction and an increased focus on body and voice.
Here, you can watch a graphical summary (in Danish) of the two introductory lectures in which Lene Vase Toft and Asser Thomsen explained how they have changed their lectures in order to increase student reflection and interaction.
Lene Vase has changed a lecture series on neuroscientific psychology to include more interaction and discussion in order for the students to use the course as part of their everyday frame of reference - both in and outside the university. Asser Thomsen has worked on improving his lectures in forensic medicine to get his students to understand complex problems and every 15 minutes, he throws out a safety belt every so that the students stay focused.
After the two main presentations, four workshops were next on the agenda. Below, you can hear what topics three of the four workshop lecturers found the most important, and what the participants were most concerned with. Please note that the videos are in Danish.
Analogous means in the lecture - Ole Lauridsen
More structure and less material - Linda Greve
Body and voice in the lecture - Helga Halkjær
If you would like to get specific advice for how you can develop your lectures, you are welcome to contact CTL. Ole Lauridsen (ol@au.dk) and Linda Greve (greve@au.dk) would be happy to hear from you.