The Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Lectures
Public speaking is at the top of almost every Top 10 list of phobias. But effective lecturing is not genetically determined like eye color or a receding hairline. The most common reason for bad lecturing isn’t phobia; it’s that professors don’t value the craft enough to hone their skills.
The face-to-face lecture is the basic mode of communication in the academy. At most universities, 25 percent of intro classes have more than 125 students. As long as universities use the assembly line model of instructor, lecturing will be central to the educational process. And lecturing is also the key to successful conference presentations.
How Can You Make Your Lectures Memorable?
- In general, students capture only 20-40 percent of a lecture’s main ideas in their notes.
- After three weeks, most students remember less than 10 percent of what was said in the lecture.
- So what can you do to guarantee that students learn and remember what we teach?
- How can you create and deliver lectures that stay with students long past the last few minutes of class?
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