"To eliminate the tedium, vary the medium"
I thought this was an interesting point from the presentation. I think it's easy to forget that the students work all day and can get bored even with fairly interesting material. Anything you can do to wake them up and refocus them on the material is useful.
I do use slides when I feel like I have to, but one of the best pieces of advice I ever got from a dean was to ditch my slides in a knowledge-heavy class. I used the white board, handouts for key technical items, and demonstrations whenever possible. Made a big difference in the excitement level of the classroom and hopefully improved learning.
Vera,
Yes, it takes a variety of activities to keep the optimal student attention and interest. Any engaging activity will do, and mixing it up also helps keep students focused.
Barry Westling
I use a white board for my "knowledge-heavy" courses but also use Youtube for some of our skills before we go to the skills lab. Sitting in class all day, listening to an instructor lecture is not effective unless we can vary our delivery methods. Using flash cards makes it more fun and usually helps with memory issues for subjects like medical terminology or pharmacology words.
gamaliel,
This is a great way to spice up ordinary text and color formatting of routine PPT slides.
Barry Westling
I strongly agree with varying the medium to eliminate the tedium. Lately I have embedded video to PP to support the hands-on demo and students seem to be more attentive that with PP slides plus their ability to perform hands-on has incrementally improved.
Doris,
It's been said to break into a different activity about every 20 minutes. I find that a bit impractical, but the principle is definitely true. Variety and activities that engage students help achieve better learning outcomes.
Barry Westling
It is so essential to vary the medium. When you use the same medium,the students get bored and then they don't pay attention. We also have to keep in mind the attention span that they have. Even adults can't sit still and listen to an instructor for hours on end.
Barbara,
Me too. I use a slide advancer that has a "blank (black) screen button. So as I am lecturing, I can quickly go to black, discuss or write something on the board, etc. Along with the laser pointer it has, this little gem has contributed to a very professional presentation and delivery format for me.
Barry Westling
I use power point with pictures as a major resource for instruction, but I also include blank slides (plain white) in the presentation when I want to expand on a concept. This easily allows me to lift the screen to utilize the white board and quickly return to the slides without having to open and close the program or search for where I left off. I use multi-colored markers and create concept maps to break material down or create links between concepts.
Patricia,
Getting students involved such as this is great. The more they are involved the more engaged they will be, and feel connected to what your comments are. Variety really does make a difference.
Barry Westling
That is a great idea to use a variety of items in clinical as well as classroom. I find different new disease processes that the student's patients have and provide the students with this information. During the lecture part of clinical I ask the students to present their particular new disease process that they encountered and the treatments observed. This involves them in the lecture as well as preparing them to teach patients and family members.
Jason,
I'm a big board person, too. Way back I used overhead, handouts and worksheets that supplemented my lectures and relied heavily on board work. That has carried on to present time, but I still am fortunate to be able to use the white board as much as needed. I have our LCD screen non-centered (more to the left), and two large 10-foot long white boards that give ample room for amplying slides or conveying ideas, even if the screen is pulled down. Also, my PPT slide advancer allows me to "go dark" with the press of a button, which allows for quick transitions from slide to idea amplification on the board.
Barry Westling
I primarily use a powerpoint presentation during lecture. However, I have found it extremely useful to help bring together the big picture with colored markers and a white board. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say. It also provides the students with an opportunity to draw and be somewhat creative on their own.
Thomas,
Small group discussion is among the better ways students can become engaged and participate. It's also one of the better ways for students to retain information and transfer short term memory into longterm memory.
Barry Westling
I like to allow my students to really dig in, I do a lot of small group presentations, I have students research a subject and then teach the class about it, etc. Anything I can do to change things up, I try. Some successful and some not so much, but each student seems to excel at different approaches. It helps me to know them better.
Pat,
Group work like this makes learning fun, and prodctivive. Whenever students can become ingaged in their learning activities, they will retain information better, and achieve improved learning outcomes.
Barry Westling
We play tivia games, make up match games with words and their meanings. All of this with the class broken up into separate groups for more fun.
Marilyn,
Great! Like the saying, "tell me, and I'll forget, show me, and I might remember. Involve me, and I'll learn". Using varied resources inhances the learning process. Also, these activities help students link information they already know to new information they need to know.
Barry Westling
As a clinic instructor I use different teaching materials to demonstrate. I have an art model to demonstrate their ergonomics while working on patients, I use color pictures of tissue conditions found, and models to demonstrate with. I'm not a classroom instructor but using various
materials (medium) helps the students learn to apply their training more effectively.
Helen,
Great. This is a good example of "chunking" that is, breaking lessons up into digestible bites, not spending too much time on one delivery method for very long.
Barry Westling
