Increased interactivity in large-class lectures

ETL Conference, 2004, Logan Campus, Griffith University: Hardy Ernst & Kay Colthorpe

Increased interactivity in large-class lectures Dr Hardy Ernst and Dr Kay Colthorpe School of Biomedical Science University of Queensland Abstract: Lectures constitute the most commonly used teaching method in many large undergraduate courses. Often such lectures lapse into unfortunate transmission-only teaching situations due to content-time constraints and the lack of interactivity based on the vast number of students. Believing that the inquiring mind of students is the driving force of learning, increased interactivity should create a teaching environment of dialogue, which students can utilise to find answers to their particular questions and hence construct their own knowledge. This paper describes educational strategies and interventions that increase interactivity in large-class lectures in a second year Physiology course. Breaking-up lectures into 20 minute sections concentrating on one content focal point pays respect to the attention span of students and creates breaks for interactive interventions such as short buzz groups, whole class discussions and demonstrations. Comparison of student performance in the end-of-semester examination with previous cohorts and student feedback were used to evaluate the effect of the increased activity in such large-class lectures. Introduction Lectures constitute the most commonly used teaching method in many large undergraduate courses. Often such lectures lapse into unfortunate transmission-only teaching situations due to content-time constraints and the lack of interactivity based on the vast number of students. Asking questions during the lectures is one way of breaking up the monotony of the lecture and allows limited interactions. Unfortunately, many students either feel too embarrassed to answer a question in front of their many peers, see a question just as rhetorical or their alertness has faded away. Believing that the inquiring mind of students is the driving force of learning, increased interactivity should create a teaching environment of dialogue that students can utilise to find answers to their particular questions and hence construct their own knowledge. To create an environment of dialogue that engages and stimulates students, the interactivity in our lectures needed to be increased above the level of just asking questions during the lecture. This meant re-designing our lectures into interactive lectures. Guidelines to improve lectures from only transmitting facts to more interactive learning experiences have been developed for medical education (Cox & Ewan, 1988; Gibbs et al, 1998; Laidlaw, 1988). Laidlaw (1988) also gives a brief overview of how to lecture effectively by improving one’s presentation skills. Most of the advice the author offers is common sense but nevertheless worthwhile looking at. Eye contact with the audience for instance seems to be very important to keep the audience in an alert state. To allow communication, teachers need to make the space “feel” small (Gleason, 1986). According to Lewis (1994) moving closer to students when responding to questions improves interactivity. Ramsden (1992) stresses the importance of engaging students in activities which are relevant to the intended learning. Saroyan and Snell (1997) describe interactivity as a characteristic of the effectiveness of instructions, such as lectures. Johnston and Cooper (1997) define interactive lectures as lectures in which active- and group-learning exercises are embedded at frequent intervals. Similarly, Steinert and Snell (1999) passionately argue for the use of interactive lectures and outline the nature of interactive

ETL Conference, 2004, Logan Campus, Griffith University: Hardy Ernst & Kay Colthorpe

lecturing as active involvement and participation by the audience so that students are no longer passive in the learning process. Johnston and Cooper (1997) published a remarkable summary of why active-thinking opportunities should be incorporated into the classroom. It includes theoretical arguments as well as empirical arguments for active learning, and leads to the conclusion that “it is the method of instructional presentation, not the class size or medium of instruction that is most predictive of positive student learning and attitudinal outcomes” (Johnston & Cooper, 1997). This paper describes educational strategies and interventions that increase interactivity in large-class lectures in a second year Physiology course offered by the School of Biomedical Science at the University of Queensland. The course consists of two rather different sub-cohorts: Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy students and Physiotherapy students. While in previous years the Physiotherapy students have performed satisfactorily overall, the Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy students traditionally struggled with physiological concepts. Many students in this subcohort have a limited science background. In particular, respiratory physiology seems to be one of the more challenging topics. Its understanding requires some prior knowledge in physics that often is lacking in these students. Exposing two different sub-cohorts to the same educational interventions at the same time allows us to investigate the effect of interactive lectures to large audiences with diverse backgrounds and educational standards. Methods We introduced interactive educational strategies in a module of eight respiratory physiology lectures given in a second year Physiology course with 274 students in first semester, 2004. The same content was taught last year in a more “traditional way”. Comparison of student performance in the end-of-semester examination with the previous cohort, and student feedback, allowed us to evaluate the effect of the increased activity in such large-class lectures. The lectures were re-designed into 10 to 20 minute-long sections each concentrating on one content focal point. The breaks between these sections were used for interactive interventions such as short buzz groups, whole class discussions, demonstrations and “knowledge competitions”. Two-minute buzz groups were triggered by questions about physiological concepts that were new for students, thus testing prior knowledge and introducing the next lecture section. Alternatively, the questions required understanding and application of physiological concepts taught in the section(s) before. The questions were projected on the screen and students were encouraged to discuss possible answers with the student(s) next to them. Demonstrations and audio-visual material were used to reinforce, visualise or introduce physiological concepts or specific physics topics. For example to demonstrate the Law of LaPlace, two balloons connected to each other, each with one valve, were blown up. One was blown up to about a third of its capacity; the other was blown up to about two thirds of its capacity. Students were asked to predict by hand signal whether the smaller balloon will empty its air into the large one, or, whether the larger one will empty its air into the smaller one. Most students predict the latter and are very surprised that the former happens. “Knowledge competitions” were sparked by complex questions that required understanding and application of physiological concepts taught in the section(s) before. The competition prize was a chocolate bar. Again, the question was projected on the

2

ETL Conference, 2004, Logan Campus, Griffith University: Hardy Ernst & Kay Colthorpe

screen. The first student who could answer the questions in a conceptually correct manner got a little chocolate bar. Often we combined different interventions: possible answers to questions that triggered a buzz group were discussed in a “knowledge competition”. A bronchoscopy video reinforced the airway structure section but also allowed students to relax a little while watching thus serving as a change in pace. Buzz groups, demonstrations and “knowledge competitions” normally lead to whole class discussions. During these discussions, student answers were either repeated over the microphone so that all the students were able to hear the answer, or, if the answering student was sitting close to an aisle, the microphone was handed over to the student. Frequently, complex questions arose from these class discussions that were turned on the spot into a “knowledge competition”. Lecture notes were published on the course home page before the lectures. They did not contain any answers to any of the questions. After each lecture another version of the lecture notes were published with all the questions and their answers raised during the lecture. Results Summative results Overall student performance in 2004 was high, with students achieving an average of 70.6% in the respiratory physiology component of the end of semester exam, compared to 49.5% in 2003. This represents a highly significant increase of over 20% (p