I like plenary much better - if only I could persuade well-meaning academic colleagues who book in sessions with me for their students not to communicate it to students as 'Helen is going to give you a talk/lecture/presentation and tell you lots of useful things so listen carefully', with me sighing on the sidelines and wondering how I'm going to turn it around.... As LDers rarely have 'our own students' and won't be able to build a relationship and expectations over time with a particular group, it makes it really hard. I often won't see them more than once, and rarely get a chance to manage expectations before the session. We're often going counter to a weight of experience and precedent of lecture as information delivery, especially if we're embedded as part of a series of lectures. I wonder what we could do to open a lecture to get this across effectively - telling them doesn't work! Some sort of quick opening activity that highlights what we're doing differently this time and why.
On Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 12:28 PM, Debbie Witney <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Re: not calling it a lecture.
I've started using the term Plenary to persuade my undergrads that they will not be able to turn up and receive knowledge. I explain that I will start from the assumption that they have completed the required preparation readings and activities. The lecture/ plenary is a chance us to come together and explore the arguments, examine live issues (business).
I would support the 3 'E's as a motto and add another 'e' - 'examine' - as there is an element of me assessing their understanding and engagement with the preparation material.
Debbie Witney MBA, Cert Ed, SFHEA
Principal Lecturer Student ExperienceOxford Brookes Teaching Fellow
Faculty of Business
Oxford Brookes University
Wheatley Campus
Oxford OX33 1HZ
Debbie Witney MBA, Cert Ed, SFHEA
Principal Lecturer Student ExperienceOxford Brookes Teaching Fellow
Faculty of Business
Oxford Brookes University
Wheatley Campus
Oxford OX33 1HZ
Office Hours: Typically Tuesday 11-1 and 2-3pm, Room N219 Wheatley Campus.Please check my virtual office door on PIP or e-mail for an appointment
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On 2 November 2016 at 11:50, Helen Webster <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I've been thinking a lot recently about the role of the lecture within LD work specifically, as I'm asked to do them so often - I think they're occupying a slightly different role than in subject teaching. I also react badly to the notion that lectures should be essentially about delivering information, and particularly in our line of work where we're not subject content experts and I don't know that I really have any 'information' of that kind to deliver! I am a bit dubious that it's possible to 'tell' someone how to write an essay or any skill of that kind, without opportunities to think about individual needs, practise strategies, reflect on experience and how advice might apply in your own specific context, so if I have to use 'lecture mode', that's what I try to incorporate opportunities to do. Back when I was a subject lecturer, I used to use lectures to give a glimpse into how I develop and argument, and although I don't feel I have 'arguments' to make in that sense in LD work, I do use lectures as an opportunity to model how one might approach an assessment or how an assessor might be thinking. Still, we do sometimes get the feedback that 'the tutor didn't give us much information' - despite me explaining at the start that this session was about developing skills not delivering facts! I think as Kim says there is an understanding from students that lectures are to deliver the information they've paid for, and they expect me to 'give' them a simplistic formula, whereas I think I'm there to provoke reflection, unpick assumptions and expectations, suggest strategies, model application, and suggest things to think about.... I am working with a very large group in a particular type of setting, and therefore it's called a lecture, but as Kim and Peter say, it sets up unhelpful expectations, and they often look shocked when I ask them to engage with me and their peers, rather than just one way!
I do feel that lectures play a bit of a different role in LD work which may mean they meet our needs less than those of subject lecturers, and thus we react more strongly against them, but in both cases, a transfer of information is the least useful thing we could be doing...
On Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 10:21 AM, Peter John Lumsden <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Peter J. Lumsden
BSc, DPhil, SFHEA (senior fellow)
“Explain; Engage; Enthuse”
Pastoral Tutor – School of Medicine
Teaching and learning lead – College of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences
University of Central Lancashire
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PLumsden
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter
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e/view?id=100728902&trk=hb_tab _pro_top Academia.edu: https://uclan.academia.edu/Pet
erLumsden Skype: Peter.Lumsden98
From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Sutter
Sent: 02 November 2016 09:15
Hi yes - I’d say the key distinction Alistair makes is spot on - it’s the lecture as ‘transmission of information’ that is problematic, typically because it’s not always the best (or only) tool for the job. But it’s also interesting to note that as a social, or academic, practice, the lecture has high social prestige (especially to the giver of the lecture), and this I feel may partly account (along with neoliberal notions of efficient educational provision and the simple effects of tradition) for it’s continued ubiquity. (Own up time: I remember my own pleasure years ago at becoming a ‘lecturer’ after being merely a humble ‘teacher’).
I’m also a fan of the lecture as as ‘sustained argument’ (and in that form it can also vary considerably) - but in its ‘transmission of information’ incarnation we might be better served if we started thinking in terms of ‘teaching large groups’ - and asking ourselves what a principled and inclusive approach to this might look like (including questioning whether such groups are viable), reserving the term ‘lecture’ for those instances where we really are building a sustained and engaging case for a particular position. (And considered as such, the ‘lecture’ can then be viewed as just another academic practice that is itself open to change / challenge from ‘lecturers’ and students alike..)
best
John
John Sutter
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On 2 Nov 2016, at 08:25, Alison.James <[log in to unmask]
> wrote:
Thank you Alistair
Not a one liner but a great response to a complex question! And I too like the lecture and as you go on to discuss, done well , it can be a very good thing. To skip to your conclusion I agree we need to be careful about what we do with the lecture, but my reason for asking the question was that although the answer as to what is seems obvious to some, to many others it isn’t.
All the best
Alison
From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Alistair McCulloch
Sent: 02 November 2016 01:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: defining the lecture -a quick straw poll
I’ve always rather liked the lecture. A finely honed lecture can be a beautiful thing. J
The problem arises from the move away from the lecture as an exposition of an argument over a sustained period of time and into a means of simply transmitting information (with, today, the almost ubiquitous powerpoint slides). The former models some key skills to students:
a) The art of constructing a complex argument and presenting it in a structured way.
b) How to persuade an audience of the veracity of your argument.
c) How to summarise literature.
d) How to present the key points of an argument.
e) How to maintain an audience’s attention.
f) How to lose an audience’s attention!
g) How to respond to the visual clues coming from an audience.
h) How to pay attention over a (relatively) prolonged period of time.
The latter (the simple transmission of information) is not a pretty thing and, is not actually what a lecture is. I’ve poked my head around lecture doors to see people reading from a textbook while putting slides of the textbook pages on the overhead screen. That is not a lecture, but its what has got the lecture a bad reputation.
Its difficult to write more than a handful of good lectures in a year because of the amount of work that goes into them (and because most of us don’t have that many really good ideas to focus on in a good argument).
Barbara Grant has a very good paper on the issue which was published in the proceedings of the 1998 HERDSA conference. I’ll ask her if she’d be happy having it posted to the list if that’s ok. In i she writes: ‘there is no utopian space of endless deep learning beyond lectures and, more seriously, we cannot be certain of the educational effects of abolishing them.’ (from the abstract)
Let’s be careful about what we do with the lecture and let’s be very clear what it is we’re talking about.
Cheers
Alistair
Professor Alistair McCulloch
Head of Research Education
Teaching Innovation Unit
University of South Australia
160 Currie Street, City West Campus - CWE-17
North Terrace
Adelaide, SA 5000
Australia
Phone: +61 (0)8 830 21150 Fax: +61 (0)8 830 22363
Email: alistair.mcculloch@unisa.edu.au
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From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Eryl Price-Davies
Sent: Wednesday, 2 November 2016 5:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: defining the lecture -a quick straw poll
I'm intrigued to understand why the LD community are so hostile to the 'lecture' (whatever that may be!)
"A monologue with slides" is a less than complimentary description...
Perhaps a lecture is (at least partly...hopefully) what 'lecturers' do?
Eryl
Dr Eryl Price-Davies
On Tuesday, 1 November 2016, Alison.James <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Dear colleagues
In the middle of a PG Cert session about alternative learning spaces and teaching approaches a number of new students asked my colleague and I what exactly we meant by a lecture. They, I think, were surprised by our suggestions that you could do all sorts of things under the title of lecture which stopped it being a monologue with slides. I in turn was surprised by their surprise.
In your institution (and in your view too) how do you think colleagues are defining a lecture? Could you give me a one liner?
I can collate responses off piste and provide summary as per, if you would like to message me directly.
Thanks so much and all best
Alison
Dr Alison James
Acting Director Academic Quality and Development and Head of Learning and Teaching
University of Winchester
National Teaching Fellow 2014
Principal Fellow Higher Education Academy
University of Winchester, a private charitable company limited byguarantee in England and Wales number 5969256.Registered Office: Sparkford Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO224NR
University of Winchester, a private charitable company limited byguarantee in England and Wales number 5969256.Registered Office: Sparkford Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO224NR