Lecturing well:an evidence-based approach

Tim Dornan, Maastricht University

Rachel Ellaway, Northern Ontario School of Medicine

Janet Tworek, University of Calgary

Overview

• Introduction• Group Work Session 1• Plenary feedback (mind map)• Summary of OTME chapter• Group Work Session 2• Report: Personal change to practice

Lecturing is one of the most widely criticized educational methods

… and still one of the most widely used

…. and still one of the less well-understood

Thematic Review

• Oxford Textbook of Medical Education

• Chapter on ‘Large Group Teaching’

• Thematic review: realist principles

• Program theory from key texts:– McLeish, J. (1968). The Lecture Method.

– Bligh, D.A. (1971). What's the Use of Lectures?

Program theory

• Large group teaching :

– involves interacting with learners’ cognitive states

– involves a sequence of distinct activities

– involves participating in the discourse of a particular

domain

– is both an educational method and a systematic approach

to program delivery

– is constructed by the affordances of available technologies

– is constructed by the affordances of the educational

ecologies in which it takes place

– involves a broad range of activities

Methods

• Search ERIC, EMBASE, EBSCOHost, and PsychInfo

databases for “large group teaching”, “lecture”, and “large

group learning” - 1193 papers published between 2002

and 2011

• included in the evidence synthesis if:

– 15+ participants with faculty member leading session

– empirical research in health professions education

– context and intervention were sufficiently well described

– findings judged 3 or higher on the BEME 1-5 scale for

“strength”

Synthesis

• evidence synthesis followed realist principles

• seven themes used as a program theory of how large

group teaching works, for whom, and under what

conditions.

• coding these papers expanded program theory into 17

free-text coding fields

• coders identified trustworthy (using the BEME strength

scale) causal links between one or more conditions or

processes, and outcomes

• Minor changes to program theory

Seven Themes

Large Group Teaching:

• involves a sequence of distinct activities

• involves interacting with learners’ cognitive states

• involves participating in the discourse of a particular domain

• is both an educational method and a systematic approach to

program delivery

• is constructed by the affordances of available technologies

• is constructed by the affordances of the educational ecologies

in which it takes place

• can take many more forms than traditional and didactic lectures

Large Group Teaching involves a sequence of distinct activities. 1

1Teacher builds presentation

Teacher gives presentation

Learner attends presentation

Learner applies in practice

1Preparation

Design skills

(For lecturers): mastering the subject matter; defining clear objectives and scope; using novel elements and case-based examples; rehearsing

(Kessler et al, 2011)

1Presentation

Performance skills

Attention spans typically 8-15 minutes– Break presentation into sections– Provide activities, stories, changes in pace– Asking learners to answer questions, find

information, or read material before the event

(Cain et al 2009; Canfield 2002; Gulpinar & Yegen 2005; Johnson 2005; Van Dijken et al. 2008)

1Follow up

Evaluate and improve

Lecturers: Review evaluations & iterate (Bligh, 1971)

Students: consolidate notes, complete assessment, participate in post-lecture synthesis activities (Rong et al, 2011)

2Large group teaching involves interacting with learners’ cognitive states

2Ellaway, R, Tworek, J and Dornan, T (2013). Large Group Teaching. In The Oxford Textbook of Medical Education, Walsh, K (Ed). Oxford University Press: in press.

Knowledge Transmission (Powell, 1970)

(Kessler, Dharmapuri and Marcolini, 2011; Copeland, Longworth, Hewson and Stoller, 2010)

Be Engaging

Visual Imagery; Concept Maps

(Cosgrove et al, 2006; MacNeil, 2007)

Cognitive principles

(Brown and Manogue, 2001; Canfield, 2002; Gülpinar and Yegen, 2005; Hartley and Cameron, 1967; Johnson and Mighten, 2005; ; Melamed et al. 2006; McKeachie, 2006; Richardson, 2011; van Dijk et al, 2001)

Lecturing allows learners to participate in disciplinary discourses 3

What is said may be less important than

how it is saidor

who says it 3

Large group teaching is both an educational method and a systematic approach to program delivery 4

4Lecturer

Students

1 event : many studentsLimited points of preparationMinimal evaluations

1 event : much infoLimited preparationMinimal evaluations

Large group teaching is constructed by the affordances of available technologies 5

5(Tulsky et al, 2011; Ventura and Onsman, 2009; Williams et al, 2011)

6Large group teaching is constructed by the affordances of the educational ecologies in which it takes place

6Ecology

(Kao, 1976)

learning ergonomics

instructional ergonomics

educational efficiency

ergonomics of

educational facilities

ergonomics of

educational environment

ergonomics of

educational equipment

7Large Group Teaching can take many more forms than traditional and didactic lectures

MOOCsAnalytics?

(de Waard et al. 2011; Kop, Fournier, & Mak 2011)