Slide 1

Engaging Lectures and Effective Presentations Joel Brown and Ian Bailey Center for Teaching Excellence This workshop is part of the Creating an Engaging Classroom series.

Slide 2

Slide 3

Ice breaker time! Name, Year, Program The longest road trip youve ever taken What is the point of an ice breaker? Create a sense of community Develop an open environment in which all participants are able to open up and participate

Slide 4

Learning Outcomes: Upon completing this workshop, participants will be able to: 1.Identify activities to create an interactive presentation/lecture 2.Apply strategies to develop engaging presentations for different settings

Slide 5

Outline Part I Engaging your Audience How to structure a lecture to promote interaction. Practical strategies you can use. Part II Creating and delivering effective presentations Designing lecture slides Presentation tips

Slide 6

Part I Engaging your audience

Slide 7

Why Long Lectures Are Ineffective? Salman Khan Time Magazine Online (October 2, 2012): By the 15-minute mark, theyd mostly zoned out. Yet these findings which were quite dramatic, consistent and conclusive, and have never yet been refuted went largely unapplied in the real world. if attention lasted 10 or 15 minutes while passively listening, it is questionable why valuable time in classrooms with teachers and peers should be devoted to lecture at all. Ironically, by removing lecture from class time, we can make classrooms more engaging and human.

Slide 8

The Anatomy of a Lecture

Slide 9

The Anatomy of a Road Trip

Slide 10

Warm-Up Topic 1Topic 2 Wrap-Up DO Do (doo/) verb 1. To perform; to execute; to carry into effect; The Anatomy of a Lecture

Slide 11

= DO = Topic/Question = You Do = They DO Warm-Up Wrap-Up

Slide 12

The Book Ends Warm-Up and Wrap-Up Warm Ups set the tone of the lesson get students to begin thinking about the topic provide a transition into the topic (REVIEW) Wrap Ups summarize the take-home points prepare the students for the next class

Slide 13

What You Do Focused Lectures Change the scenery!

Slide 14

What They Do Active Learning anything that involves students doing things and thinking about the things they are doing Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 2 anything course-related that all students in a class session are called upon to do other than simply watching, listening and taking notes Felder & Brent, 2009, p. 2 What is active learning? (140 characters or less)

Slide 15

Active Learning Strategies Guiding Questions Students discuss important questions PRIOR to the instructor providing an informed perspective Contrast the two sets of ideas Working Problems Instructor provides example problem which students try to solve

Slide 16

Note Check: Two students compare their notes in order to summarize 3 main arguments identify most important point Active Learning Strategies Ask the Audience: Give students multiple choice question Have class vote on correct answer (clickers/LearningCatalytics)LearningCatalytics Try to convince neighbor why their answer is correct Vote again

Slide 17

Silent Debate: One student writes thoughts on a discussion question and passes it to another student, who then writes a response. Repeat as time allows Goal: develop an extended dialogue on paper Discuss as a class Active Learning Strategies

Slide 18

Minute Paper/Takeaway Tweet Before or After Class At the beginning: Answer questions about the reading Review topic from last class At the end: Respond to a question Most important concept of the day Muddiest point Active Learning Strategies

Slide 19

Other effective active learning strategies: Case studies Role playing Reacting to the past Debates Labs Service Learning Group focused Peer teaching Games

Slide 20

What prevents faculty from using active learning strategies? Most faculty think they are good lecturers Cant cover as much content How can lecturers get around this? Active learning strategies take too much time Preparation and in-class time

Slide 21

The Anatomy of a Lecture = You Do= They DO

Slide 22

Teaching is less about what the teacher does than about what the teacher gets the students to do -David Perkins, Harvard

Slide 23

Part II Creating and Delivering Effective Presentations

Slide 24

What are lectures good for? Presenting up-to-date information Summarizing material scattered over a variety of sources Adapting material to background/interest of students Helping students read more effectively Focusing on key concepts, principles, or ideas

Slide 25

Creating and Delivering Effective Presentations Topics Making PowerPoint work WITH you Presenting well and avoiding common pitfalls i.e., How to give presentations that dont suck!

Slide 26

Creating Effective Presentations Slide design

Slide 27

Slide 28

Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 29

The KISS Principle U.S. Navy 1960 K keep I it S short & S simple Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 30

AVOID Loud, garish colors Dont blind your audience!

Slide 31

Choose colors wisely What you see on your computer may look different in class When in doubt, be conservative Dark text on light background or light text on dark background always safe choice! Be consistent with color and font

Slide 32

AVOID Color-blind combinations: Red and green Blue and yellow In the U.S. 7% men and 0.4% women have some form of red/green blindness. Appx. 11 million people! Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 33

Dont use text colors that fade into background Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 34

Selecting fonts Classic, Formal Clean, Modern Stylish, Thoughtful Ugly, Unprofessional Why would anyone ever use this font?!? Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 35

Use relevant graphics, figures, or illustrations as aids or to improve aesthetics Must serve a purpose Explain them! High-quality Simple Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 36

Crime! No need for DNA test Blood present? DNA extraction NO Yes Saliva present? NO Saliva present? NO Blood present? NO Yes Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design First impression?

Slide 37

Simplifying complicated figures Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 38

Reveal information slowly Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 39

Explain new information as its revealed Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 40

Prevents overwhelming students Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 41

Gives students time to process each piece Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 42

Improves listening and comprehension Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 43

A common problem with many presentations is a lack of concision and too much information on a slide. Your slides do not need to be the ultimate source of content and information. The speaker should be the focal point with the slides highlighting and illustrating key concepts. If youre going to give your students all the information they need in slides why should they come to class? This is especially true if you make your slides available online. If they do come to class but you give them a printout of the slides containing everything they need to know for exams, what do you think students will do while youre presenting? This approach makes coming to class seem like a waste of time and students will not be as motivated to participate in class. If you must include a lot of information on your slides, spread it out amongst several slides instead of cramming it all into one. Use active-learning strategies to break up the monotony of the presentation otherwise students will just sit there and copy the text word-for-word from your slides. You might as well not even be there, go get coffee and come back at the end of class! Putting too much text in a slide makes it overwhelming and is simply annoying. It is a distraction and an impediment to learning. Dont let your slides become a crutch, instead, use them as a tool, a teaching aid to help you and your students stay focused on the main points. Your students know that you have a wealth of information to share, but you dont have to put it ALL on your slides! Oh, and one more thing, dont forget to proooofread several times. Typ0s and mispellings are anoying and distrackting. Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 44

Presenting a lot of information Dont spill the Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 45

Presenting a lot of information Dont spill the beans right away Use simple animation to gradually expose concepts Use dimming to maintain focus Pace yourself Pause for questions regularly Use active learning strategies Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 46

The magic bullet (point) Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design Circle Square Arrow Check o Ring Box Diamond Star thingy

Slide 47

The Bullet Point Plague Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design Open PowerPoint Grab a default theme Find a crazy font Include entire speech Make lots of bullets Theyre amazing! People like bullets Actually, people LOVE them They will applaud you Im sick of bullets Ill give you a bullet! OMG I cant stop the bullets See how crazy this can get? I need Bullets Anonymous OK, last one Seriously, no more bullets

Slide 48

Use notes section for extra information Creating Effective Presentations: Slide design

Slide 49

Dont be afraid to incorporate humor! Tasteful humor can increase recall because: its distinctive it attracts attention is memorable Garner, R. L. 2006. Humor in pedagogy: How ha-ha can lead to aha! College Teaching, 54:177-180

Slide 50

Youve created the worlds greatest slides, now what?

Slide 51

Question: Is it a good strategy to give out copies of your slides at the beginning of class? How might your students benefit? What are some disadvantages? How might you handle the disadvantages? Delivering Effective Presentations: What to do with your amazing slides

Slide 52

Ways to avoid handout backfire: 1.Keep text to a minimum 2.Highlight only the important points 3.Leave the rest to your speech 4.Give skeleton version Delivering Effective Presentations: What to do with your amazing slides

Slide 53

Ways to avoid handout backfire: 1. 2. 3. 4. Delivering Effective Presentations: What to do with your amazing slides

Slide 54

WARNING: Having amazing slides doesnt automatically make you an amazing presenter!

Slide 55

Delivering Effective Presentations Presenting like a pro

Slide 56

Practice! Practice! Practice! Practice with an audience feedback Dont be surprised by the next slide! Use preview mode or printed slides Practice allows you to: Identify problems with animation Discover typos, misspellings, formatting errors Refine timing and pacing Delivering Effective Presentations: Presenting like a pro

Slide 57

Please, please, please, for the love of sanity, DO NOT read from your slides! This is one of the easiest ways to make your students stop listening to you (or want to strangle you). Plus, if youre reading from your slides you cant look at your audience (unless you have eyes in the back of your head like all moms do). Delivering Effective Presentations: Presenting like a pro

Slide 58

Delivering Effective Presentations: Presentation tips Behavior - know how you are perceived! Vocal presentation Volume get feedback Choice of words context, language Space-fillers um, ah, so.. Annoying or repetitive words or phrases High-impact tool -> REPEAT questions asked by students THEN answer them.

Slide 59

Delivering Effective Presentations: Presentation tips Behavior - know how you are perceived! Visual presentation Dress appropriately set desired tone Annoying behaviors (pacing, gestures, expressions) Make eye contact regularly Move around the room Position yourself intentionally Behind podium or in front? Sitting or standing?

Slide 60

Delivering Effective Presentations: Presentation tips How can you find out how youre perceived? Get lots of feedback Practice with audience Video recording CTE U-Wide workshop in Fall and Spring

Slide 61

Delivering Effective Presentations: Presentation tips General tips Check-ins and asking questions Let there be silence no one will die 10 second rule (larger classes) Recognize your biases Avoid unequal treatment gender, ethnicity Randomize callouts

Slide 62

Delivering Effective Presentations: Presentation tips General tips Minimize environmental distractions Temperature Noise Room arrangement Lighting

Slide 63

Delivering Effective Presentations: Presentation tips Show your enthusiasm Teaching as performance Make it personal Use anecdotes (when possible) Enthusiasm is convincing! Be yourself! Make it interesting have fun!

Slide 64

There are oodles of resources online

Slide 65

Conclusion.. One - Minute Paper What is one of the most valuable things you learned today that you plan to use? How will you incorporate active learning in your teaching?

Slide 66

Dont forget to sign the attendance sheet THANK YOU and good luck teaching!! Upcoming workshops Using Your Research Experience to Improve your Teaching Wednesday, Nov. 5 (4:45-6pm) 143 Plant Science Innovations in Designing Online Course Modules Thursday, Nov. 13 (4:45-6pm) 143 Plant Science Approaches to E-learning Wednesday, Nov. 19 (1-2:15pm) 105 Kennedy